Page 75 of When Stars Collide
Elle turned around slowly, catching a glimpse of Phineas in the flesh before turning back around again, a smart aleck smile on her face. Luke helped me back into bed as Phineas approached.
“Phineas, this is Luke and, well, you’ve already met Elle, just not in person. Luke, this is my boss, Phineas Drake.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Luke,” Phineas said, shaking Luke’s hand. “Mena has told me so much about you and Elle.” He smiled at Elle, and from the expression on her face, my guess was she had momentarily forgotten her name and where she was.
“Elle,” Luke nudged her. “Why don’t we hit up the cafeteria downstairs?”
“Huh? Yes. Food. We could use some of that.”
“Nice meeting you, Phineas.” Luke nodded as both he and Elle walked out into the hall. Before disappearing behind the curtain, Elle looked back at Phineas and me again, winking at me
“It would appear as though I’ve had surgery. You know what that means?”
Confused, Phineas shook his head. “You’re pretty doped up?”
“Well, yes, I am, but it also means you have some drinking to do.”
“Yes, I guess it does.” He laughed. “However, I suggest we wait until you’re fully recovered.”
“That’s probably a good idea, considering I almost bit it right before you got here.”
“Here’s some juice and some graham crackers for you.” The nurse handed a cup of grape juice and a small package of graham crackers to me. “Let’s see how you feel when you finish that, and then we’ll see what we can do about getting you out of here.”
I nodded, thanking her. In no way, shape, or form was I hungry, but I definitely didn’t want to stay here any longer than I absolutely had to, and so I obediently peeled back the foil covering the juice and tore open the plastic packaging housing the graham crackers, breaking the crackers into pieces and putting what amounted to crumbs into my mouth.
“Not that I’m not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?” I asked Phineas, who had taken a seat in one of the chairs next to my bed.
He cleared his throat. “I just got to thinking about you being in surgery. I know your family lives a ways away, and I wasn’t sure whether your friends from Virginia were going to come up, so I decided I would swing by to see how you were doing and to make sure you weren’t alone. Oh,” he held up the bouquet of orchids like I hadn’t already noticed them, “and these are from the office.”
“The office?”
“Mm-hmm.”
I looked at him and the flowers in his hand, taking a sip of juice. He was dressed in his usual trousers and suit jacket, having just come from the office. AGQcover come to life, driving all the women who crossed his path crazy. I’d always thought Phineas a handsome man, just in the usual handsome kind of way. But now, looking at him, I felt like I was noticing the features that made women go insane for the first time. His square chin with the dimple, his honey brown eyes that resembled balls of fire in the right light. Yes, I guess I’d always been attracted to him. I just hadn’t allowed myself to truly see just how attracted to him I really was.
“Well,” I began, “tell the office thank you for me.”
*****
I sat on my couch with my feet propped up on the ottoman. The pain Luke had warned me about was just beginning to show itself. After much resistance on my part, it was becoming intolerable enough that I had to relent and take an oxycodone. Elle sat next to me, flipping through the channels. Luke had gone back to the hotel room after making it a point to let me know that he would be on call in the event I needed him.
“Okay, so now that you’re settled in,” Elle began, “I may or may not have a surprise for you.”
“Is it a gallon of Ben & Jerry’s and a new body that doesn’t hurt? Because if it’s none of those things, I don’t want it.”
Elle watched me with sympathetic eyes. “I’d like to think it’s better than any of those things.”
“Oh? Then hit me with it. Preferably over the head so it knocks me out and I can stop feeling like a train ran me over.” Elle reached inside of her purse and pulled out a stack of papers, setting them down in front of me. I picked up the stack and thumbed through it. “Is this what I think it is?”
She smiled, pleased with herself. “I know, right? I did it. I finished a book. Oh, Mena, I’m so proud of it. It’s a compilation of poems I’ve written through the years and, of course, new ones, too. It has a whole female empowerment theme to it. You know, girl power and stuff …Wait, are you crying?”
“No,” I answered her, rubbing my eyes. “I just had surgery, and I’m on heavy pain killers. My body is doing some weird shit.”
“Uh-huh,” Elle rolled her eyes, seeing right through me. “It’s just missing one thing.” She picked up the manuscript, flipping through the pages.
“Romance? Intrigue?”
“Your personal touch. I paint with words. You paint with a pencil. Plus, you already said you would do it. No takebacks, you know.”
