Page 61 of The Vegas Rerun
“Nothing personal love. I mean she doesn’t want to speak to anyone right now,” she says. “But maybe you’ll cheer her up a bit.”
I follow Hayley across the living room and through a door on the other side of the room. It opens into a small hallway withfour other doors. One must be the bathroom, and I assume it’s only two bedrooms judging by the size of it, so I guess the fourth door must be a closet. Hayley knocks on the nearest door and opens it without waiting for an answer.
“Molly?” she says. “There’s someone here to see you.”
I can hear the voices of people on Molly’s TV and then they go silent.
“I told you I don’t want to see anyone,” she says.
“Ah well, I think you might feel differently when you see how cute this one is,” she says. She doesn’t give Molly a chance to say no to seeing me again, she just steps back.
“She’s all yours,” she says, and then she walks away and leaves me standing alone in the hallway. I step into the space she left and see Molly sitting on the bed in a pair of red checked pajamas. She’s sitting on top of the duvet, facing the large TV that’s mounted on the wall opposite the bed.
She looks like hell. Her face is deathly pale with dark shadows under her eyes like bruises. Her hair is pulled back, but hastily, and several strands of it are falling loose around her face. To me though, she is still the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and seeing her like this, all frail and broken just makes me want to wrap her in my arms and never let her go.
“What are you doing here?” she asks, and her voice is quiet, like she is wary of the answer.
“I needed to see you, to make sure you were ok. I went to the hospital. They said you’d left. I’m sorry, I got worried.”
Her eyes narrow.
“So, you came here? You looked up my address? Because that’s not creepy at all.”
“I needed to see you,” I say honestly. “Please. Just let me explain. Give me two minutes of your time. And then, if you still want me to, I’ll go.”
She hesitates, then she sighs and nods her head.
“Fine. But you can’t stand there like that the whole time. It’s making me nervous. Come and sit down,” she says.
“Hmm, us two on a bed together. Is that a good idea?” I say with a smirk.
This gets a laugh from Molly which makes her wince slightly.
“With my mom in the next room? I think we’re good,” she says.
Well, that’s promising. It’s only a no because her mom is here, not because she doesn’t want me.
I step inside her bedroom. In my fantasies, I’ve been here a hundred times, but I have to admit it’s never been under these circumstances. I perch on the edge of Molly’s bed about halfway down, facing her.
Her bedroom is small but neat. The bookshelves are packed full of books and a few ornaments, and there’s a small chair beneath the window with a throw blanket draped over it. A pair of hospital issue crutches rest against the bed next to her pillow.
There’s a stack of paperwork on the bedside cabinet beside Molly. I spot the hospital’s logo, and I realize what they are – her discharge summary. I catch sight of her name and the words possible concussion before she notices me looking at them and when she does, she grabs them and moves them aside.
“You’re not supposed to be out of the hospital,” I say gently.
She shrugs, then winces.
“They weren’t doing anything except checking my vitals and asking if I had insurance. I didn’t want to be there anymore.”
“You should’ve called me. I would have come to you.”
“I called a cab. Same result,” she says.
She looks away, her jaw clenched.
“Molly, I’m sorry you got hurt on my watch. Really, I am. I should have been there to protect you and …”
“Wait,” she interrupts me, and I stop talking. “You mean you don’t think I attacked Sarah, and she defended herself?”
