Attack at the Gardens Part B
This is the second part of the story.
Part B
Before going back to Anita’s room, we stopped by the receptionist’s desk to ask what was going on with Peter. Now that I knew that Anita was okay, I felt kinda guilty for not thinking about him that much before. Layla gave us directions to a room on the second floor where Peter was resting. “His surgery went well but he’s pretty weak since he didn’t have many reserves...”
“He lives on the streets.” I explained.
“Well I guess it’s a good thing that Laura’s acting as a go-between. If she hadn’t, he’d be in big trouble.”
I didn’t have to ask why. Though Nova-Scotia’s health care was supposed to be free, patients without health insurance usually wound up with bills around their necks and inferior services. It wasn’t always the hospital’s fault either, the government has been promising to improve Canada’s health care system for years but usually they only gave the least amount of money possible to keep the voters on their side.
On that depressing note, we left the front desk to go find Peter. Not having my walking stick was starting to get really annoying actually. I liked being in physical contact with Kelly but I also like having the symbol and medium of my independence with me. Without its reassuring weight in my hand, I felt naked.
“So now you two are even.” Kelly said randomly as we were going through yet another hallway.
“Pardon?”
“He saved your life and now you saved his. You’re even.” Kelly explained.
“I’m not going to leave him alone because of that.”
“I know.” Kelly said cheerfully. “There it is!”
This time, we didn’t interrupt a conversation, though I think I would’ve preferred that over the hiss and hum of machinery. When a person’s talking, he or she is usually healthy.
“You awake?” I asked, going towards the sound of a respirator. “Peter?”
“Are you okay?” He wheezed, sounding a little funny with an oxygen mask over his face. The worry in his voice was clear though.
“Yes.”
“Anita?”
“She’s fine too. The doctors patched her up and now she’s resting upstairs.”
“Good.” He breathed, relief rolling off of him in pulsing waves. “I thought…”
“They’re both okay.” Kelly reassured him.
“I believe you.” Peter said, his voice hardening. “I thought I told you to run. Why didn’t you run? Neither of you would’ve been hurt at all that way!”
“And you would’ve been dead.” I retorted, crossing my arms.
“I don’t matter that much. You and Anita are young and have your lives ahead of you. People love you and you could’ve died to protecting me after I threw my life away! Nobody would cry if I died.”
“Peter you idiot.” Kelly groaned, wrapping her arms around my waist to stop me from smacking him.
“I would’ve cried! Anita would’ve! Hell, even Kelly would’ve though she’d never admit it!” I screamed at him instead, ignoring Kelly’s snort. “If you feel that sorry for yourself that do something about it instead of living your life as a penance!”
“You don’t even know what I did!”
“Than tell me!” I snarled. “I’m not a child that needs to be sheltered from your past.”
“I don’t want you to hate me!” Peter protested, sounding like somebody was jumping up and down on his chest as he breathed.
“Try me. Short of killing someone I like, there isn’t much that could make me hate you.”
He took a deep breath. “How do you put up with her when she gets like this?”
“It’s easier to just do as she wants most of the time.” Kelly answered fondly, running her fingers slowly across the sensitive skin on my stomach. I don’t know if Peter noticed because of my shirt; but it was soothing. “I can leave the room if you two want to be alone.” Kelly offered mildly after Peter mulled that over for a moment.
“We were married for less than three months when I started drinking.” He started slowly, thinking before he spoke. “At first, it was just a little bit after work to relax, you know? Teaching undergraduates isn’t easy; they whine, they ask questions about things you’re just about to talk about or things that are completely unrelated, they bitch about TA’s, some of their writing is absolutely illegible. There’s just so much tedious paperwork involved in teaching these days.” Peter sighed. “That’s a part I don’t miss at all, though some of the doodles I’ve seen were fairly interesting.
“Anyway, Laura was still working on her degree in nursing at the time, finishing up actually. We didn’t see each other that much because I worked late a lot and she was busy trying to get through the pile of schoolwork. I started drinking more and more until I was drunk every other night, I yelled at her when she tried to take the bottles away. Sex didn’t make her happy any more and she started avoiding me.
“At one point, I was showing up at my classes drunk or at least seriously hung over. The university started keeping an eye on me since I wasn’t publishing any papers to try and bring investors into the department’s research funds. We started getting short on money once she finished her degree... I stopped her from getting a job.”
“Why?” Kelly asked.
“Would you want to admit that you needed help to support your wife’s lifestyle?” Peter asked.
“I wouldn’t want to but if I couldn’t, I would.”
“I couldn’t because that’s part of being a man.”
“Being an idiot?” I asked.
“Men are supposed to be able to support their families at any time or they aren’t considered men. If I couldn’t even do that, then I wasn’t a man and that’s something I’ve always taken pride in. You know how society is Carolyn.”
“I still think you were being an idiot.”
“Perhaps.” Peter almost admitted. “Either way, she stayed with me for another year and a half. At first, she bugged me about money, my drinking, and about children. She wanted a child to take care of; I didn’t want another burden. Eventually, we just stopped having sex and she started to look for a job. She left after I lost my job, divorced me, and got a restraining order. She took the house, the car, and most of the things I owned.”
“So you decided to live on the streets?”
“It wasn’t so much of a choice as a necessity.” Peter admitted grudgingly. “I didn’t have much money saved and I wasn’t qualified for anything other than teaching physics. After what happened at my university, my reputation was in shambles so no other teaching institute would hire me. I floated from part-time job to part-time job, staying at hotels or on the streets.
“I sobered up quick after I pushed someone in front of a car. The child was small enough that he fell away from the sidewalk when I lost my balance … and I tried to use his body to regain my equilibrium. It… it was so close. The car was maybe twenty centimeters away from his head… He couldn’t’ve been more than six… I … It… It was the worse day of my life… and I couldn’t even bend over enough to pick him off the street… I just ran…Fucking ran away like a coward.” He said furiously, tears of self-hatred in his voice and I could smell his fear as remembered. I wanted to go to him and hold him, but Kelly held me back. They were quite alike in some ways, especially in their reluctance to ever show weakness. Even if she loves me, she rarely tells me if something’s really bothering her. I have to guess what’s going on and try to pin her down before she’d allow herself to show that she was vulnerable.
It was one of the few things she does that really pisses me off.
“I haven’t taken a drink since then.” Peter said once he managed to get himself under control again. “But I don’t deserve to go back into that world. Not after what I did.”
“Well, if everyone was expected to live in poverty after screwing up their lives, there wouldn’t be anybody left in houses.” I tried for reassuring but my voice sounded flat to my own ears. I walked over to his bed, forcing Kelly to move with me until she decided to give up and let me do what I wanted. I sat down on the bed beside him.
“I almost killed a child!”
“And you’ve been slowly killing yourself to make up for it, haven’t you? At first you drank, now you’re deliberately mistreating your body by living on the streets in all kinds of weather. It’s bloody amazing you haven’t died yet actually.” I felt around for his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. When he squeezed back after a minute of silence, relief swept through me. “You’re not going to be stupid like that again are you?”
“Of course not but you’re-“
“Peter, I don’t care. You saved my life, helped me when I needed advice and someone to hold on to, and you kind of remind me of my father when you lecture me. Nobody’s a saint so stop killing yourself.”
“Kelly!” He pleaded, searching for someone reasonable.
“Her pig-headed acceptance of people is one of the reasons I love her, but I agree that it’s frightening. Accepting it only means swallowing your pride most of the time though.” Kelly said neutrally. “I don’t like what you did but then I’m not as nice as Carolyn. I do think that you’re ex-wife has moved on though since she decided to help you. Right Laura?”
“Laura!” Peter echoed guiltily as I angled my body towards the doorway. Now that Kelly called my attention to her, Laura’s presence was obvious. The woman breathed loudly and I could hear her rub her hands against her pants nervously. “When did you?”
“Excuse me ladies.” She said from the doorway, gliding into the room without answering Peter’s question.
“Of course.” Kelly said politely, pulling me off of the bed and steering me out of the room before I could figure out what to say.
“When I agreed to keep paying your health insurance in exchange for the house, I didn’t expect you to do something like this.” Laura told Peter dryly as I cleared the doorway.
I heard Peter apologize just before the door shut itself behind us and Kelly quickly pulled me out of hearing range so I wouldn’t eavesdrop. “They need their privacy.”
“But you shouldn’t’ve -“
“She’s so much younger than he is.” Kelly mused, ignoring my spluttering as she started walking back to the stairwell.
“What?”
“She’s gorgeous too. Why would she marry Peter? He’s not that good-looking.”
“You’re gay.”
“Well, he isn’t.”
“He’s a good person. She probably just fell in love with him. You don’t love people just because they’re good-looking do you?”
She actually struggled with that one for a few minutes. “It helps.” Kelly answered honestly.
I poked her under the ribs, smirking as she squeaked in surprise. “So you only like me for my body?”
“Carolyn!” Kelly caught my free hand before I could poke her again, sounding pained. “You know that’s not true.”
“Well, as far as I know, you’ve only fallen in love with me and Anita. We’re both attractive, aren’t we?”
“That’s not the point!”
“Oh?”
“Look, I’m sorry I brought it up okay? Looks aren’t everything.” Kelly said hastily.
“Better.” I stuck my tongue out at her, struggling to keep from smiling as we entered the stairway.
“Don’t stick that out if you’re not going to use it.” Kelly said absent-mindedly.
“What makes you think I won’t?” I asked, leaning closer to her face.
Okay, I’ll admit that I made sure that the neckline of my shirt dipped down to show off the top of my boobs at that point. Knowing that everyone would be okay made me giddy after worrying for the better part of the day.
“The fact that we’re in the middle of a hospital and someone will come into sight any time now and you hate hospitals?” Kelly guessed, sounding quite distracted. I could feel her blush on my skin as I leaned even closer, wrapping my arms loosely around her waist.
I felt obscenely proud of myself.
I think I’ve been spending Way too much time with Anita.
Either way, I kissed her, taking comfort in the heat of her body and the fact that I didn’t give a shit whether or not somebody came around the corner of the stairwell or opened the door a few feet away. Kelly was mine now, though if you’d have asked me about it not even six months ago, I would have thought you were nuts.
“Yummy.” I quipped, patting her butt before starting down the stairs.
“I don’t understand you.” Kelly followed me, bemused.
“You understand the important things.” I shrugged, grinning at her mischievously.
“You’ve changed.” Kelly insisted.
“You try changing your initial opinion about something as basic as your own sexuality, fall in love with your best friend who started the whole thing, and tell me that you haven’t changed. Especially after she exposes you to a lovable lunatic like Anita.”
“Do you like it though?”
“Being with you? Yes. You’re a stubborn brute with a jealous streak but I’m happier than I’ve been in a while, hospital trip aside. If you break my heart though, I will have to kill you.”
“I’d deserve it.” Kelly said with a smile.
“As long as we understand each other.” I held out my hand for her, stopping in front of the stairwell’s exit.
She took it, turning it gently until my palm was facing downwards. Then, she kissed the top of it. “I think we do.” She stepped off the last step put an arm around my waist. “And I’m proud of us.”
“I agree, you sap.” I laughed, pulling her out into the busy hallway. “C’mon, lets go save our pet lunatic from her mother. We can continue this discussion later.”
“I’m sure Anita will be very disappointed at being stuck in the hospital.”
***
“I’m going to get a sponge bath!” Anita greeted us cheerfully. “An honest to Buddha sponge bath by a nurse. I love hospitals.”
“I threw hospital food in dumpster.” Alejandra explained.
“Or maybe not.” Kelly muttered when I smirked at her.
“Oh? What did I miss?” Anita drawled from the bed.
“Kelly just hasn’t had much luck with her assumptions.” I explained impishly.
“Oh? Do tell!”
“Peter’s okay.” Kelly interrupted before I could say anything. “He’s talking with his ex-wife right now so hopefully they can smooth some things over while he heals.”
“That’d be nice.” Anita agreed, letting Kelly change the subject. “I was worried that he wouldn’t be treated well because of his situation.”
“Laura’s a nurse here.” I explained.
“That’d help.”
Somebody knocked on the door a second before opening it, making the hinges grind against each other. “Miss Sanchez…?”
“That would be me deary.” Anita answered, some of the joy fading from her voice. “What brings lawmen to my door?”
“This fellow.” The officer held out a picture, the paper crinkling as he gave it to Anita. “I take it you recognize him?” He asked dryly when Anita took a calming breath.
“Si.” Anita’s voice shook a little before she got herself under control again. “He stabbed me and tried to kill Peter. He ran away after Carolyn knocked his knife out of his hand.”
“That would be Carolyn McKay?” The police officer clarified.
“Yeah.” I stepped forward, feeling Kelly’s hold on my hand tighten.
“You also called 911?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll need your statement and your signature as well.” The cop scribbled something on his notepad.
“Did you find the guy?” Kelly blurted.
“Not yet.” The cop answered, putting his notepad away again. “May I ask your name ma’am?”
“Kelly LaFontaine.” She answered, escorting me over to Anita so we could sit on the bed with her. “I live with Carolyn.”
“Any relation to Arthur LaFontaine?” Surprise.
“He’s my father.”
“Ah.” Out came the notebook again. “I was talking to your father yesterday about your brother’s marriage next month.”
“Marriage?” Kelly squeaked. “Already?”
“You didn’t know?” The cop sounded even more surprised.
“My parents are busy people.” Kelly said neutrally, regaining control over her voice. “So how far did you get in the investigation?”
“We can’t discuss the details before we take statements.” The other cop rumbled from behind his partner. “Technically, you two shouldn’t even be interviewed in the same room but considering Miss McKay’s condition, I think we can allow it. Could one of you start at the beginning?”
“I heard someone yelping in pain.” I started, choosing not to comment on the ‘my condition’. “So I dragged Anita towards the look-out shack in Point Pleasant.”
“I recognized that it was Peter on the ground and he tried to get us to run away but Carolyn told him to stop being an idiot and KO’d the nearest guy with her cane. Kelly, you should’ve seen her. She was magnificent.”
“Excuse you?” I cocked my head to the side, wondering if she hit her head while I wasn’t paying attention.
“You looked so sexy I wanted to eat you right up.”
“Anita!” Alejandra scolded her daughter. “Do that in private!”
“Anyway, Anita started fighting with the guy who ran away.” I continued, blushing. I wish Anita had kept that bit to herself. “One of the guys I hit grabbed me from behind and tried to choke me.”
“I heard her struggling so I turned around and got stabbed.” Anita continued, voice losing all traces of humor. “Carolyn freed herself and charged at that guy, almost getting herself stabbed I might add.”
“You did what!” Kelly sounded like someone just whacked her in the chest with a baseball bat.
“It turned out okay.” I pointed out, patting her on the shoulder.
“It- You - I- I- You!” Kelly spluttered.
“Now that Kelly has showed that she knows a few pronouns,” Anita quipped, still using a clinical tone. It was unnerving. “Carolyn managed to knock the knife out of his hand and got in a couple more hits before he ran away. Than she called 911 and threatened to kill me if I died on her.”
“She passed out and then we got here.” I finished.
“Do you remember anything about the attacker?” The cop asked.
“He smelled fruity.” I mused. “Like he was sweating sugar or something. And he had that annoying TAG cologne to try and cover it up but he still smelled fruity.”
“He limped more than he ran away.” Anita added. “Didn’t you get answers out of his cronies yet?”
“They’re still unconscious.” The first cop answered. “But we managed to track down where he lived and where he hung out so we posted men around those sites so we should find him soon. Can we go through the story once more?”
We indulged him and he made a few more notes. Or at least I think they were notes, he might’ve been doodling. The important thing’s that they eventually left, and that they told me my walking stick would stay in their evidence locker until after the trial. They WERE nice enough to give me another one though, a collapsible one that felt quite weird when I put the rope loop around my wrist.
“You almost got stabbed too!” Kelly whimpered.
“You’re still stuck on that?” Anita asked, amused. “You took my being stabbed in stride.”
“That’s not true!” Kelly snarled. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”
“You’re too pretty to have a heart attack.” Anita sounded relieved anyway.
“I do care about you, you crazy Spaniard.” Kelly sighed. “So stop acting like I don’t. It hurts when you say things like that.”
“I… Sorry…”
“Just get better so we can bring you home with us tomorrow. I know Alejandra needs to go back to Ontario in the morning and I don’t want you to be alone.”
“I don’t need charity.”
“I’m not giving charity. As soon as you get better, you can repay the favor somehow and then we’ll call it even. Until then, I won’t be able to sleep properly unless I know you’re safe and close by. You can reschedule your appointments for the week, right?”
“Yeah.” Anita said, sounding quite stunned. “So you…”
“I don’t know. I need to think about it before anything else, unlike Carolyn, I can’t listen to my first impulse and make things up as I go along. But I will answer you, one way or another, and I won’t get in your way as much.”
“… Are you sure about that…?”
“Yeah.” Kelly smiled. “I’ll be back to pick you up tomorrow morning and you can tell me all about your sponge bath.”
“Kelly?”
“Yes?”
“I’ve never regretted loving you.” Anita said softly. “I know I’ve hurt you through the years, but I never regretted our time together.”
“I’m not planning on going anywhere far away.” Kelly answered, giving Anita a butterfly kiss on the mouth.
“Neither am I.” I chirped, smiling at them. I had an odd feeling then of something that had finally clicked into place to make things right. “Try not to grope the nurse too much.”
“Does that mean I get to grope you instead?”
“It was nice meeting you Alejandra.” I ignored Anita’s question. “Despite the circumstances.”
“Sayonara, pequeño tigre.”
“Huh?”
Anita snorted. “She just agreed with us on your being like a feline. Little tiger.”
“Ah.” I smiled. “I guess that’s what I’ll be for Halloween.”
“Really!?! Kelly!”
“Agreed.” Kelly laughed, dragging me out of the room.
“What did I say?!”
“Only that you’d indulge Anita’s favorite fantasy.”
“Favorite one? How many does she have?”
“You really don’t want to know, m’dear.”
A Picnic In Winter ~~ Encounters ~~ The Club Incident ~~ Kelly Part 1 ~~ Kelly Part 2 ~~ Kelly Part 3 ~~ Interview With Anita ~~ Vacation ~~ Anita's Truth ~~ Aftermath ~~ Needing You ~~ Attack At The Gardens ~~~ Attack At The Gardens Part B ~~~ Don't Tie Me Down
Part B
Before going back to Anita’s room, we stopped by the receptionist’s desk to ask what was going on with Peter. Now that I knew that Anita was okay, I felt kinda guilty for not thinking about him that much before. Layla gave us directions to a room on the second floor where Peter was resting. “His surgery went well but he’s pretty weak since he didn’t have many reserves...”
“He lives on the streets.” I explained.
“Well I guess it’s a good thing that Laura’s acting as a go-between. If she hadn’t, he’d be in big trouble.”
I didn’t have to ask why. Though Nova-Scotia’s health care was supposed to be free, patients without health insurance usually wound up with bills around their necks and inferior services. It wasn’t always the hospital’s fault either, the government has been promising to improve Canada’s health care system for years but usually they only gave the least amount of money possible to keep the voters on their side.
On that depressing note, we left the front desk to go find Peter. Not having my walking stick was starting to get really annoying actually. I liked being in physical contact with Kelly but I also like having the symbol and medium of my independence with me. Without its reassuring weight in my hand, I felt naked.
“So now you two are even.” Kelly said randomly as we were going through yet another hallway.
“Pardon?”
“He saved your life and now you saved his. You’re even.” Kelly explained.
“I’m not going to leave him alone because of that.”
“I know.” Kelly said cheerfully. “There it is!”
This time, we didn’t interrupt a conversation, though I think I would’ve preferred that over the hiss and hum of machinery. When a person’s talking, he or she is usually healthy.
“You awake?” I asked, going towards the sound of a respirator. “Peter?”
“Are you okay?” He wheezed, sounding a little funny with an oxygen mask over his face. The worry in his voice was clear though.
“Yes.”
“Anita?”
“She’s fine too. The doctors patched her up and now she’s resting upstairs.”
“Good.” He breathed, relief rolling off of him in pulsing waves. “I thought…”
“They’re both okay.” Kelly reassured him.
“I believe you.” Peter said, his voice hardening. “I thought I told you to run. Why didn’t you run? Neither of you would’ve been hurt at all that way!”
“And you would’ve been dead.” I retorted, crossing my arms.
“I don’t matter that much. You and Anita are young and have your lives ahead of you. People love you and you could’ve died to protecting me after I threw my life away! Nobody would cry if I died.”
“Peter you idiot.” Kelly groaned, wrapping her arms around my waist to stop me from smacking him.
“I would’ve cried! Anita would’ve! Hell, even Kelly would’ve though she’d never admit it!” I screamed at him instead, ignoring Kelly’s snort. “If you feel that sorry for yourself that do something about it instead of living your life as a penance!”
“You don’t even know what I did!”
“Than tell me!” I snarled. “I’m not a child that needs to be sheltered from your past.”
“I don’t want you to hate me!” Peter protested, sounding like somebody was jumping up and down on his chest as he breathed.
“Try me. Short of killing someone I like, there isn’t much that could make me hate you.”
He took a deep breath. “How do you put up with her when she gets like this?”
“It’s easier to just do as she wants most of the time.” Kelly answered fondly, running her fingers slowly across the sensitive skin on my stomach. I don’t know if Peter noticed because of my shirt; but it was soothing. “I can leave the room if you two want to be alone.” Kelly offered mildly after Peter mulled that over for a moment.
“We were married for less than three months when I started drinking.” He started slowly, thinking before he spoke. “At first, it was just a little bit after work to relax, you know? Teaching undergraduates isn’t easy; they whine, they ask questions about things you’re just about to talk about or things that are completely unrelated, they bitch about TA’s, some of their writing is absolutely illegible. There’s just so much tedious paperwork involved in teaching these days.” Peter sighed. “That’s a part I don’t miss at all, though some of the doodles I’ve seen were fairly interesting.
“Anyway, Laura was still working on her degree in nursing at the time, finishing up actually. We didn’t see each other that much because I worked late a lot and she was busy trying to get through the pile of schoolwork. I started drinking more and more until I was drunk every other night, I yelled at her when she tried to take the bottles away. Sex didn’t make her happy any more and she started avoiding me.
“At one point, I was showing up at my classes drunk or at least seriously hung over. The university started keeping an eye on me since I wasn’t publishing any papers to try and bring investors into the department’s research funds. We started getting short on money once she finished her degree... I stopped her from getting a job.”
“Why?” Kelly asked.
“Would you want to admit that you needed help to support your wife’s lifestyle?” Peter asked.
“I wouldn’t want to but if I couldn’t, I would.”
“I couldn’t because that’s part of being a man.”
“Being an idiot?” I asked.
“Men are supposed to be able to support their families at any time or they aren’t considered men. If I couldn’t even do that, then I wasn’t a man and that’s something I’ve always taken pride in. You know how society is Carolyn.”
“I still think you were being an idiot.”
“Perhaps.” Peter almost admitted. “Either way, she stayed with me for another year and a half. At first, she bugged me about money, my drinking, and about children. She wanted a child to take care of; I didn’t want another burden. Eventually, we just stopped having sex and she started to look for a job. She left after I lost my job, divorced me, and got a restraining order. She took the house, the car, and most of the things I owned.”
“So you decided to live on the streets?”
“It wasn’t so much of a choice as a necessity.” Peter admitted grudgingly. “I didn’t have much money saved and I wasn’t qualified for anything other than teaching physics. After what happened at my university, my reputation was in shambles so no other teaching institute would hire me. I floated from part-time job to part-time job, staying at hotels or on the streets.
“I sobered up quick after I pushed someone in front of a car. The child was small enough that he fell away from the sidewalk when I lost my balance … and I tried to use his body to regain my equilibrium. It… it was so close. The car was maybe twenty centimeters away from his head… He couldn’t’ve been more than six… I … It… It was the worse day of my life… and I couldn’t even bend over enough to pick him off the street… I just ran…Fucking ran away like a coward.” He said furiously, tears of self-hatred in his voice and I could smell his fear as remembered. I wanted to go to him and hold him, but Kelly held me back. They were quite alike in some ways, especially in their reluctance to ever show weakness. Even if she loves me, she rarely tells me if something’s really bothering her. I have to guess what’s going on and try to pin her down before she’d allow herself to show that she was vulnerable.
It was one of the few things she does that really pisses me off.
“I haven’t taken a drink since then.” Peter said once he managed to get himself under control again. “But I don’t deserve to go back into that world. Not after what I did.”
“Well, if everyone was expected to live in poverty after screwing up their lives, there wouldn’t be anybody left in houses.” I tried for reassuring but my voice sounded flat to my own ears. I walked over to his bed, forcing Kelly to move with me until she decided to give up and let me do what I wanted. I sat down on the bed beside him.
“I almost killed a child!”
“And you’ve been slowly killing yourself to make up for it, haven’t you? At first you drank, now you’re deliberately mistreating your body by living on the streets in all kinds of weather. It’s bloody amazing you haven’t died yet actually.” I felt around for his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. When he squeezed back after a minute of silence, relief swept through me. “You’re not going to be stupid like that again are you?”
“Of course not but you’re-“
“Peter, I don’t care. You saved my life, helped me when I needed advice and someone to hold on to, and you kind of remind me of my father when you lecture me. Nobody’s a saint so stop killing yourself.”
“Kelly!” He pleaded, searching for someone reasonable.
“Her pig-headed acceptance of people is one of the reasons I love her, but I agree that it’s frightening. Accepting it only means swallowing your pride most of the time though.” Kelly said neutrally. “I don’t like what you did but then I’m not as nice as Carolyn. I do think that you’re ex-wife has moved on though since she decided to help you. Right Laura?”
“Laura!” Peter echoed guiltily as I angled my body towards the doorway. Now that Kelly called my attention to her, Laura’s presence was obvious. The woman breathed loudly and I could hear her rub her hands against her pants nervously. “When did you?”
“Excuse me ladies.” She said from the doorway, gliding into the room without answering Peter’s question.
“Of course.” Kelly said politely, pulling me off of the bed and steering me out of the room before I could figure out what to say.
“When I agreed to keep paying your health insurance in exchange for the house, I didn’t expect you to do something like this.” Laura told Peter dryly as I cleared the doorway.
I heard Peter apologize just before the door shut itself behind us and Kelly quickly pulled me out of hearing range so I wouldn’t eavesdrop. “They need their privacy.”
“But you shouldn’t’ve -“
“She’s so much younger than he is.” Kelly mused, ignoring my spluttering as she started walking back to the stairwell.
“What?”
“She’s gorgeous too. Why would she marry Peter? He’s not that good-looking.”
“You’re gay.”
“Well, he isn’t.”
“He’s a good person. She probably just fell in love with him. You don’t love people just because they’re good-looking do you?”
She actually struggled with that one for a few minutes. “It helps.” Kelly answered honestly.
I poked her under the ribs, smirking as she squeaked in surprise. “So you only like me for my body?”
“Carolyn!” Kelly caught my free hand before I could poke her again, sounding pained. “You know that’s not true.”
“Well, as far as I know, you’ve only fallen in love with me and Anita. We’re both attractive, aren’t we?”
“That’s not the point!”
“Oh?”
“Look, I’m sorry I brought it up okay? Looks aren’t everything.” Kelly said hastily.
“Better.” I stuck my tongue out at her, struggling to keep from smiling as we entered the stairway.
“Don’t stick that out if you’re not going to use it.” Kelly said absent-mindedly.
“What makes you think I won’t?” I asked, leaning closer to her face.
Okay, I’ll admit that I made sure that the neckline of my shirt dipped down to show off the top of my boobs at that point. Knowing that everyone would be okay made me giddy after worrying for the better part of the day.
“The fact that we’re in the middle of a hospital and someone will come into sight any time now and you hate hospitals?” Kelly guessed, sounding quite distracted. I could feel her blush on my skin as I leaned even closer, wrapping my arms loosely around her waist.
I felt obscenely proud of myself.
I think I’ve been spending Way too much time with Anita.
Either way, I kissed her, taking comfort in the heat of her body and the fact that I didn’t give a shit whether or not somebody came around the corner of the stairwell or opened the door a few feet away. Kelly was mine now, though if you’d have asked me about it not even six months ago, I would have thought you were nuts.
“Yummy.” I quipped, patting her butt before starting down the stairs.
“I don’t understand you.” Kelly followed me, bemused.
“You understand the important things.” I shrugged, grinning at her mischievously.
“You’ve changed.” Kelly insisted.
“You try changing your initial opinion about something as basic as your own sexuality, fall in love with your best friend who started the whole thing, and tell me that you haven’t changed. Especially after she exposes you to a lovable lunatic like Anita.”
“Do you like it though?”
“Being with you? Yes. You’re a stubborn brute with a jealous streak but I’m happier than I’ve been in a while, hospital trip aside. If you break my heart though, I will have to kill you.”
“I’d deserve it.” Kelly said with a smile.
“As long as we understand each other.” I held out my hand for her, stopping in front of the stairwell’s exit.
She took it, turning it gently until my palm was facing downwards. Then, she kissed the top of it. “I think we do.” She stepped off the last step put an arm around my waist. “And I’m proud of us.”
“I agree, you sap.” I laughed, pulling her out into the busy hallway. “C’mon, lets go save our pet lunatic from her mother. We can continue this discussion later.”
“I’m sure Anita will be very disappointed at being stuck in the hospital.”
***
“I’m going to get a sponge bath!” Anita greeted us cheerfully. “An honest to Buddha sponge bath by a nurse. I love hospitals.”
“I threw hospital food in dumpster.” Alejandra explained.
“Or maybe not.” Kelly muttered when I smirked at her.
“Oh? What did I miss?” Anita drawled from the bed.
“Kelly just hasn’t had much luck with her assumptions.” I explained impishly.
“Oh? Do tell!”
“Peter’s okay.” Kelly interrupted before I could say anything. “He’s talking with his ex-wife right now so hopefully they can smooth some things over while he heals.”
“That’d be nice.” Anita agreed, letting Kelly change the subject. “I was worried that he wouldn’t be treated well because of his situation.”
“Laura’s a nurse here.” I explained.
“That’d help.”
Somebody knocked on the door a second before opening it, making the hinges grind against each other. “Miss Sanchez…?”
“That would be me deary.” Anita answered, some of the joy fading from her voice. “What brings lawmen to my door?”
“This fellow.” The officer held out a picture, the paper crinkling as he gave it to Anita. “I take it you recognize him?” He asked dryly when Anita took a calming breath.
“Si.” Anita’s voice shook a little before she got herself under control again. “He stabbed me and tried to kill Peter. He ran away after Carolyn knocked his knife out of his hand.”
“That would be Carolyn McKay?” The police officer clarified.
“Yeah.” I stepped forward, feeling Kelly’s hold on my hand tighten.
“You also called 911?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll need your statement and your signature as well.” The cop scribbled something on his notepad.
“Did you find the guy?” Kelly blurted.
“Not yet.” The cop answered, putting his notepad away again. “May I ask your name ma’am?”
“Kelly LaFontaine.” She answered, escorting me over to Anita so we could sit on the bed with her. “I live with Carolyn.”
“Any relation to Arthur LaFontaine?” Surprise.
“He’s my father.”
“Ah.” Out came the notebook again. “I was talking to your father yesterday about your brother’s marriage next month.”
“Marriage?” Kelly squeaked. “Already?”
“You didn’t know?” The cop sounded even more surprised.
“My parents are busy people.” Kelly said neutrally, regaining control over her voice. “So how far did you get in the investigation?”
“We can’t discuss the details before we take statements.” The other cop rumbled from behind his partner. “Technically, you two shouldn’t even be interviewed in the same room but considering Miss McKay’s condition, I think we can allow it. Could one of you start at the beginning?”
“I heard someone yelping in pain.” I started, choosing not to comment on the ‘my condition’. “So I dragged Anita towards the look-out shack in Point Pleasant.”
“I recognized that it was Peter on the ground and he tried to get us to run away but Carolyn told him to stop being an idiot and KO’d the nearest guy with her cane. Kelly, you should’ve seen her. She was magnificent.”
“Excuse you?” I cocked my head to the side, wondering if she hit her head while I wasn’t paying attention.
“You looked so sexy I wanted to eat you right up.”
“Anita!” Alejandra scolded her daughter. “Do that in private!”
“Anyway, Anita started fighting with the guy who ran away.” I continued, blushing. I wish Anita had kept that bit to herself. “One of the guys I hit grabbed me from behind and tried to choke me.”
“I heard her struggling so I turned around and got stabbed.” Anita continued, voice losing all traces of humor. “Carolyn freed herself and charged at that guy, almost getting herself stabbed I might add.”
“You did what!” Kelly sounded like someone just whacked her in the chest with a baseball bat.
“It turned out okay.” I pointed out, patting her on the shoulder.
“It- You - I- I- You!” Kelly spluttered.
“Now that Kelly has showed that she knows a few pronouns,” Anita quipped, still using a clinical tone. It was unnerving. “Carolyn managed to knock the knife out of his hand and got in a couple more hits before he ran away. Than she called 911 and threatened to kill me if I died on her.”
“She passed out and then we got here.” I finished.
“Do you remember anything about the attacker?” The cop asked.
“He smelled fruity.” I mused. “Like he was sweating sugar or something. And he had that annoying TAG cologne to try and cover it up but he still smelled fruity.”
“He limped more than he ran away.” Anita added. “Didn’t you get answers out of his cronies yet?”
“They’re still unconscious.” The first cop answered. “But we managed to track down where he lived and where he hung out so we posted men around those sites so we should find him soon. Can we go through the story once more?”
We indulged him and he made a few more notes. Or at least I think they were notes, he might’ve been doodling. The important thing’s that they eventually left, and that they told me my walking stick would stay in their evidence locker until after the trial. They WERE nice enough to give me another one though, a collapsible one that felt quite weird when I put the rope loop around my wrist.
“You almost got stabbed too!” Kelly whimpered.
“You’re still stuck on that?” Anita asked, amused. “You took my being stabbed in stride.”
“That’s not true!” Kelly snarled. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”
“You’re too pretty to have a heart attack.” Anita sounded relieved anyway.
“I do care about you, you crazy Spaniard.” Kelly sighed. “So stop acting like I don’t. It hurts when you say things like that.”
“I… Sorry…”
“Just get better so we can bring you home with us tomorrow. I know Alejandra needs to go back to Ontario in the morning and I don’t want you to be alone.”
“I don’t need charity.”
“I’m not giving charity. As soon as you get better, you can repay the favor somehow and then we’ll call it even. Until then, I won’t be able to sleep properly unless I know you’re safe and close by. You can reschedule your appointments for the week, right?”
“Yeah.” Anita said, sounding quite stunned. “So you…”
“I don’t know. I need to think about it before anything else, unlike Carolyn, I can’t listen to my first impulse and make things up as I go along. But I will answer you, one way or another, and I won’t get in your way as much.”
“… Are you sure about that…?”
“Yeah.” Kelly smiled. “I’ll be back to pick you up tomorrow morning and you can tell me all about your sponge bath.”
“Kelly?”
“Yes?”
“I’ve never regretted loving you.” Anita said softly. “I know I’ve hurt you through the years, but I never regretted our time together.”
“I’m not planning on going anywhere far away.” Kelly answered, giving Anita a butterfly kiss on the mouth.
“Neither am I.” I chirped, smiling at them. I had an odd feeling then of something that had finally clicked into place to make things right. “Try not to grope the nurse too much.”
“Does that mean I get to grope you instead?”
“It was nice meeting you Alejandra.” I ignored Anita’s question. “Despite the circumstances.”
“Sayonara, pequeño tigre.”
“Huh?”
Anita snorted. “She just agreed with us on your being like a feline. Little tiger.”
“Ah.” I smiled. “I guess that’s what I’ll be for Halloween.”
“Really!?! Kelly!”
“Agreed.” Kelly laughed, dragging me out of the room.
“What did I say?!”
“Only that you’d indulge Anita’s favorite fantasy.”
“Favorite one? How many does she have?”
“You really don’t want to know, m’dear.”
A Picnic In Winter ~~ Encounters ~~ The Club Incident ~~ Kelly Part 1 ~~ Kelly Part 2 ~~ Kelly Part 3 ~~ Interview With Anita ~~ Vacation ~~ Anita's Truth ~~ Aftermath ~~ Needing You ~~ Attack At The Gardens ~~~ Attack At The Gardens Part B ~~~ Don't Tie Me Down