Clearer in the Night by Rebecca Croteau Read Free Book Online Page B

come-back-ifs and promises of payment if the insurance didn’t come through for some reason. I got dressed in the clean jeans and t-shirt that Shannon had tucked into the backpack, along with my eBook and my phone. Nothing makes a person more human than clean underwear. Well, a hot shower, hot coffee, and then clean underwear. I’d take what I had. We waited an hour for someone to come with a wheelchair, and then gave up and signed more things so that I could just walk out on my own steam.
    It was weird. I felt sore and tired, but strong and steady. The churning and twisting started up in my gut again, and I thought of mentioning it, but they seemed sure I’d just had some viral thing that was clearing out now. I’d probably end up with a rough evening in the bathroom, and then I’d be fine. They’d already checked for damage to my head, so it’s not like I had a concussion or something to worry about. The thought of spending another night here made everything feel a thousand times worse. I didn’t care how bad I felt; I needed to escape this place. I needed to be anywhere else. Even Mom’s house would be an improvement.
    Mom held tight to my arm through the hallways, to the elevator, to the parking garage, and to her car. I thought she might try to keep holding me up while she drove, but she seemed to decide, after a moment’s consideration, that she should use both hands for that task. I leaned my head back against the headrest and let my eyes fall closed. I was wide awake, and so tired at the same time. As we drove up out of the underground parking structure, I flinched away from the sun for a moment, then blinked my eyes clear. And saw Wes leaning against a tree, watching the clouds. Only his face tracked along with our car. Had he been waiting here? Why hadn’t he come in? Hadn’t he wanted to see me again?
    I didn’t do relationships, I’d never really done relationships, but there was something about the way he smiled that made me curl up inside myself and grin like an idiot. That made me remember dancing with him, and more than dancing, and thinking—maybe that would be worth trying again. The end had been pretty awful, but maybe that was because of where I was that night. It had been a dark night, for all the moon had been out. A dark night of the spirit, wasn’t that what they called it? Something like that.
    We had unfinished business, him and I. That was all it had to be. We’d finish what we’d started and then we’d see. I was twenty-two. Maybe it was time to see if there was something to this relationship thing. After all, most of the world seemed to groove on it. Maybe they all knew something I didn’t.
    How was I going to get in touch with him, though? Unless…I pulled my eyes open one more time, and reached down into my backpack, pulling my phone out. I flipped through the contacts while Mom made a you-kids-and-your-gadgets throat clearing sound, and sure enough. Wesley, and a number. At least he wanted to hear from me again. That was something.
    The drive from the hospital to our house was about ten minutes, depending on traffic. Mom drove like a grandma, instead of her usual bat-out-of-hell methods, so I had a couple of extra minutes to luxuriate in the odd, uncomfortable silence that stretched between us. She kept opening her mouth to say something, then tapping her wedding ring on the steering wheel and not speaking. It was wearying, to say the least. What would she do if I just screamed? Shouted, “Say it already!” Probably nothing good. She’d turn her withering look on me, and remind me that ladies don’t use that tone of voice, or something else awful. So I stared out the window and watched the business of downtown fade away into the rural streets of old, converted Victorians, mixed with newer saltboxes and raised ranches. Many of the Victorians had been bought by the college, and converted to dorms or frats, or purchased by realtors for office space. Not on our street,