Wild (20 page)

“Who are you to talk to me like that? I’ll complain to Carmela about you. I pay rent here, you know,” she rattled on.

“Oh, blow me!” Annette flipped.

The door opened and Annette came back in. It appeared my little angel had quite a temper too. Interesting.

Annette went back to help me hold down Carmela like nothing had happened. Carmela’s spasms were much more violent than when the same thing had happened to Annette. Virtually all of Entwhistle’s serum had released into Carmela’s bloodstream and the transformation process had started.

In contrast, Annette had only had a very small amount of serum in her bloodstream, and the reason hers had been so painful was because my antidote had killed off the morphine and extrapolated the pain in her leg.

Finally Carmela’s spasms subsided. I checked her vital signs. Elevated blood pressure, but it seemed to be coming down.

“I’ll cut out the remainder of the capsule,” I explained to Annette as I pulled back the blanket.

“Can you turn her a little, so that I can get to it?”

“Sure, I will.” She pulled Carmela toward her and held her still.

My hand was steady as I cut into her skin.

“Thank you, Vince.”

I didn’t look up because it was too hard to look into her eyes and keep my composure.

“Anytime,” was my solitary reply. I wanted to say: anything you want, I’ll do it, if you just come back to me. But of course, I couldn’t. She had come to me because her friend needed me, not because she did.

I extracted the remainder of the capsule and preserved it in a small plastic container which I placed back in my bag.

Annette helped me bandage Carmela’s incision site and I was careful not to touch her hands. I was afraid I would lose control if I did. My sprint up the stairs with my arm around her waist still sent shivers down my spine.

Nothing had changed for her. She still believed I had stolen Entwhistle’s research when in fact it was the reverse.

“What now?”

“Now we wait. We’ll know in a few hours.”

“Vince, did I bite you when this happened to me?” She suddenly asked.

I nodded.

“I’m so sorry.” She looked as if she was ashamed.

“It didn’t hurt.”

I would give anything to feel your mouth on my body, even if you bit me now.

Annette sat on one side of the bed and I sat on the other. We both watched Carmela. I could feel the tension between us.

“Why don’t you sleep a little? I’ll wake you when something changes.”

She shook her head.

“No, I should stay here. She might get scared when she wakes up.”

I wasn’t sure whether I should feel hurt or relieved about her comment. Did she think I was such a scary figure or did she just want to stay in the room with me? Neither made sense. She herself hadn’t been scared of me when she had woken up, and suddenly she was concerned about her ex-roommate? It looked like she had different standards for her friends than for herself.

“Up to you,” I said and shrugged my shoulders. My throat felt dry.

“Can I get you something to drink?” I was surprised at her perceptiveness.

“A glass of water would be good.”

My eyes followed her as she got up and left the room. She was back a short while later, handing me the glass. I gulped it down. I wanted to make conversation.

“Is her roommate going to give us any trouble?”

She shook her head. “No, not tonight anyway. She’ll complain to Carmela tomorrow and most likely move out.”

“Ah, just as well. Then I guess you can move in with Carmela again.”

I needed to know whether she was planning on staying in San Francisco.

“I’ll be leaving for Des Moines as soon as Carmela doesn’t need me anymore.”

Her words felt like a sword through my heart. I looked away and pretended to feel Carmela’s pulse so she couldn’t see the disappointment in my eyes. I was right. Nothing had changed for her. She still wanted to leave and I would never see her again.

“How’s the pulse?”

I had no idea. I hadn’t been listening to her pulse. It took me a few seconds to get a reading.

“Slowing down.”

The night dragged on. Carmela was still feverish and I gave her something to reduce it. I could tell Annette was getting tired. She leaned against the headboard and suddenly her eyes fell shut. I watched her while she slept. It reminded me of the first night she had slept in my bed and I had watched her sleep all night. The thought filled me with desire.

“Oh, I feel like crap.” Carmela’s voice suddenly pierced the silence.

Annette awoke instantly.

“Carmela, we were so worried about you.” Annette told her.

She looked back and forth between Annette and me trying to figure out what was going on. She recognized me.

“What are both of you doing here?”

I let Annette explain. “You got very sick,” she started. “I think you had a …” Annette didn’t know what to say.

“You had an allergic reaction. Annette told me you took part in a clinical trial yesterday. I suspect the injection they gave you didn’t agree with you.” I sugar-coated the truth. Only I knew how close she had come.

“Vince is downplaying this a little. I think he saved your life.”

I shot Annette a disapproving look. There was no need to tell her the whole truth and scare her. Carmela looked at me.

“Thanks, Vince. I appreciate it. I still feel like crap though, and I’m thirsty.”

Annette jumped up. “I’ll get you some water.”

My eyes followed her automatically as she dashed out of the room. As soon as Annette was out of earshot, Carmela sat up in bed.

“Are you going to ask her to come back to you?”

“Excuse me?” I felt I hadn’t heard right.

“Cut the crap. We don’t have time for that. I might be sick, but I’m not blind. So, are you?”

“It’s complicated.” I was stunned at how direct Carmela was.

She waved me off. “That’s original. That’s what she said too. She’s worth it.”

I knew she was, but it wasn’t up to me. She was the one who didn’t want me anymore.

I could hear her footsteps outside the door and seconds later she was back. I shot Carmela a warning look.

“Vince was just telling me that somebody should look after me for a few days,” Carmela told Annette as she took the water. She drank, then sat the glass down. “Do you think you could stay for a few days, please?”

Annette agreed immediately. “Of course. If you need me, I’ll stay.”

I gave Carmela a hidden smile. She had just bought me some time.

I took out my stethoscope.

“Let me listen to your heart.”

It sounded strong and had an even rhythm.

“Good.” I prepared to take her blood pressure. Annette watched me intently and I wondered what she was thinking of. I couldn’t interpret her expression.

“I think you’re over the worst, but as I said before, somebody should stay with you to keep an eye on things.”

“Thank you again. I didn’t know doctors still made house calls,” Carmela grinned.

“Well, we don’t normally, but sometimes there are extenuating circumstances.” I looked at Annette. She caught my look and almost instantly looked away as if she didn’t want to be reminded. In that instant I felt crushed. She couldn’t even stand looking at me anymore. I threw Carmela a doubtful look but she gave me no sign.

I got up. There was nothing more for me to do to justify staying any longer. I packed my instruments into my bag and closed it.

“Annette knows how to reach me, in case you get worse again.” I didn’t look at Annette. “And promise me, no more clinical trials, ok?”

“Sure thing,” Carmela answered, but I wasn’t sure if she meant the clinical trials or something else.

Annette walked me to the door.

“I don’t know how to thank you.”

“There’s no need to thank me. I did what had to be done.”

I turned around and walked away. It seemed to take forever until I reached my car and threw myself into it. I barely noticed the early morning rush hour traffic on my way home. In the garage I kept sitting in the car staring into thin air.

Seeing her again had confirmed to me what I already knew: that I couldn’t be without her. I had to get her back.

17. Annette’s Decision

Francesca made a point of being noisy in the kitchen when she had realized I was sleeping on the couch and Carmela’s bedroom door was still shut. Payback time, I thought to myself and ignored her. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of letting her know she had woken me after I had only just fallen asleep.

If Carmela could hear her, she ignored her too. Neither one of us wanted to deal with her.

I fell back into an uneven slumber after I heard the loud thud with which she closed the entrance door. With a bit of luck she would be gone all day.

My dreams made no sense to me; they never did, so I tried to ignore those too. They were a mixture of reality, wishful thinking and irrelevant details. I could tell my mind was all mixed up.

Vince had saved Carmela’s life, I was sure of that, but did this also mean he was the good guy? Did one necessarily result in the other? If he had only stolen Entwhistle’s work two nights ago, how would he have had an antidote for it days earlier when he had used it on me?

Nothing made sense. Everything had been so clear before. I had been sure he was a thief and an imposter only the day before and suddenly I had doubts whether my assumptions had been right.

I awoke exhausted. I could hear Carmela tinkering in the kitchen. She shouldn’t be up, so I walked in to reprimand her. She made tea, but was still in her nightgown.

“Carmela, why didn’t you call me? I could have made you some tea …”

“Don’t be silly. I’m perfectly fine. Plus I heard you snoring …”

“I don’t snore,” I interrupted her.

“I meant, I saw you sleeping, so I didn’t want to wake you. You were up all night.” She was surprisingly considerate, which made me put my guard up. What did she want?

She poured two cups of tea, a sure sign she wanted to chat and made signs for me to sit at the kitchen table. She joined me handing me the steaming cup.

“What a lovesick puppy!”

I interrupted her immediately protesting loudly. “Hold on. I’m
not
a lovesick puppy!”

She gave me a sheepish grin. “Oh, I wasn’t talking about you. I was talking about him,” she said way too casual for me to believe she hadn’t planned it this way.

“He’s not either,” I put her right.

“Really? I guess then you didn’t see the way he looked at you.”

I was sure she was making it up. “You were probably hallucinating.”

“Trust me, I know what hallucinating feels like, and that wasn’t it.” She referred to her occasional recreational drug use.

“Just drop it, Carmela.” I didn’t want to go over this with her again.

“Fine, if you don’t want him, I’ll take him.”

I shot her a furious look. How could she?

“Ah, now I have your attention! As you’ve just confirmed, you can’t stand the thought that another woman should have him, so I think you should work on getting him back.”

“It’s complicated.”

“That’s original,” was her sarcastic remark.

“What’s it to you anyway? Since when are you a matchmaker?”

“Since yesterday. Come on, don’t be so stubborn. What have you got to lose?”

“I just can’t. The things I said to him are inexcusable. How can I take them back? I called him a liar and much worse. Even if I went back, he’d just throw me out.”

“Well, he didn’t throw you out when you went to ask him for help for me.”

“That’s different. He’s a doctor; he can’t refuse to help people.”

“He could have called 9-1-1 for you. Face it, he did it, because you asked him to. I get the feeling he’ll do anything you ask him to. I’ve never seen a man so pussy-whipped.”

I was shocked.

“You are so crude!”

“I’m right though. It won’t take much to wrap him around your little finger.”

“But there are things about him which don’t make sense. He’s not what he seems.”

“Men aren’t perfect, accept it and get on with it.”

I wanted to give in, but I felt so ashamed about the things I had said to him. It would hurt even more if he slammed the door in my face. I couldn’t take that risk. What if he didn’t want me anymore?

As if Carmela could read my thoughts she said, “There’s only one way to find out for sure.”

I nodded, slowly, still unsure. “What am I going to say to him?”

Carmela laughed. “It doesn’t matter, because once I’m done with you, he won’t even hear what you’re saying. His eyes will keep his brain occupied, and before you know it he’ll be all over you.”

After I stepped out of the shower and saw Carmela rummage through her enormous closet pulling out outfit after outfit, I feared the worst.

“Please don’t make me look like a cheap hooker!”

“There’s nothing wrong with showing a little flesh,” she defended herself.

“It depends on how you define a little.”

She opened her underwear drawer. “I just bought some nice little thing I haven’t even worn yet.” She pulled out a bra and panties which barely had enough cloth between the two of them to act as a doily under a vase.

“I won’t need that,” I protested. She gave me a sharp look.

“You will. Don’t worry if he rips it to shreds. Just let him know later he can buy me a replacement. It’s from Victoria’s Secret.”

“You’re terrible!”

“No, I’m practical. Well, what are you waiting for, put ‘em on.” She handed me the silky threads. “Oh, yeah, and the bra opens in the front, in case he’s a little rusty.”

I knew he was. I remembered how he had told me when he had last kissed a woman and it had been almost a year according to my calculations.

“Carmela, I’m scared,” I said suddenly.

She looked at me. “It’s like riding a bike; you never really forget how to do it.”

I blushed. “Not about that; about him rejecting me.”

She smiled. “He won’t. Trust me.”

She handed me a slinky dress which I thought was way too short and thin. I stepped into it reluctantly.