After he examined me and asked my name and some irrelevant stuff, he told me they were keeping me for a while to figure out my condition and see if there was more than surface damage. He said that Beth and John and my mother could visit me, but that I should kick them out whenever I wanted. He finished by saying I should get as much rest as I could, like I was stupid enough to give the lions the upper hand by sleeping.
John slid back next to my bed after he left.
“Do you know what happened?” he asked.
I started to shake my head, but the lions’ growl roared through my brain. When my tremors stopped, I whispered, “No. What happened?”
“The nursery handyman, that big, old guy, said he came into the greenhouse from the tree lot and saw some guy punch you in the nose. Then before he could get there, the guy kicked you.” John reached for me, and I groaned. “He pulled the guy off you and tied him up with some green tree tape and called Sheriff Campbell.”
“He’s the little boys’ father. He didn’t think my gay joke was funny.”
“What are you talking about?” John shook his head at me. “He’s at the station. I called your mom, and she’s on her way. She told me not to let you annoy anyone.”
Cold ants were running up my arm, coming from the monitor on my finger. I told John to get them off of me, but he said I should go to sleep because everything was going to get livelier when my mom arrived.
He was right. So I slept. To hell with the lions. My mother would kill them.
Chapter 13
A week later, I’d more or less bounced back, and though my nose still looked a little odd, it had required no surgery. So it was just a matter of time for it and my other minor wounds to heal. Through the week’s ordeal, I’d made one career decision.
I’d called UCD and regretfully declined the teaching position. Well, at least I said I was regretfully declining. Truthfully, I could never imagine myself in front of a classroom teaching undergrads. Then like any good, dutiful son with a PhD, I called my mother.
“Good for you.” She sounded like her usual cheery self. I’d thought maybe getting the shit kicked out of me would have slowed her down, but she’d bounced back faster than I had, especially since I’d agreed to file charges against Robert Olsen. “I never saw you as the professorial type.” Now she was laughing at me.
“Thanks, Ma.” I wondered what had happened. Her TLC meter seemed to be broken. “What did you see me doing?”
“Well, getting out of academia quicker,” she told me, still laughing. “Other than that? I don’t know. I thought you were someone who knew a good thing when he saw it and latched on to a happy life when it presented itself.”
“Translated that means what?” I sounded sullen. Was I pouting? Yup. I was acting like a five-year-old.
“Fen, dear, if I have to point out what’s right in front of your eyes, then you need new glasses,” she chirped.
“I don’t wear glasses.”
“I know, dear.”
Then she hung up. I couldn’t believe it. She hung up. On me.
John called me downstairs for dinner, so I didn’t have time to start sulking and brooding. I’d been moving the rest of my stuff out of the upstairs, so it was now entirely Ricky’s space. John said it was ridiculous for me to be trudging up and down the stairs to get odds and ends. It made sense, so I agreed.
I was supposed to move into his guest room, but I ended up in his room and his bed instead. Again, I didn’t argue, since it seemed sensible considering he was supposed to check me for signs of concussion for a few days. After the few days, we both needed the sleep, so I hadn’t moved. John seemed to have stopped working at the Star. But I didn’t ask.
As we sat across from each other at the dining table, I told him about making my decision and calling my mother.
“I can’t believe she hung up on me,” I finished. “She’s never done that before. She didn’t even sound sympathetic.”
“Smart woman, your mother. You should listen to her.”
I harrumphed and shook my head.
“I don’t get it. What am I supposed to be looking at that I don’t see?” I took another bite of the salmon and wild rice he’d fixed for tonight. “If it’s this meal, then she’s wrong. I notice. It’s delicious. I don’t know what kind of cook Adam is, but you’re world-class.”
He gave me a short, unhappy smile.
“So have you decided to buy the Limelight?” Maybe it was time for me to stop thinking about myself and start considering other people. Was that what Mom meant?
Before he could answer, Ricky was on top of us, happy, bouncing, and talking a mile a minute.
“Oh, I’m so sorry I’m late for dinner.” He whipped around to glare at me. “Where were you? We were supposed to meet after work. We were talking about my new position watering plants. Did you know that Jimmy at the coffee place wants plants in his shops too? And the ladies at the hair salon said they wanted some too. Nobody can convince Stone to put them in the saloon. He said saloons didn’t need plants. Did you ever hear anything so silly? Where were you?”
While he was talking, John served him a plate and laid out some flatware.
“I was here, talking to John. I guess I forgot about the meeting.” Actually, I hadn’t forgotten. I’d told Beth I couldn’t make it and had come home because I’d been tired. Exhausted really. Already Ricky’s exuberance was poking away at my nerves, making me sag more than I had all day.
A couple of people
