Hearts In Rhythm (6 page)

Chapter Six

Allie paced Aisle 3. It was slow at Given’s Grocery. The snow had fallen throughout the night blanketing the town and keeping most people in. They had stocked up yesterday when the weather reporters warned of an approaching storm.

Thomas, the shift manager had sent Allie to straighten inventory. Right now she was supposed to be lining up boxes of rice and stacking bags of beans, pulling everything to the front of the shelves giving the appearance of freshly stocked merchandise. She couldn’t concentrate. Her mind felt like a can of confetti string that someone squeezed all over the place. She had so many thoughts running through her head: Samuel, medical bills, the drumming gig, but mostly Brandon.

The things she should be worrying about were being pushed to the outer edges by thoughts of him. If she concentrated hard enough she could feel his arms around her and smell the scent of the laundry detergent from his sweater mixed with the smell of soap on his neck. The guy was invading her every thought. Not only was he handsome, with the dark hair and the eyes the color of coffee with cream, but also he was tender showing great compassion by working with children. It took a great heart to do that. There had to be something wrong with him.

Of course! That’s it! He’s gay. She should’ve known, men didn’t come packaged as wonderfully as he without a glaring flaw.

Allie’s thoughts were interrupted when Gerald approached her. He had an awkward gait that reminded her of an old man. He put up his hand in a friendly wave even though they’d already spoken at least three times since her shift started.

“Hi, Owee.”

“Hello, Gerald,” she stopped pacing the aisle and stopped at some jars of spaghetti sauce. “Look at this, Gerald. We’ve got traditional sauce, mushroom, three cheese, organic. With so many choices, how does somebody make up their mind?”

“I don’t eat spaghetti Owee. Looks like worms. I ate a worm once. It wasn’t my fault. Someone made me. A mean boy.”

Most people pitied Gerald. Allie knew that. She could see it on their faces at work every day. She’d watched people roll their eyes behind his back. They were annoyed by his slow talk and his simplicity. But looking at him turning the jars all the right direction, humming softly to himself, Allie envied him. He had no real worries. His biggest concern was if he was out of Swanson turkey and dressing TV dinners.

He was a creature of habit, and that was his dinner every night. He had a simple existence; not the longing for more that seemed to plague every other human being Allie came into contact with. She wished she could see the world through Gerald’s eyes. He was childlike and accepted things for what they were. He was transparent. A “what you see is what you get” kind of person. Genuine. And true.

She tried to put herself in his shoes for a minute; or rather she put him inside her shoes. If he felt for someone the way she felt for Brandon, he would tell them. Plain and simple. He would just tell them. Maybe that’s what she should do.

Samuel was awake when Brandon stepped into Room 303. His grandmother Gail was there, reclining on the pull-out bed beside him. He had met her the day before, but he didn’t let on like he knew Allie.

A do-it-yourself home decorating show was instructing how to install floating shelves on the television. Gail was so enthralled she didn’t notice him at all.

Samuel was propped up in bed, leaning against some pillows. He had a couple of transformers in his lap and one in each hand. He was making sounds and flying them through the air, crashing them into one another and transforming them into new creatures to fight the battle he was creating in his mind.

Brandon hated to interrupt him. He pulled his wagon closer to the bed. Samuel turned his head and his eyes lit up.

“Hi!” he said.

“Hey there, little buddy.”

At Brandon’s voice, Gail jerked her head his direction and greeted Brandon as well.

“He’s getting better and better,” she told Brandon. “It looks like we’ll be getting out of here in a day or two.”

“That’s good to hear, but I’ll miss playing with my little buddy.”

“What we going to play today?” Samuel asked Brandon peering over the edge of the bed to see what he had in his wagon.

Brandon grabbed the blue duffle bag and placed it at the foot of the bed.

“You know what I’m thinking?”

“What?” Samuel asked.

“I’m thinking you’re pretty brave for handling all this hospital stuff like a champ. Someone as brave as you probably needs a superhero cape to put on when he has to fight bad guys, or rescue people from trouble, or scale tall buildings.”

He rummaged around in his bag and pulled out some red and blue fabric, Velcro, and glue. For the next twenty minutes, he sat with Samuel creating a superhero cape. He cut it from red fabric, attaching Velcro at the neck. Then he cut a big S from the blue felt material. He lifted it and showed it to Samuel.

“Do you know what this S stands for?”

Samuel gave him a look of disbelief, “Superman.”

“No, not Superman.”

His face fell.

“Super Samuel,” Brandon said.

A grin spread across Samuel’s face. “Cool!” he shouted.

“Let’s see how it fits.” Brandon attached the cape around Samuel. He put his arms out and leaned to the left and the right as if he was flying. A look of disappointment crossed his face. He put his arms down.

“I wish I could run.”

“It won’t be long. You’re already walking some with the crutches aren’t you?”

He nodded.

“You just imagine you can run. Let’s try it. Close your eyes.”

Samuel did just as Brandon instructed.

“Now I want you to see yourself in your house. Not here in this hospital. Are you there?”

Samuel nodded, still squeezing his eyes closed.

“Where are you?”

“In my bedroom.”

“Okay, now I want you to see yourself run. Do you see yourself?”

Samuel nodded again, a slight smile forming on his mouth.

“Man! I can see you too,” Brandon said. “You are fast! I’m going to catch you. Here I come.”

Samuel opened his eyes and burst out laughing. Brandon couldn’t help but laugh, too. The laughter of a small child is contagious. He placed his right hand on top of his head and leaned over placing his forehead on Samuel’s as they laughed together. He saw lots of patients and many of them were special. But Samuel tugged at his heart in a different way. It made Brandon feel good.

* * * *

Friday night couldn’t arrive soon enough. Allie hadn’t seen or spoken to Brandon since the hugging scene in the hospital. Matt called to inform her practice would be at Brandon’s house instead of his. His pipes had froze during the snowstorm and then burst. So for the time being, he was out of water and was staying with Cody until a plumber could get there.

She had mentioned Brandon to her mom, not in a romantic way, she knew better than that. She didn’t want her mom to give her the “guys are bad” speech again. But she inquired whether the Child Life Specialist had been in to see Samuel during her watch. Yes, she said he had been coming while she was there, before Allie arrived.

Allie couldn’t help but wonder if that was intentional. Was he that embarrassed that he didn’t want to see her again? If that was the case, it was going to be interesting to see his reaction when she revealed her true feelings for him.

She’d been working up her courage and in order to get her thoughts in order, she wrote down what she was going to say, and as juvenile as it seemed, she’d practiced in the mirror. She played it out and imagined the different scenarios. Of course, he could tell her she was an ignorant ditz and to get lost. She didn’t like to think of this scenario and instead imagined how he would confess his feelings were the same as hers. He would tell her everything she longed to hear.

Allie, I can’t tell you how long I’ve waited for you.

It was like love at first sight.

You are my dream come true.

Then they would kiss, and as if her love life were a movie, the angels would sing hallelujah in the background as cartoon hearts rose into the heavens. She smiled at herself for thinking such juvenile thoughts, but a deep part of her still believed in a romantic, true love.

She was prepared for the worst but was hoping for the best.

She stood before the bathroom vanity observing her reflection in the mirror. Usually unconcerned for her appearance, she decided to put in a little effort tonight. She brushed her long brown hair out and worked extra hard making the messy bun look natural. She pulled a few tendrils of hair out to frame her face but tried to make them appear as if they fell out on their own. This took longer than she thought. She applied her makeup carefully. Usually she only wore mascara and lip-gloss, but tonight was special. She lined her eyes and gave them a smoky look thanks to the help of a YouTube tutorial giving her step-by-step instructions.

In her bedroom, she contemplated her wardrobe. She decided against dressing up, and went for a more casual look. She didn’t want to appear obvious. She pulled on a pair of jeans that fit her snug but instead of the usual baggy t-shirt, she wore a flowing top in royal blue, hoping to bring out her eyes. She added some gold earrings along with some bangle bracelets and put on her only pair of wedge heels. She lifted her arms to adjust her bun, and decided against the bangles. They would compete too much with the drums. Standing before the mirror, she was quite impressed with herself. If only she could manage to walk in the shoes, she would own this night.

She took one last look in the mirror and said, “Go get ‘em, girl”. Sometimes you have to be your own cheerleader.

* * * *

Driving to Brandon’s house, her nerves began to get the better of her. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel and chewed on the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood. The confidence she felt standing in her bedroom had vanished like the ice crystals on the windshield.

She hadn’t realized it was so cold out. Her silver Chrysler Concorde took a long time to warm up these days. It may have been an older model car, but at least it was paid for. The stereo was broken and the check engine light was a permanent illumination on the dashboard, but it would have to last until she paid the medical bills that were already coming in. So far she’d received one from the Emergency room for the X-ray, and two from separate physicians who had attended to Samuel. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and turned left on Brandon’s street, coasting to a stop and parking in the street across from his house.

She stood on the porch, all her doubts flooding her brain. She was going to do it. After practice she would tell Brandon how she felt about him. She hated the games people in relationships played, always trying to figure things out. She was blunt and to the point and she would just tell him. This would save them both from a lot of unnecessary emotion. She knocked on the door, feeling the shaking of her hands when she dropped them to her sides. Deep breath in, deep breath out. The door opened.

“Hey, there you are!” He opened the door wide and stepped aside to let her in. “Get in here and let’s play some music!” He looked great as always. He’d shed his work clothes for a pair of jeans and a heather gray t-shirt that stretched tightly revealing a muscular chest.

She lifted her foot to take a step over the threshold and caught the toe of her wedge heel causing her to stumble through the doorway. Fortunately, Brandon’s arm was there reaching out to steady her. She caught hold his forearm, and noticed a muscular bicep as well. Of course.