Come and Talk to Me (2 page)

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, Regina thanked Alex and Gary then sent them home. “There’s nothing you can do. I’ll call you as soon as I hear anything.” She filled out the necessary paperwork then settled in the waiting room playing Bejeweled on her cell phone, trying to pass the time. After about forty minutes, a male nurse came out to see her.

“Are you Mrs. Kimball?”

She looked up from her game. “Yes. Can I come in now?”

“Unless you’d rather stay and beat your high score.” He smiled as he looked at her phone. “I’m addicted to that one myself.”

“What did people do to amuse themselves before cell phone games?”

“I believe they were called magazines.” He laughed. His friendly manner and casual reply eased some of Regina’s concerns. “Follow me.”

“How is he?”

“Still in a lot of pain.”

“Can’t you give him anything?”

“We have—a lot.”

“Why is he still so bad?”

“Something is really off in his back. We’re waiting to take him down for an MRI, but he’s been asking for you. No harm in you being there while we wait. Any normal person would be in la-la land right now after all that morphine.”

“Morphine,” Reggie grumbled to herself. “I’m really beginning to hate that shit.”

When she walked into the room and saw the condition her husband was in, Reggie’s heart shattered. He was lying on his stomach again; apparently that was the more comfortable position. Van was moving his legs back and forth trying to get comfortable. Straightening up, trying to appear a lot stronger than she felt, Reggie hurried to his side, giving him a lingering kiss on the cheek.

“No better yet? They said they’ve given you a lot of morphine.”

“It’s been about as helpful as a lesbian.”

“How’s that?”

“It ain’t doin’ dick.”

The male nurse laughed then cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

“That’s okay.” Reggie stroked Van’s hair. “We get snippy when we’re not feeling well.” She leaned down and kissed him again. He reached for her hand and squeezed it as an orderly walked in.

“I’m here to take him for his MRI.” His eyes met Regina’s. “You can wait here if you want or we can come get you from the waiting room. We’ll be about a forty minutes.”

Since Troy and Sabrina lived right off the beach in Maalaea, after their fill of champagne and snacks, Reggie and Bri went across the street for a swim. They came back to Bri’s yard to lie out on the lawn chairs. Reggie was glad the men weren’t in sight at the moment or making a racket. A nap was called for.

Having grown up on Oahu, Regina enjoyed the much slower pace of Maui. She met Sabrina at her current job as a salesperson at one of the lumberyards. Troy was always doing something to the house and sent his wife on errands for materials. Bri had commented more than once about how much she liked having a female help her. She’d only had bad experiences with male salesmen; they usually treated her like she didn’t know what she was talking about when it came to lumber and such. She didn’t, but that was beside the point. Sabrina figured Regina filled the female quota for the contractor division so they couldn’t claim any kind of favoritism. Besides a woman at the cash register, Regina was the only female around. She invited Reggie for a barbeque on a Saturday afternoon to show off the progress they had made with her help and they had been inseparable ever since.

Almost lulled asleep by the soft island music playing from the stereo in the house and the champagne wearing off, the two were jostled awake by the two men.

Van kissed Sabrina hello. “Hiya, beautiful.” He then sat next to Reggie, placing his feet on her chair by her stomach.

Troy walked over and lay flat on top of his wife. Sabrina giggled and gave him the lingering kiss he was after before she finally said, “Get off, you nut ball.”

Reggie tried to show no reaction whatsoever to Van’s intrusion. He finally cleared his throat and wiggled his feet, shaking her chair. “What is it?” she asked, not even opening her eyes. He was quiet and wiggled his feet again. “What?” Frustrated with him, she pushed her sunglasses up. “Is it time for me to fetch you food now?”

“Size thirteen, sweetheart. Small change my ass.” Van stood back up.

“It took you all afternoon to come up with a comeback?” Reggie placed her sunglasses back on.

“We’re lighting the barbeque. I need to know if you want chicken or steak.”

“I missed the part where I said I was staying for dinner.”

“Steak it is.”

“It’s mostly the L5 again. There’s not too much change with the L4,” the doctor explained as he showed her the MRI results. “I’ve had his records e-mailed here. The herniation is worse than his last surgery. We won’t know for sure until we’re in there, but we’ll either remove what we can or have to do some fusing.”

“When is this going to stop?” Reggie had to turn her back to the doctor while she composed herself. She was so tired of hospitals and doctors but most of all; she hated seeing her husband in pain.

“Procedures improve. If he takes it easy, he can live normally with minimal pain control.”

“Minimal? Do you know what he takes to get by in a day? I’d be dead. There has to be something better than this.”

“This will help greatly. Trust me.”

They walked back to the room as they talked. She went straight over to Van, kissed his forehead, and gently stroked his hair. He was no longer moving his legs back and forth. She was grateful he was finally getting relief from the pain. He looked pale as well as sleepy. “Hey there, size thirteen,” she whispered into his ears and gave his earlobe a gentle bite.

“Sorry, babe. I’m sure it ain’t gonna work after all the drugs.”

“Can I get a rain check then?”

“Sure.” After a brief silence he said, “I’m sorry.”

“For what? Like this is your fault, you goof.” She gave him another kiss to his forehead. “So what now?” she asked, turning to the doctor.

“If he were my patient, I’d get him on an ambulance to Fargo right now.”

“Isn’t he your patient?”

“Technically he’s a patient of the VA. I have to wait for word from them.”

“Why?”

“They pick up the tab on the service-related injuries. Your husband has Champus; that’s military insurance.”

“I’m aware of his insurance coverage, Doctor Miller. I’ve been down this bullshit road already several times. He’s had a procedure done in Miami. That wasn’t a military hospital. They billed Champus.”

“Well, I’m afraid we can’t do that type of procedure on him here. We’re not authorized to so much as move him until we get their okay. It’s not life-threatening and he can be stabilized. We can keep the pain under control until we get word.”

“More friggin’ drugs,” she huffed. “When will you be able move him?”

“As soon as we get the okay. I’m sorry, but all we can do is keep him comfortable until we hear something. It shouldn’t be long.”

“Fair is fair,” Van said as he delivered two Long Island iced teas. “Now we’re even for the beer. I’ll still take a rain check on that tip, though.” He gave her a wink and walked away.

“He makes a good drink but he’s a little full of himself,” Reggie said to Bri.

“Come on, girl. It’s been two years. You need to start dating again.”

“I don’t feel like dating any man right now, Bri. I wouldn’t care if Matthew McConaughey knocked my door down.”

“You batting for the other team on me?”

Reggie laughed. “I’d become a lesbian if I didn’t hate women more than I hated men.”

“He’s cute and he’s sweet. I like him, Reg. Give him a chance.”

“I love you, but knock it off, Bri.”

“So he knows he’s good looking. So what? That smile would melt a blind nun.”

“You are too much. Besides, didn’t you tell me to stay away from military men?”

“Since when do you listen to me? Please promise to at least be civil over dinner.”

“No claws, Bri. I promise.”

As promised, Regina behaved through dinner. Van minded himself as well, staying away from obvious sexual innuendos to keep peace over the meal. Troy suggested a walk back to the beach for sunset when they finished, and everyone was game. Unknowingly making their friends uncomfortable, Troy and Sabrina shared several long kisses over the sunset. Everything was a romantic moment for those two.

Idle minutes let Regina feel how much the Long Island iced teas were hitting her. She wanted to get back to lie down.

“Can we go, lovebirds?” she asked once the sun had completely disappeared.

“Sure, Reg.” Sabrina threw an arm around her. Apparently she was beginning to feel the alcohol, too.

After a few paces, Reggie let out a yell and hit the ground hard with her knees.

“What happened?” Van asked as he dropped to her side.

She rolled to her butt and held her ankle. A Kiawe thorn was stuck deep in her foot with good part of the branch exposed, answering Van’s question.

“Aw, shit,” Reggie said softly as she looked at it. The small wound had a bead of blood at it.

“Shit, Reg. I’ve had my share of those bastards. We shouldn’t be out here without shoes.” Van held her ankle as Sabrina sat behind her. “You want me to pull it out?” Reggie’s eyes remained fixed on the bleeding wound. “Reggie?”

She held onto her ankle, but stared at the branch as if in a daze. “Hmmm,” was all she could reply.

“You want me to pull it out for you?” he asked again. Her eyes fluttered. “I think she’s going to pass out,” he said calmly to Sabrina.

“Over a thorn?” Troy said with an ‘I don’t believe it’ tone to his voice.

“There’s two and they’re damn huge.” Van raised his voice and turned around glaring, scolding them for making light of the situation. “Reggie?” He held her chin in his hand.

“Hmmm,” she moaned again, trying to open her eyes wide.

“She drunk?” asked Troy with a laugh.

“This isn’t funny, Troy.” Sabrina scolded her husband. “I’ve never seen her go loopy like this.”

Van gave the branch a swift yank, pulling the thorns out of her foot. She let a scream out again. “Ouch, you bastard!” Reggie flopped backward into Sabrina.

“Well, that’s more par for the course,” Troy said.

“Reg?” Van picked her chin up.

“Ouch,” is all she would reply with her eyes still closed.

He looked at her heel; it had begun to bleed. He squeezed it a little wanting it to flow a little more freely to clean it out. That earned him a prompt slap on the arm. “Stop it! That hurts!” Tears had begun to fall down her cheeks, but her eyes were still closed.

He put an arm around her back, one under her legs and picked her up. She wrapped her arm around his neck and buried her face into his chest instead of fighting him. He walked them back to the house.

“She diabetic or anything?” he asked Sabrina.

“No.”

“You’ve never seen her pass out before?”

“Stop talking about me like I’m not here,” Reggie mumbled.

“Well, have you?”

“Hmm?”

“Has she?” he asked Sabrina again.

“No, but wait…she doesn’t do the sight of blood well. That much I know for sure. The neighbor girl roller-skated by one day and fell. We went rushing out to make sure she was okay. Her knee was scraped up bad. Reggie threw up and about passed out. I forgot about that; it was over a year ago.”