Carolina Rain (7 page)

“Uh, I’m still here, men,” she said, grinning.

Silence settled into the room. There were
moments
when
quiet
could be a curse, an evil alternative spawned from Hell itself, or an incredible blessing. Manny supposed those extremes had to do with the road one was traveling, intentional or not. Looking around the room again, he fixed his gaze on Chloe and Jen,
and then
voted for the blessing. Heaven was a wonderful place—Louise had said as much in that dream that would always be a part of them—but he wasn’t ready to go, just yet. It occurred to him that he was, maybe, needed here. How could that be bad, in any light?

A few minutes later, Sophie broke the silence. “So what’s the deal? When can you come out and play?”

“Let me answer that,” said Josh, his blue eyes shining.

“Okay by me. When you’re done, I’ll be taking another nap,” said Manny. He was starting to wear down
,
but the doctors had been very encouraging.

“Don’t think I missed that look in your eyes,
A
gent. You’re not getting out of here until they say you can,” said Josh.

“What look?”

Josh ignored him. Manny smiled again.

“As you all know, the t
i
p of the knife broke off
a centimeter
from his heart. So when they removed the knife, that part was still there. That’s why the surgery was so dangerous.”

“We know that,” said Alex.

“True. But you didn’t know that the coma was induced to minimize the risk of it breaking loose and getting caught somewhere in his blood stream. Anyway, that’s why they waited so long to remove Garity’s honeymoon gift.”

“Bastard,” whispered Chloe.

“Bastard is right,” said Jen.

“Hey. Watch your language. I didn’t teach you that,” said Manny.

“No. But Sophie always says that
—
”

“That’s enough girls,” said Sophie
.
“Um. Go on, Josh.”

“As much as I’d like to hear about Sophie’s
grammar
lessons, I’ll take her off the hook, for now. Once the medical team got him stabilized to their satisfaction, they went to work and obviously it came off well.”

“Again, how long?” asked Sophie.

“The chief surgeon said that since he was in such good shape, and the surgery was a bit less invasive than they’d originally thought, and barring any complications like infections, and if he avoid
s
heavy lifting, and ha
s
no sex with Chloe for one year, he should be ready to go in a
couple of weeks or so
.”

“What did ya say, man, about the sex? I didn’t hear the doctor say anything like that.” With
a
look of puzzlement, Chloe glared at Josh
. T
hen realization set in and she broke into
a
beautiful grin that
forced
Manny
to
fall in love with her again.

“I’m just messing with you,”
said
Josh.

The laughs echoing through the large recovery room made it feel more like a holiday gathering with family than a hospital stay. Manny felt what was left of the fearful tension that had been reaching for them all vacate the premises. One more hurdle cleared.

“I owe ya one, Corner. A
t least one,” said Chloe, a shade of red coloring her cheeks.

Manny fixed
his eyes
on
his wife
. She had lost a few pounds and her face was a touch gaunt
. Ye
t she was as beautiful and desirable to him as the day they’d met. Maybe more
so
. He found himself thanking God that Josh had been messing with her.
The extra color suited her.

“Anyway
,
Manny should be out of here in a week to ten days, then another
two or three
weeks at home
,
depending on how fast he heals. All in all, not a bad recovery prognosis,” finished Josh.

“Awesome to hear.
Now maybe I can get back to work and clear up
seven
weeks of backlog thanks to your little vacation,”
said
Alex, rubbing his gloved hand.

“Duly noted. By the way, how’s the hand doing?”

Alex shrugged. “Not exactly like I wanted
, but
I’ll show you
what’s coming
after you get your strength up. It’s kind of cool.”

“Cool isn’t the right word,” said Dean. “It’s more
like the coolest thing ever.”
There was no mistaking the geek in his voice.

“Looking forward to seeing what you’ve got.”

The door swung open and a stocky, black-suited FBI agent motioned to
the
head of BAU. Josh went out the door and, before it had closed completely, he was back in the room wearing that look that Manny knew well.
The
shit ha
d
hit the fan
.

Managing another deep breath, Manny raised hims
elf a little higher in the bed.
“Was that about Garity?”

Josh nodded and then did a double-take. “How did you know about him? You’ve been pretty much out this whole time.”

“I’ll tell you later. So, what’s going on?”

“Just when I think you’re in the dark, you’re not,” said Josh,
shaking
his head back and forth.

His
eyes circl
ing
his team
, Josh
spoke softly. “Garity's body was discovered washed up on a beach in North Carolina.”

CHAPTER-10

J.R. Saylor looked the new girl up and down,
rubbing his neck
. He must be crazy. Crazy as a shit house rat, his old grandma used to say. But then again, he was okay with crazy, wasn’t he? Hell, they all said he was, even from the
minute
he
’d
quit school and joined the Army. He remembered how happy his dad had been when he brought home the paperwork from the recruiter. He never saw the old man sign his name so fast in his life. Thinking back, if he’d been in his dad’s place, he might have signed it even faster. Not that he’d ever gotten into any serious trouble. Well, except for the time he and his buddies decided to “harvest” a few gardens and then tried to sell the tomatoes and cukes at their very own roadside stand. Man. What an ass-warming that one had been.

Running his left hand over his stubbled cheek, he scanned her again. Yep. A sure-fire mistake. She had a limp and wore a glove over her left hand. He hadn’t asked. If he had, he might have gotten a lawsuit from one of those damned liberal left-wing organizations that cared more about discrimination than letting a man make a dollar. One more reason this country was going to hell in a handbasket.

Glancing down past his greasy apron that bulged significantly at the waist, he fixed his gaze on his right leg, or where his right leg had been. He had his own reasons for not asking and mostly it had to do with not giving a shit about what was under the glove. He knew how people treated folks that had a limb missing or just a good old-fashioned limp. Still to this day, he hated that feeling but had grown to tolerate it. People couldn’t help how they were, mostly.

The explosion that had taken the leg while serving his country still talked to him on those nights when nothing could keep the demons away. Still, he’d do it all over again. There is no land like the good old USA, no matter what problems existed
and who caused them
.

J.R.
shifted his weight and, for the third time, shook his head. Crazy. Plumb-ass loony tunes. But who knew for sure? Maybe she could do it. He had. He’d taken advantage of the chance old Jack Crane had given him all those years ago. Now he owned his own place and was making a good living
too
.

“Why do you keep shaking your head, Mr. Saylor?”

“
C
uz
I must be nuts to think you can do this job. Maybe I’m getting soft. I hear that happens when you turn sixty and lose your hair
.
”
H
is voice, gruff from a lifetime of cigars and liquor, came out like a growl.

“I can do it,” she answered softly.

“Really? Like I told you yesterday. My regulars—and yes,
J.R.
’s Place right here in
Kure Beach
, North Carolina, has regulars—won’t cotton to no cold eggs and empty coffee cups. No matter how purty you are. At least you got that going for
ya
. But no one ever kept their job in this place with just good looks
. . .
‘cept me.”

The beginnings of a grin formed at the corners of her mouth, which added to her
beauty
.
The girl isn’t just purty. Could be downright gorgeous if she wanted to be.

He frowned and her smile vanished. “For a minute there, I thought you was going to think Old
J.R.
wasn’t cute. That’s the second rule
. The first is I’m that always right
, and if you have any more questions see the second rule. Got that?”

“Yes sir, I got that.”

“Just make damn sure you do. I ain’t got no
patience
to mother your little ass.”

She
’d
stiffened when he said
‘
mother
,
’
then it was gone. Probably just his imagination. He was trying to sc
are her and maybe it had worked. B
ut
,
then again, he’d been around a few of the scarin’ kind and she didn’t seem to fit.

The alarm behind him went off.
Six
thirty
a.m. and time to open the front door.
Another day, another dollar, he hoped.

“Lily A. Cruz, are ya ready to get to work?”

“Right now? This morning? Don’t I train first?”

Throwing his head back,
he laughed. This could be fun.
“Darlin’, this
is
one of them OTJ training programs the liberals hate. The aprons are over in that
there
closet, and there’s a stack of order pads and a box of pens.”

Sweeping his arm over the smallish room with four blue booths and twelve tables, he laughed again.

“That there is your training room. The only other schoolin’ tool you get is my left boot up your ass if you don’t move quick enough. Any more questions?”

Lily shrugged. “I guess not. But what happens if I make a mistake or upset one of the customers?”

“We’ll deal with it
when it happens
. The second time, you get a butt reamin’
.
T
he third time, I reckon I’ll need some new help. But as long as you hustle ass and do your best, we’ll be good to go. Besides, there’s worse things than making a mistake in a diner. I mean, you don’t look like no bank robber or serial killer or something, now do ya?”

His new waitress gave him her biggest
,
most beautiful smile to date. “No sir, Mr. Saylor. I don’t. I certainly don’t.”

CHAPTER-11

The medical team had booted out
his
friends and family
. . .
but
Manny had
asked Alex to stay, despite the RN’s protest.

“I need five minutes with him, then you can do your worst," he’d said. After a few more warnings, the nurse gave in, like she really had a choice in the matter. He respected her knowledge and authority
,
only
there were more important things from
time-to-time
. The doctors were going to let him rest a few hours and then take him for his first walk. Manny closed his eyes and again marveled at how far the world of medicine had advanced over the last twenty years. Waiting a few hours after chest surgery to begin a patient’s walking routine was unheard of back then
. It
was
a normal practice these days
, however
. They wanted the healing process to begin as soon as possible, not to mention alleviating insurance troubles for keeping a patient too long. In that vein, it seemed that money still made the world go round, even in Lansing, Michigan.

Alex sat in the chair beside Manny, unconsciously rubbing his hand. “What’s up?” he asked.

But Mann
y
was sure
his longtime friend already knew what was up.
“I just wanted to
see
how things really were with you and the hand.”