pathetic.” More than anything he felt stupid. And then he looked at her, as she sat slumped in the wheelchair with her foot out. It was turning bluer by the minute from the bruising, and it was huge. “Are you hungry?” he asked her.
“No. I feel sick,” she said honestly. She didn’t know him, and would never see him again, she didn’t have to put up a good front for him. She felt ghastly. And he had seen her cry once or twice. He thought it was from the pain, but it was about Katie. She couldn’t get the vision of the tattoo parlor out of her head. And there was nothing she could do to change Katie’s mind.
“I was thinking of ordering a pizza,” he confessed, feeling slightly embarrassed for being hungry at a time like this. “I’m starving.” He had a healthy appetite, and he was a big man.
“That must be a guy thing. You might as well. We’ll probably be here for hours.” He smiled sheepishly when she said it, called a number on his cell phone, ordered the pizza, and then sent several texts. She wondered if he had a girlfriend or a wife, and if a woman would show up to be with him. He looked about forty-five, with dark hair, just beginning to gray at the temples.
His pizza arrived an hour later, and they were still waiting. He had ordered everything on it but anchovies, and he offered her a piece, but she couldn’t eat. He nearly finished it himself, in spite of the injured arm. When he stood up to throw his pizza box away, she could see that he was even taller than she’d guessed. But she was more impressed by how pleasant and unassuming he was. He wasn’t asking for any kind of special attention and was waiting patiently for his turn. He offered to get her a glass of water or some coffee from the machine when he got back, but she declined.
“I realized just now that you know my name, and I don’t know yours,” he said pleasantly when he sat down again. Their chitchat was something to fill the time.
“Anne Ferguson. Annie. Any relation on your side to the illustrious president?”
He smiled at her question. “No, my mom was a history buff. She was actually a history teacher. Maybe she thought it was funny, although she was pretty impressed by him. I’ve been teased about it all my life.”
Annie smiled as he talked. And after that they both dozed for a while. It was nine o’clock, and she had been there for almost four hours.
Her ankle was throbbing by then and finally at ten o’clock an attendant called her name, came to get her, and they wheeled her in. She said goodbye to Tom Jefferson, thanked him for the company, and wished him luck. “I hope it’s not broken,” she said to encourage him. It had been nice sitting next to him for four hours. She didn’t feel so alone.
“You too. And watch out for the ice on those construction sites!” He waved as she disappeared into the ER. She was there for another two hours, for an X-ray and an MRI to check for torn ligaments. The diagnosis was a bad sprain-it wasn’t broken. They put a brace on it, gave her crutches, and told her to keep her weight off it, but putting weight on it wasn’t an option anyway. She couldn’t have stood the pain. And they told her to see her own orthopedist in a week. They said it would take four to six weeks to heal, and to wear flat shoes in the meantime.
It was midnight when an ER nurse wheeled her to the curb and hailed a cab for her. She had glanced around the waiting room on the way through. Tom Jefferson was gone by then too. She wondered if the arm was broken or just sprained like her ankle. It had been nice talking to him and helped pass the time. But her mind was back on Katie and her own troubles on the drive home. It had been a long, painful night.
Annie hobbled unsteadily into her building on the crutches they’d given her. She hadn’t gotten the hang of it yet, and they’d given her a pain-killer at the hospital, so she was a little woozy and felt slightly drunk. She let herself into the apartment, and the lights were on. Katie was home, and watching a movie with Paul. The only good news, Annie realized, of her dropping out of school was that she would be living at home again, so Annie could keep an eye on her. And Katie turned with a look of shock as Annie walked into the living room on her crutches with her boot in a plastic bag. Annie’s face was sheet white.
“What happened to you?” Kate asked, as she rapidly came to help her into a chair. Annie looked like she’d been through the wars. Katie looked upset, and Paul stood up to help too.
“Really stupid. I fell at a job site. I was wearing those boots, and I slid on a patch of ice. Just dumb.”
“Oh, poor thing.” Katie ran to get an ice pack for her, and Paul helped her out of the chair and walked next to her into the kitchen. Annie was unsteady on the crutches and looked totally worn out. Both of the young people looked deeply concerned. “I thought you were out for dinner or something. Why didn’t you call me? I could have come to the hospital with you. What time did it happen?” Katie asked her as Annie half-fell into a kitchen chair.
“It happened right after I left you. Half an hour later.” Annie didn’t tell her that in part it had happened because she was so upset about her and had been distracted. “I’ve been at the hospital since five-thirty. It took forever.” She didn’t tell her about the TV anchorman she’d met. It seemed irrelevant, although it had helped to pass the time while they waited to be examined.
“Do you want something to eat?” Kate offered, and Annie shook her head.
“I just want to go to bed. I’m stoned from the pain pill. And hopefully it will be better tomorrow.” She had to deal with crutches now, and hopping around on one leg. Nothing was going to be easy for the next several weeks.
She hobbled into her bedroom with Kate and Paul right behind her. He went back to the living room, and Katie helped her undress and get into her nightgown. It was complicated standing on one foot and having to use crutches. Kate was afraid she’d fall in the bathroom and told her to call her during the night if she needed help.
“I’ll be fine,” Annie reassured her. It had been an exhausting night and an upsetting two days, with the news of Kate dropping out of school. She still hadn’t heard from Ted, or from Lizzie in Paris, for the past few days. She tried not to think of any of it as she crawled into bed. She took another pain pill, as they had told her to do, and by the time Annie’s head hit the pillow, she was out like a light. Katie kissed her, tucked her in, and went back to Paul. They had been making some very important plans that night.
Chapter 13
It was harder than Annie had expected getting dressed the next day. Getting into the shower and not falling had been challenging, as she tried to stand on one foot. And by the time she got to the kitchen on crutches, she was exhausted. But she had too much work to do to stay home. Kate helped her get downstairs and into a taxi, and Annie got to her office at ten o’clock, which was rare for her, and she wouldn’t be able to do job site visits for a while, at least a few days, she told herself.
Ted finally called her that morning and apologized for not calling her back sooner. He said he’d been really busy. Katie had texted him to tell him about Annie’s ankle the night before, so he knew about it and asked how she was.
“I’m fine. It hurts like hell, but it’s nothing. Just a sprain. I’ve been calling you about your sister. Are you aware that she dropped out of school and is working in a tattoo parlor?” Annie was upset about it all over again as she told him. The ankle was unimportant compared to that.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“I wish I were. I’m dead serious, and so is she. She took a semester off, and she’s working at a tattoo parlor on Ninth Avenue, and considers it graphic art.”
“That’s disgusting. And no, the little shit didn’t tell me. Do you want me to talk to her?” He sounded as upset as Annie still was. Dropping out of school was major to them.
“Yes, but I don’t think it’ll do anything. Maybe she’ll listen to you, but I doubt it. She’s determined to take some time off from school.”
“I think that’s a stupid idea, and I’ll tell her so.” Sometimes Kate listened to her siblings more than to her aunt, so Annie was briefly hopeful, but once Katie made her mind up, it was always hard to sway her, and Ted knew that too. She and Annie had that in common. They were both fiercely stubborn.
“What about you? Are you okay? You’re awfully quiet these days. I worry about you,” Annie said gently. She worried about them all.
