Coming Undone (41 page)

“
Awesome.”

“
Don’t move, honey. It’s best if you don’t move.” The face swam somewhere above her.

“
My… car?”

“
Oh, darling. I think that’s the least of your worries right now. Just lay still. The ambulance should be here any minute. Would you like me to call somebody for you?”

“
My phone?” She turned and tried to find it in the darkness of the passenger seat that hovered and swam before her, but everything was a mass of haze and blurs.

“
No, honey. Don’t go doing that right now. Just lay still as you can. Here comes the ambulance. Just sit tight. They’ll have you out of there in no time.”

“
Well, listen. I’d better go,” Ben said to Kelly. “But if you don’t mind, say a few prayers for us. Okay?”

“
Prayers? Man, she got to you quick.”

“
Kell…”

“
No, dude. I get it. It’s cool. I’ll say some prayers.”

“
Thanks, man.”

“
No problem.”

“
You got very lucky, Miss,” the doctor was saying. The previous hour or so had been a maze of lights and sounds with no connection to anything solid. “Some stitches, a nice headache, and a badly sprained wrist after all of that is pretty minor.”

The stitches were the least of the issue. She could hardly think straight, and everything was blurry—not because it was but because her head hurt so badly. Her whole right arm hurt besides, and she couldn’t quite understand why.

“
We could keep you overnight if you want, but nothing in any of the tests indicates you got much more than a slight concussion.”

It was strange how she could follow what he was saying even though she could hardly decide if she was even still breathing. “My car? What happened to my car?”

“
Yeah. I don’t think that will be much help. They had it towed,” the policeman who was still standing near the bed waiting to get her statement said. “It was basically totaled.”

“
Not that you should be driving anyway,” the doctor added. “Not for a few days anyway. These meds I prescribed are serious stuff. No driving. No operating heavy machinery…”

She would have laughed if she could have.

“
I can call you a cab after we’re finished,” the policeman offered, and Kathryn thought she should probably thank him, but that got lost in everything else.

“
Or we could call someone to come pick you up,” the nurse said as she finished with the stiff bandage on Kathryn’s wrist.

“
You’re going to need to get this wrist looked at by a specialist,” the doctor said, “just to confirm there isn’t a break we missed.”

Like a fun house full of mirrors and multi-colors, Kathryn thought through who she could even have them call. Misty was gone. Her mom was at least two hours away. The thought of calling Ben flitted across her mind, but she didn’t want to bother him. He probably couldn’t come anyway. Finally she looked around at all of them. “I guess I’ll need a cab.”

“
Okay,” the officer said. “But first I need to ask you a few questions if you’re up to it.”

“
Okay.”

It was the third call Ben had placed to her phone in twenty minutes, and she hadn’t answered a single one. That wasn’t like her. Worry hit him as he hit the off button and frowned. Where was she? He glanced at the clock and frowned deeper. She should be home by now. It was too bad he didn’t know a number for her family. He was going to have to ask that question. They weren’t into texting, but he tried that anyway. Still nothing. He waited another couple of minutes and tried calling again, but it went to the voicemail after four rings. None of this was making any sense. She always carried her phone with her. Always. Realizing he was probably being silly, he pitched the thing to the counter.

In the kitchen, he pulled out some take-out from the day before and smelled it. It didn’t smell deadly, so he threw it in the microwave just as his phone buzzed. Leaving the food, he raced for it, and a smile came to his face when he saw the Caller ID. “Well, hello, there, sweetheart. How was your day?”

“
Um, I don’t know who this is, but I saw you had called. I thought you might be someone who knows the lady in the wreck.”

He came up straight, his hand on his waist, his heart hammering to life. “Wreck? What wreck?”

“
Yeah, it happened awhile ago. They took her in the ambulance…”

“
Ambulance? Kathryn was in a wreck and they took her in an ambulance?” This was getting worse. Without another thought, he was racing through the apartment, grabbing his coat and keys on the way out the door. “Where did they take her?”

“
Um, I don’t know for sure. Probably St. Luke’s. We’re not too far from there.”

“
And you have her phone? How did you get her phone?”

“
It was in the car. She kept trying to find it after the wreck. When they were cleaning everything up, one of the firemen came up with it. He said it was just ringing, so I hit redial.”

At his car, Ben jumped in. “How was she? How was Kathryn?”

“
Woozy. Kind of out of it. The crash fired off the airbags. She was in and out of consciousness when they took her.”

He peeled out of the drive and into traffic. “And who is this?”

“
Corretta Daniels. I saw the whole thing. That other car was coming mighty fast through the intersection. I don’t think she ever even saw them.”

Turning at the first light, Ben sped through the traffic, changing lanes and flooring it on the straightaways. “Where are you? How can we get Kathryn’s phone back?”

Ms. Daniels gave him some information for the fire station where Kathryn’s things would be, and he tried to think straight, remember, and drive.

“
I really hope she’s all right. She seemed like such a nice lady.”

“
Yeah, yeah, she is.” Ben hit the gas again. Wherever she was, he had to get to her. Now.

“
And you didn’t see the other car approaching?” the policeman asked again.

Just staying upright on the little chair, Kathryn fought to remember through the haze that clouded her brain. “No. Not until I heard the brakes. But the light was green. I never thought to look…”

Commotion from down the hallway pulled her attention that direction. She turned her head before she realized how much that would hurt. She squeezed her eyes closed and fought to breathe through the nausea. When she managed to open her eyes again, like some vision she had dreamed, Ben was running toward her. In the next second he was on his knees in front of her.

“
Kat? Kathryn?” His hand came up and brushed her face. “Oh, my God. What happened? Are you okay?” Fear crowded across his face just before he gathered her into his arms, and truth be told, it was the first time she had taken a good, solid breath since she’d heard the brakes. Relaxing felt good. She might just go to sleep right here. He backed up and put his hands on her again as if he thought she might disappear altogether. “What in the world happened? Why didn’t you call me?”

“
Ben? How did you…”

“
They found your phone. They called the redial and got me. Why didn’t you call me? I was completely freaking out.”

“
She was very lucky,” the officer said. “Two more feet, and he would’ve been right in her door.”

Ben crumpled forward into her with that news. “Oh, thank God. Thank God you’re all right. I knew something was wrong when you didn’t answer. I knew it.” Even when he let her go to slip up into the chair next to her, he really didn’t let go. His arm was securely around her as he turned to the officer. “Can I take her home now? How much longer does she have to stay?”

“
I think we’re about done here.” The officer checked his notes. “I’m sure someone will be in touch with you in the next couple of days. If you’ll just sign this statement.”

With the world swimming in front of her, Kathryn reached over and got her name to come out of her brain. But it was a struggle. The headache was coming in waves now, yanking her down into pain she couldn’t fight off.

“
Good luck, Miss Walker.” The officer stood from his chair. “You take care of her, you hear?”

“
Oh, uh, yes, sir. I will.”

When the officer was gone, Ben looked at her, his eyes wild with worry and fear.

“
What happened?”

“
I don’t know.” Tired attacked her with a vengeance. “I was driving home, and I went through this light, and…” The fear and terror began to surface. Tears punched into her eyes when she realized what could have happened. With no more than that, she was in his arms.

He held her there, stroking her hair, and breathing softly. “Shhh. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

“
I was so scared.”

He backed up only slightly. “Why didn’t you call me? They would have called me.”

She felt the absurdity of the statement. “I didn’t want to bother you.”

“
Bother me?” The words knifed through Ben like a single-edged sword with a dull tip. “You didn’t want to bother me? Kathryn…”

“
I knew you would just be getting home from work. I didn’t want to be a burden.”

“
A burden?” This wasn’t getting any better, but he also knew she wasn’t in her right mind. Besides fighting wasn’t going to help anything. “We can talk about this later. For now, we need to get you home. Did they discharge you?”

“
Yeah, a little bit ago.”

“
Okay. Then let me get my car so you don’t have to walk so far. I’ll be right back.” He stood and held out his hands as if she might in fact fall to the floor when he let her go. That looked like a real possibility. “Don’t move.” And he raced back out into the nightfall beyond.

Kathryn tried to maintain some semblance of sanity when he had gone. At least she wouldn’t have to ride home in a taxi. That was something. Those things scared her when she was alive and alert. Other people in the waiting area looked her way, but she kept her head down. That wasn’t hard because it was pounding. They had given her some pain killers and a prescription for more. She wondered at that moment how she would manage to get them. In fact, she wasn’t sure how she would manage anything with the headache and no car to speak of.

“
Okay. The car’s waiting.” He was back. How he was back so fast, she didn’t know. In fact, she didn’t remember how he had gotten there in the first place.

“
Oh, okay.” It was a struggle to stand, and when she did, the whole world shifted one way and then the other. Her hand shot out for something to keep her upright.

“
Whoa. Take it easy there.” He was right there then, holding her up. Slowly they made their way through the lobby and out the door.

It was dark. That was weird. It wasn’t dark when she was in her car. How much time had passed anyway? At the curb, he helped her in and reached across her to click her seatbelt in place. Ache hit her like a truck. Everything ached—every muscle, every bone. Her wrist was throbbing. She felt like she’d been through a meat grinder.

“
Hang on. We’ll be home in no time.”

For some reason when he had said home, she had assumed he meant her home. So when she awoke to him saying they were home, it occurred to her that nothing upon nothing looked at all familiar. “Where are we?”

“
My place.”

“
Your place?” She tried to digest that, but it got caught going down. “I thought you were taking me home.”

“
Your things are at the fire station. I’ll go over there tomorrow and get them. For tonight, we’re here.” He got out and in seconds was at her door to help her.

The headache was unbelievable. Not a step, not a move didn’t make it ache all the more. Still she didn’t have to take even a single step on her own, and it was a good thing. She felt like a puppet that had been cut loose from its strings.

“
Did they give you something for pain?” he asked, worry punching through the statement as they made their way from the elevator down the hallway.

“
Yeah, something at the ER and a prescription. It’s here, in my pocket.”

“
Okay. We’ll get you settled, and then I’ll go get that prescription.”

Kathryn was aware that they had entered his apartment though little of anything was making sense.

“
Do you want to lie down?” he asked, guiding her forward in no definite direction.

“
Uh, yeah.”

“
Okay.”

He was right there every step. At the bed, he pulled the covers back and helped her in.

“
Do you have that prescription?” he asked as sleep crowded over her.

“
Uh, yeah. It’s… right here.” Somehow she dug it out and handed it to him, and that was the last thing she remembered.

Ben wasn’t at all sure they should have let her go. She had him worried silly. Still, rather than get caught up in anger and fear, he forced himself to think logically. He couldn’t just leave her like this. That wouldn’t work. What if she woke up and freaked out or got sick and needed him? He checked his watch. It was after ten, but some things couldn’t be helped.