“Hey, Ben,” she said as she finished parking.
“Hey, Rose. Listen I’m gonna be gone all next week. I’m going hunting up north with my old man and my brother.”
Rose bit her lip. Shit. “Okay.”
“I was thinking I could just stop by Sunday to give you the shot because it’s the day before I leave, and I figured I could give you the next one Saturday when I get back, but I just found out my uncle’s coming too, and I gotta go pick him up this weekend.”
Rose sighed. “That’s okay. I can figure something out.”
“But I can come by today if you want. This way next week you’ll just have to go into the clinic one day. It’ll save you some time right? You said they take forever.”
Relieved that today was Lorenzo’s day off, she agreed quickly. “Yes, that would be great, if it’s not too much trouble.”
“No, not at all. Does a half hour from now work for you?”
“That’s perfect.”
Rose was gonna have to do something about this. She couldn’t be counting on Ben to do this for long. He said he didn’t mind and felt even more confident about his ability to give injections now, but something had to give. Grace had one more month to go before she had the baby. Rose could do this for one more month without having to worry Grace unnecessarily, and then she’d have to fess up. Especially because she knew Vincent would most certainly have an issue with this.
She’d only been waiting tables for about fifteen minutes when Lorenzo walked in wearing his restaurant polo. What?
Putting her order in quickly, she hurried to the back and reread the schedules. She distinctly heard him say today was his day off. She didn’t even care anymore that he’d volunteered to work a few more weeks at this restaurant. He always had something new to share with her about Vincent that she’d missed out on this past year. In fact now that she knew the truth, she liked having him around, but not today. Maybe he was just here to pick up something. The schedule confirmed he wasn’t supposed to be there today. He walked in just as she was getting ready to walk out.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” she smiled nervously, “I thought you were off today.”
“I was.” He smiled, walking past her. “But Sal called from the doctor’s office. Seems your sister is having early contractions. The docs are trying to stop them. He’s gonna be there most of the day, and someone called in so I get extra hours this week.”
“What?” Forgetting about everything else Rose pulled her phone out. “Why didn’t anybody tell me?” Grace said her appointment this morning was routine. Just then she noticed the missed call she had from Sal and a voicemail. The time the call came in was just before her shift started. He must’ve called while she was on the line with Ben, and it went straight to voicemail. “Stupid phone.”
“He didn’t sound worried, Rose,” Lorenzo tried to assure her. “He said Grace didn’t even realize she was contracting until the doctor told her she was.”
Rose glanced back at Lorenzo as she listened to Sal’s voicemail.
“Rose just so you know, Grace is fine. The doctor is not even sending her to the hospital. He just wants to monitor here for a little longer. She’s fine, the baby’s fine, the only thing she’s worried about is you. No freaking out okay? We should be home a little later. Angel is gonna stop by to close up the restaurant for me. Don’t worry; I’ll keep you updated.”
Feeling an enormous relief she hung up. Just as she did, she heard Angel’s voice out front, and it was getting closer. Lorenzo was still getting his apron on when Angel walked into the back room. “Hey, Enzo are you just getting here, too?”
“Yep, just got the call about twenty minutes ago.”
“Good. This place gets busy on Fridays,” he turned to Rose with that dimpled smile that always made her smile big and goofy. “Your boyfriend’s out in the parking lot.”
That wiped the silly smile off her face in an instant. She glanced at Lorenzo whose own expression had gone hard.
With no time to explain she thanked Angel for letting her know, grabbed her purse, and rushed out without looking at Lorenzo again. She was almost at the front door when she heard Lorenzo’s voice just behind her. “Why’s he here?”
She turned to face him. “I asked him to come.”
“Why?”
“I told you I was going to talk to him.”
Lorenzo peered at her suspiciously. “You also said he wasn’t your boyfriend. Why couldn’t you just text him that he doesn’t have to play the part anymore? Or was he really your boyfriend and you’re actually breaking up with him now?”
Good Lord. Rose couldn’t decide which was worse. Having to have this conversation with Lorenzo now or having to have it later with Vincent.
Looking over Vincent’s shoulder, she saw Angel walk out of the back room and look their way. “He’s not my boyfriend,” she said lowering her voice. “He never was, but he is my friend.”
“So what?” Lorenzo didn’t follow her lead of lowering his voice. Frustratingly he did just the opposite and raised his. “You’re gonna go out there and sit in his car with him again? And you really expect me to keep this from Vince?”
“I have to,” she said, noticing that Angel was watching them.
“What?” He spat out the question. “What do you mean you have to?”
Grabbing his hand and smiling at Angel, she pulled him outside with her. “Look, it’s long and too complicated to explain right now. He’s not just here to visit. He’s doing me a favor. I can’t get into the details with you, but I promise you nothing is going on between me and him.”
Lorenzo shook his head. He was as stubborn as Vincent had described him. “I don’t care what kind of favor he’s doing you. I know Vince wouldn’t be cool with this shit. He hates this guy, and here he is showing up all the time to see you? Nope.” He shook his head glaring at Ben’s car. “I should be hearing from Vince any day now, and when he asks,” Lorenzo stopped, bringing his piercing eyes back to her taking her breath away much like his brother always did with the almost identical stare, “and he always asks if I’ve heard anything else about you. I’m gonna have to tell him.”
No! It was already going to be hard enough to explain Ben to Vincent without him hearing about all his visits first. Taking a deep breath she glanced over at Ben’s car. What to do? “I’m sick, Lorenzo, okay? Nobody knows but Ben, and I only told him because I need someone to give me injections twice a week, and he’s pre-med so he’s trained on that.”
She saw the glare soften a bit and the concern set in. “You’re sick? What’s wrong with you?”
“Pernicious Anemia. I have a vitamin deficiency that lowers my red blood cell count, and I need to be injected with Vitamin B12 twice a week. Pills won’t help.” She turned back to Ben’s car. “That’s why he comes twice a week.”
“Is it…” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Is it terminal?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Well, from what I’ve read online, it could lead to other stuff that would be terminal, but I think they caught mine in time.”
This time Lorenzo glanced in Ben’s direction. “So why don’t you just inject yourself. Why does he have to do it?”
“Because I’m squeamish and I can’t.” She frowned. “I’m gonna have to learn because I think this is forever, and I can’t be counting on him for that long, but for now…”
“And there’s no one else that can do it?” The concern was gone now as he raised an eyebrow.
“I haven’t told anyone else. I don’t want to worry Grace in her condition.” Glancing back at Ben’s car anxiously, she wished now that she’d explained, Lorenzo would just go inside already. She didn’t want to make Ben wait all day. “I gotta go. He’s waiting for me.”
She took a step away from Lorenzo but slowed when she realized he was walking with her. “Tell him to go. I can do it.”
She stopped and looked at him. He was even worse than Vincent had described him. He was outrageous
. “What? You’re gonna do it?”
“Yep, my grandpa was diabetic. Me and Vince used to watch him shoot up his insulin all the time. He even let us a do it a few times. No big deal. I’ll do it until you let everyone in on this. Then someone else can take over like your mom or Grace, not some dude.”
“Just like that?” she lifted her shoulder letting it drop just as fast. “I’m just supposed to let you inject me.”
“Why not? You let him!” He pointed at Ben’s car.
Rose reached out and tapped his arm so he’d drop it and stop pointing. “He is pre-med.”
“Pre-med my ass. My grandpa didn’t even make it through grade school, and he shot up like nobody’s business. Crack heads do it all the time. I take it you’re not even aiming for any veins with this right? I’m telling you I can do this.”
Knowing Ben had already sat there waiting for her for a while and seeing Lorenzo’s unrelenting attitude about this whole thing, Rose could see she had no choice but to agree.
Exhaling exaggeratingly loud she gave in. “Okay, I’ll tell him.”
She started toward Ben’s car until she realized Lorenzo was coming with her, so she stopped. “Alone.”
Lorenzo frowned but finally let up taking a few steps back toward the restaurant’s front door. She didn’t look back to see if he was watching her. She didn’t have to. She had no doubt he was watching and making note of even the smallest details.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Vince
Coughing up what felt like sand in his raw throat, Vince sat up, the searing pain in his arm a rude reminder of where he was. “Mother Fu—”
“Shhh!”
Vincent flinched as he turned to the glimmer of light that came from his side through a tiny hole. It was quickly covered as something or someone covered it.
“Keep it down.” The voice whispered again.
Vince flinched again when he felt something hard pushed against his ribs. The pain in his arm again so incredibly unbearable, he squeezed his eyes shut so hard, he literally saw stars.
“Take it,” the whispering voice insisted.
Vince didn’t bother opening his eyes. He couldn’t see a damn thing anyway. Feeling his hand out toward the direction of the voice with his good arm until he felt something hard and flat, he immediately recognized it as a canteen. Instantly his mouth ached for water.
Bringing it to his mouth, careful not to knock any teeth out, he took the first glorious sip into his liquid-starved mouth. Even though it felt like lava going down his dry throat, he’d needed it so bad he gulped down some more again loudly.
“Slow, down, Private Moreno.” The voice pressed a little louder. “You’ll make yourself sick.”
Catching his breath after the last sip, Vince finally asked what he wanted to know. “Who are you? And how do you know my name?”
“Small sips,” the voice said again. “We’ve got plenty. I’ve been gathering them, but you’ll be sick if you drink too fast. I’m Sergeant Fetherman, and your name is right there on your tags.”
Vince reached down and traced his tags with his fingers. “How’d you read it in the dark?”
He couldn’t see him, but he could hear the sergeant move away from him. In the next instant the small hole in the wall opened up. A ray of light so strong it made Vince squint lightened up the entire hole they were in. “Light comes in when I let it in.”
Vince straightened up again, careful not to injure his arm further. “Where are we?”
“From my calculations we’re about ten miles from where we’re supposed to be.” The sergeant covered the hole again, and once again they were in the dark. Only now at least Vince’s eyes had a chance to focus enough to make out shapes.
“What is this place?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say someone’s family bunker. This whole area was a thriving city once upon a time.” Fetherman looked out the hole again. “Damn shame. It’s nothing but rubble now.”
“Are we the only ones in here?” Vince looked around the dimly lit bunker and thought he saw bundles in corners that could be bodies.
“Nope. But we’re the only two still breathing.”
Vince pulled his arm back from whatever it was he was touching, igniting the pain again. “Augh!” He clenched his teeth. It hurt like a sonofabitch.
“You have to stop moving that arm around, Private. It’s busted up pretty bad. I did what I could to cover up the wound, but I’m not sure if it’s infected.”
Vince sat still, breathing in slowly, willing the pain to subside, but the entire length from his elbow to his shoulder throbbed mercilessly. “Is it broken?”
The sergeant laughed. “Only thing more broken than that arm is your sleep-talkin’ heart.”
Vince’s head shot up. “What?”
Fetherman turned back to Vince, covering up the hole halfway, so they still had some light. “Anybody ever tell you, you talk in your sleep, boy? Now, I don’t know if it’s because you were delirious with pain or if that’s how you normally sound, but it was irritating as shit trying to get the story straight. But you did answer questions. Like who the hell is Hose? Took me a while, but I finally got that you were trying to say Rose.”
Vince stared at him, not wanting the sergeant to see how much this pissed him off. “You listened to me talk in my sleep then asked me questions about it?”
There’d been no masking the annoyance in his voice, but at this point Vince didn’t care. Much like when he replayed that night in Anita’s room, the adrenaline coursing through him now was actually helping drown out the pain in his arm.
“What else was I supposed to do? You kept going on and on, so when I finally asked who the hell Hose was and you actually answered, I figured I may as well entertain myself. You got it pretty bad for this Rose, huh?”
Vince didn’t answer. He was racking his brain now trying to remember any dream he had recently, but he couldn’t remember any, except for the one that ended in Rose telling him to run.
“She must be something else—”
“She,” Vince said trying to keep his cool, “is none of your damn business.”
“All right, all right,” the sergeant said chuckling as he looked out the hole again. He immediately closed it. “Don’t move,” he whispered.
Vince froze in place, literally able to hear his heart thump in his chest as footsteps and voices outside not speaking English got louder.
Something rattled above them sending sand flying all around them, and Vince covered his mouth, trying not to cough. As the rattling continued, it became apparent that the men outside were trying to make their way into the bunker. Vince thought about the sergeant mentioning he’d been collecting canteens. Why hadn’t Vince thought to ask what else he’d collected—like weapons?
He sat there feeling completely vulnerable. If they were caught they’d either be taken prisoner or assassinated on the spot. He squeezed his eyes shut, picturing his beautiful Rose. If he was going to die, he wanted her face to be the last thing he saw.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Rose
Lorenzo had been right. Giving her a shot had been a cinch for him. She felt kind of rotten about lying to Ben. She’d told him one of her co-workers was studying to be a nurse and would give the shot from now on. He knew the truth about Vincent now also. She’d told him the night after she’d written the marathon letter to Vincent. But after all he’d done for her and all the times he’d been there through it all even taking the time to come to her work to give her the injections, she hated having to admit that he was being dismissed so easily. But she didn’t have much choice. Lorenzo was threatening to tell Vincent, and after everything they’d been through already, she didn’t want to add this. Not yet anyway. She’d explain it to him eventually. She’d continue to text Ben and talk to him on the phone, but the visits would have to stop. He was juggling several girls at the moment anyway. He’d be fine without her company.
Feeling much better now that the injec
tions were really kicking in, Rose no longer had shaky hands or tingling feet and fingers. It seemed now that the weight of the world had come off her, both from knowing that something was being done about her vitamin deficiency and knowing the truth about Vincent. Everything was going perfectly.
Even her college soccer team was one game away from winning their division for the season and moving on to state finals. Everyone had gone to her game even her mother. It couldn’t have gone down in more dramatic fashion with Rose’s team scoring at the last minute to take the lead and avoid having to wait until her next game to clinch the division.
With Grace being so pregnant and wobbling around, swollen ankles and all, Alex suggested they all go back to his place after the game to celebrate. Lorenzo had been at the game, but an hour into the gathering he still wasn’t there. She was anxious to ask him if he’d heard anything from Vincent yet. She still hadn’t received a response from him herself and was beginning to worry maybe he was angry or too hurt to respond.
“I don’t know; maybe it’s just me,” Romero said as Rose walked out into the patio where they were all gathered.
“It is just you,” Eric laughed.
“I’m sorry,” Romero threw his hands in the air, “I don’t like other men touching my wife.”
“He was rubbing her pregnant belly.” Sal laughed.
“Yeah, but you didn’t see how he was doing it,” Romero protested.
“And didn’t you say he was an older man?” Grace asked holding her hand to her back as Sal helped her sit down.
Romero shook his head making a face. “Izzy said that. He wasn’t that much older…in his forties probably. And what does rubbing her belly have to do with him talking about her pretty hair?”
Isabel laughed now. “I swear you turn everything around. He said the baby would probably have thick pretty hair because mine was so thick.”