Blackbird (13 page)

             
He knows…

              This thought became real to her for the first time and she found herself frightened suddenly.
What if he’s on his way here with the cops…or someone else? Someone worse? What if he just pretended to be nice so that he could have me arrested
? All manner of crazy thoughts danced around in her head now as the events from last night played out in her imagination again.

              She felt so stupid. He didn’t really want to see her again, not because he was her friend or because he liked her, but probably because he felt she needed to be contained, to be examined. To be enclosed somewhere she’d never do any harm.

              Chelle grabbed her backpack with plans to hightail it out of there. It was only eight o’clock so she should have plenty of time to make her exit. No such luck. As she stood up at her table there he was. Robert Cole in all his glory. He’d trimmed his beard this morning, she could tell, and was freshly showered. He shined up like a new penny. She on the other hand was wearing the same jeans as last night. She’d showered to get rid of the blood and put on one of the last shirts she owned, which was rumpled. Suddenly she didn’t feel good enough to even be in the same room with him, let alone sit at the same table over coffee. What if someone saw them together? Surely he’d be embarrassed.

              He spotted her from across the way and waved, coming directly over. “Hey,” he smiled wide. “I hope you weren’t leaving.”

              She was stuck now. “No, of course not.”

              He gestured toward the coffee cup. “What are you drinking?”

              “Your jacket,” she said, still with the jacket on the brain. “Oh, I mean there’s your jacket,” she pointed to the chair. “Drinking hazelnut latte.”

              “I’ll get you another one,” he said as he stood to go to the counter.

              “No, no. I’ve had two already. If I have another I might vibrate myself right out of here.”

              He laughed. “No doubt that you could.”

              He sat down and she followed suit, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she retook her seat. “How are you this morning?” he said. “I mean. Is everything ok after…last night?”

              He seemed to be looking her over as best as he could for injuries without actually touching her. “Yeah. Little sore that’s all.” She decided to leave it at that, hoping he’d let it drop. It had taken twice as long to talk the wings into submission and by the end of it she felt as though she’d pulled every muscle in her back. He didn’t need to know that though. There was no reason to make him think she was any more of a freak than he already knew her to be.

              “You look a little tired.”

              Chelle rolled her eyes at the statement. “Thanks.”

              “Well, no I mean, you still look great. I mean, that is to say, you look fine. You look good, very good.” If she didn’t know any better she would have sworn he was nervous. But Robert Cole didn’t get nervous. Robert Cole was always calm, confident, in charge. Some people are born leaders and he most definitely was one. Her stomach rumbled just then and raised his eyebrows in surprise. She covered it with her hand, embarrassed. “Cripes. Doesn’t sound like you’ve eaten in a while.”

              She hadn’t. “No, I guess not. Just coffee this morning.” The wings always made her need extra sleep and extra food. This morning she’d had neither. “I should grab a muffin or something.”

              Robert’s face lit up. “Hey. Let me take you to breakfast. There’s nothing here other than breakfast pastries. You look like you could use something a little more substantial.”

              “No, Robert really, I’m fine.”

              Her stomach rumbled again as if angry at her refusal. “I think we better go eat something before you cause an earthquake. This is my favorite coffee place. I’d hate to see it come crashing down around us. Our coffee at Cole’s isn’t exactly up to par.”

              Chelle smiled in spite of herself. She wanted to be stubborn and refuse. She could take care of herself and had been for over a decade now, but he was looking at her in a way that made her curious. Almost as if he’d be disappointed if she refused. “Alright,” she said.

              “Great. I know a place that serves nothing but breakfast. You’ll love it.”

              They stood and Chelle slipped on her jacket, wincing slightly as she did. Robert registered a look of concern but quickly wiped it away with a smile, grabbing her bag for her. “Wow. Heavy.”

              It was and putting it on her back right now was impossible. Having had two run-ins with the wings in less than a week left her having to carry it by the handle. Her entire life was in that bag, which wasn’t saying much, but he held it in his hands.

              They made their way to his car, Chelle walking slowly and Robert keeping pace with her. She had to give him credit. He could see she was in pain today but sensed that now wasn’t the time to ask about it and so acted like he didn’t notice. He came around to the passenger side, carefully placed the bag in the backseat and attempted to open the door for her. She got to the handle at the last second, preventing him from opening it. “It’s fine,” she said.

              He gave no other response but to nod, smile, and get in the car himself.

***

              She was obviously in pain. As Robert slipped behind the wheel he watched her fumble with the seatbelt, drawing it over her and gritting her teeth as she put the buckle in place. It was holding her back against the seat as it should, but was causing her a good amount of discomfort. She obviously needed to eat, and sleep and surmised that the pain was probably being made worse by the absence of those two things. He could at least take care of one of those needs for her.

              “It’s only about a ten minute drive.”

              She forced a smile. “Cool.”

              He had Tylenol in the glove compartment and it was taking everything in him not to offer her some. She obviously didn’t want to acknowledge the pain she was in and he feared the offer might insult her. He definitely didn’t want that. He drove as quickly as he could but morning rush hour was still not over and what should have been a ten minute drive turned into twenty. By the time they pulled into the parking lot Chelle couldn’t get the seatbelt off fast enough.

              As she opened the door and slid out she grabbed her backpack. “You can leave it in the car if you want. I’m gonna lock it. I’m sure nobody will take it.”

              After hesitating for a moment she decided to leave it there. Probably because it simply would have been too painful to carry it. After what he could tell was an agonising walk to the door and ascent up the stairs they were finally settled in a booth at the brightly lit restaurant on Dresden Row. As they looked at the menu she seemed to finally relax a little. “What are you hungry for?” he asked, trying simply to make conversation.

              “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just have some toast.”

              Toast wasn’t going to cut it for her this morning, he knew that, but before he could say anything a very loud, very wide, fortyish waitress stood over them, pen and pad fired up and ready to go. “Is this together or separate?”

              “Separate,” Chelle spat out without looking up from the menu. She’d obviously been ready for that one.

              “No, it’s together. I insist.”

              Chelle was silent for a moment. He was ready for her to be angry like he’d insulted her, instead she just looked hurt. “Robert,” she said lowering her voice. “I pay my own way.”

              The impatient waitress, whose nametag said, SUNSHINE, probably ironically, rolled her eyes and sighed. “Which is it?”

              “Together,” he said before Chelle had a chance to answer again. Then turning back to her. “It’s the least I can do. Let me make up for last night.”

              She sighed and gave an annoyed nod. “Together? Great,” Sunshine said without any enthusiasm at all. “What are we having?”

              Robert scanned the menu over quickly one last time. “Truckers breakfast. Eggs over easy and extra bacon. Large orange juice.”

              Sunshine scribbled furiously. “You?”

              Chelle snapped the menu shut and handed it to Sunshine, giving a one word answer to the one word question. “Same,” she said. Sunshine gathered up the menus and turned without another word. No pleasantries there. “Woman is well named isn’t she?”

              Robert chuckled under his breath. “I was thinking the same thing. I wonder how much of a tip it would take to get her to smile.”

              “A Richard Branson sized one would be my guess. Yikes.”

              Both of them were laughing now and he noticed some of the color come back into her cheeks. She’d looked wearily pale so far this morning. Silence followed the laughter and both of them sat, avoiding eye contact during the awkward pause. “So, they only serve breakfast here huh? No lunch? Dinner? That’s unusual.”

              “You think so?”

              “Yeah, I mean I guess. Or maybe I’m just out of the loop. Maybe places that just serve breakfast are the in thing right now and it’s only me that hasn’t heard.”

              “Nah, this place has been here forever. We’ve been coming here on both Mother’s day and Father’s day for the last twenty years.” Robert paused. It only just in this moment hit him that this would be the first year he’d have no reason to come here on either of those days. They’d been taking their mother here on Father’s day after his Dad had passed away, as well as the regular Mother’s day breakfast.

              Something must have shown on his face because Chelle leaned forward. Now she was the one looking at him with concern. “How is she doing?”

              Robert traced the handle of the fork with his finger as he felt his jaw tighten. “Confused, I think. She’s got dementia. She’s probably wondering where we all are, and why she’s in a strange place.” When he finally looked up again she was sporting a pair of red rimmed eyes. In one minute she had shown him more compassion than Billie had shown him in days. No, come to think of it, months. Robert had expressed his sorrow over his mother’s deteriorating condition time and again, never getting anything but an absent, ‘yeah’ or ‘umhmm’. “I hate it.”

              “Does she really have to be there? Is it really that bad?”

              “Well, I don’t think so, but I kind of got outvoted.”

              “Outvoted?”

              “Yeah. I have three brothers and they kind of did it without consulting me. I only found out the night before.”

              Chelle’s brow drew down into a straight angry line. “No offense to you or your brothers, but they sound like arseholes.”

              For some reason this made Robert laugh. He’d been thinking the same thing but didn’t dare say it out loud, not even to himself. He’d convinced himself he was wrong but hearing Chelle say it made him feel better. “Indeed, they can be when they want to be. They’re ok sometimes though. You met Paul the other day.”

              “Ah yes, the doctor. What about your other brothers? What do they do?”

              “Michael and Greg are scientists. They work together.”

              “Wow. Impressive jobs. What kind of scientists are they?”

              “You know what? I have no idea. They start to talk and it’s like: wonk, wonk, wonk. They talk a lot about getting grants and funding and research. It’s a big white building just outside of town.”

              “Sounds like they’re super smart.”

              “Yeah, I guess it skipped over me. I never had a head for science. Wasn’t smart enough for med school. Maybe I just ended up running the bar by default.”

              “Don’t say that. You have to be pretty smart to run a business. You run a bunch of them don’t you?”

              “Six in total.”

              “I bet your brothers couldn’t do it. I bet the first time something went wrong that they couldn’t do some type of analysis on they’d lose their little science loving minds.”

              “You speak as though you’ve met them. You sure you don’t know my brothers?”

              “Pretty sure, but I know the type. We hired a few of them at the bar recently. They didn’t last. Too afraid to get their hands dirty.”

              “Well, you’re certainly not afraid of that. You’re a hard worker.” It was true. Chelle was one of the hardest working people he’d ever seen. She never had to be told what to do, she saw what needed to be done and just went ahead and did it.

              “I do what I gotta do,” she said.

              That statement said it all.
I do what I gotta do.
He wondered for a moment what she’d actually done. He guessed some of it probably wasn’t pretty. She had an inner toughness that although he couldn’t relate to, definitely admired.

              Another silence. This one was broken when Sunshine lay two large plates of food down in front of them. For someone who had only wanted toast not too long ago, Chelle ate every single bite of the trucker’s breakfast, then stretched her arms over her head leaning back against the seat, which she’d not done since they’d sat down.