caught something? I could take you to a doctor.' He stopped talking while she vomited, then continued as if he had not heard the sound. 'Maybe it's food poisoning. The truck deli's been passing that out with the two-for-one burritos lately.'
lie handed her the first towel and Meredith wiped her mouth. She rocked back, sitting on the marble floor in a very unladylike sprawl. She did not even want to think about how she looked and knew she did not have the energy to stand.
Granger knelt down to her level. 'Meredith! Is there any chance you're…?'
If she'd felt better, she would have laughed. He looked even paler than she felt. 'No, Sheriff. No little deputies.' She giggled at her own joke, then frowned. 'I can't have children.'
'Then what?'
Meredith raised her eyebrows and addressed the class idlot. 'I'm drunk.' She wondered if being drunk in a public restroom was a misdemeanor or a felony. She felt sure it was some kind of crime.
He stood. 'You're what?' His voice echoed off the walls of the tile room, making her head pound.
'Anna Montano and I went to see Frankie about the lamp pole Randi knocked over. He was kind enough to serve us his special for lunch.'
'I may have to shoot Frankie,' Granger said calmly as he leaned down and pulled Meredith to her feet. 'But first I need to take you home.'
'No, I can work.' Before she could issue her declaration, she jerked away and leaned above the toilet once more.
When she finished, he waited with a clean set of wet towels.
'I'm sorry.' She flushed the toilet.
He helped her up again. 'Meredith, you're not the first drunk I've seen, and you probably won't be the last. Thing you can make it home?'
She nodded. Surely there was nothing left in her stomarh to lose.
He put his arm around her shoulders and walked her down the hall. At his office, he picked up his keys off the desk and the pager from its nest. He flipped a switch on the phone.Then he helped Meredith out the door and to his police car. He opened the passenger door. 'I make most drunks ride in back, but if you swear not to mess up my car, you can ride in front.'
She looked up at him as she slid in. He showed no sign of kidding.
They were almost to her house when she remembered she had forgotten her purse.
He promised to lock the office and bring her things by later when he made his rounds. If she felt better by then, he said she could ride downtown and pick up her car; otherwise he would have one of the deputies who came on duty at five help him get it back to her house.
'That's not necessary,' she replied.
'Adam won't mind. Where are your keys?'
'They're in the car.'
He glared at her. 'Meredith, you shouldn't leave your keys in your car. That's just asking for a crime to happen 'Nobody would steal my car parked at the courthouse and if they did, they'd better be a mechanic or they'll be sorry.'
'You need to get rid of that pile of junk.'
'It gets me to work and back.' She resented him calling her car names. The pile of junk had been hers since college They did not say a word to one another for the rest of the way. He drove and she concentrated on not throwing up on his clean car.
He walked her to her door, but did not offer to come in. She was glad. Meredith had been so humiliated she didn't care if she never saw Granger Farrington again.
Reaching for her house key in the huge pocket of her sweater, Meredith opened the door and faced him. 'Thank you, Sheriff. It was nice of you.' She had to tell him how she felt. 'But you don't have to look after me. You don't have to check on me if you see me in a bar, or start my car, or make sure I'm warm, or anything else. I'm not your responsibility.'
Meredith closed her eyes. If he said he was just doing his job, she swore she would club him with her hatchet.
'Get some sleep. You'll feel better.'
He acted as if he hadn't heard a word she said. He just turned around and walked back to his car like she was numher 247 on his list of official duties for the day.
Meredith wanted to scream, but her head might explode of the sound. So she went into her house, crawled onto her unmade bed and took the sheriff's advice. She fell asleep.
Dreams haunted her. Not nightmares of monsters and torture. Worse. Dreams of Kevin, burned and calling for her. but she couldn't find him. She could hear him, smell the mixture of oil and burning flesh, but she could not reach him.
In her dream she ran and ran, calling his name, fighting vines and roadblocks and chains, but never reaching him, never able to help.
Suddenly, the dream was over and Meredith found herself alone in her dark bedroom. Her huge sweater was twisted around her as tight as a straitjacket.
She stood and fought her way out of the wool, then stripped off all her wrinkled clothes and headed toward the shower. For a long while, she let the water run over her face and body and wondered if she could have made any bigger fool of herself today. Granger had only been trying to help and she had snapped at him. He was right about her car. li was a piece of junk.
She dried off and put on Kevin's old high school jersey. It almost hit her at the knee.
Wandering into the kitchen, Meredith searched for something to eat… An old apple. Half a sandwich. The bread was hard, but the chicken salad still smelled good. There was also a quart of orange juice that had aged at least one season in her refrigerator.
Nothing sounded good. She glanced at the clock. Too late for the stores, and drive-throughs were beyond her budget for this month.
Someone tapped on her door. Meredith straightened from rummaging in the crisper as Granger let himself in.
He looked surprised to see her awake. 'I'm sorry I thought you'd be asleep. I was just dropping off your purse, and some soup.' He set the bags down on the chair near to the door and backed out.
'Wait…'
He hesitated.
'You brought soup?'
He smiled, realizing she wasn't still mad at him. 'Soup,crackers and cookies. I figured when you finally sobered up you'd be starving.'
'I am.' She moved to within a few feet of him.'I'm sorry about the way I acted when you were only trying to help.'
'Forget it.'
'Would you stay for soup?'
'All right, but I cook.' He lifted the bag and waited for her to lead the way to the kitchen. Handing her the cookies, he removed his coat and unpacked groceries. He'd also brought along milk with three different kinds of soup.
'I didn't know what you liked,' he shrugged, offering her the choice.
Meredith was busy fighting with the cookie package. 'Any kind,' she finally said as she broke the cookies open And glanced up in time to catch him watching her.
'Want one?'
He shook his head. While she ate four, he warmed tomato soup and poured them both a glass of milk.
They ate at the bar, with their knees accidentally bumping together from time to time. She told him all about the agreement made with Frankie. There was something very comforting about being with a person that you've already made a fool of yourself around. She had no more false pride to lose. Even the fact that she was only wearing an old jersey didn't worry her. After all, he'd seen her in far less.
When they finished, he did their dishes, along with several others sitting in the sink. She watched him, thinking
