My Familiar Stranger by Victoria Danann Read Free Book Online

credit cards?” She nodded again. He pulled the rolling table over, set the laptop up and plugged it in with an Ethernet cord. It had a mouse that detached from the housing for easy browsing. He pulled a plastic rectangle from his pocket and handed it to her. “Here’s a credit card that you can use to get stuff on the internet. I can trust you not to buy cars, right?”
    “No cars,” she repeated.
    “Yeah, no cars or home theatre systems. Also,” he added offhandedly, ”no weapons or I’ll be in more trouble than usual.” He looked around the room. “You’ve got some space limitations. And please tell me you’re not a jewelry freak.” She shook her head no. “Good. You can use it to get… you know, clothes and,” he looked at her hair, “hair ribbons or magazines or music and stuff. Here’s the address you use for billing.” He handed her a note. “And here’s the address you use for delivery. They’ll do overnight if you want.”
    “Hair ribbons?”
    He cocked his head. “I guess women don’t really wear hair ribbons, do they?”
    “I’m, ah, hoping not.”
    “Well,” he smiled, “you know what I mean.” She nodded again and smiled back, wondering if this man was really this kind to monstrous looking clumps of bloody flesh in general or just her. “Let’s go for our stroll. You think we’ll go faster today?”
    “I’m positive you could. Go ahead. Save yourself.”
    “Elora!” He sounded surprised. “You have a sense of humor.” He was looking around like he’d lost something. “So where do they keep the booties?”
    She thought he had to be the cutest, most considerate person who had ever lived. Seeing this man with the shape and bearing of a warrior of old searching the room for traction booties made her throat feel tight.
    “Aha!” He straightened from where he’d been opening drawers, holding up a clean pair of traction booties still sealed in a plastic wrapping. He seemed so pleased with himself, over such a small thing, that it tugged at her heart strings a little. “You know, you can order your own booties or socks or slippers or whatever.”
    He knelt down on the floor next to the bed and started pulling the booties onto Elora’s feet like she was a child. He talked about the marvels of internet shopping while he was concentrating on making the booties conform to her feet.
    “And movies! Just download them right to your own monitor. You’re not going to feel like a prisoner anymore.”
    There was a slight break in his movement when he realized what he’d said.
    She jerked her gaze from her feet to his face. “Prisoner?” She thought she saw a flicker of reaction. Was it self-recrimination or… guilt?
    He looked serious all of a sudden. “I mean, being stuck in a hospital room has to make you a little stir crazy.”
    “Oh. Yes.” Her eyes wandered over the room. “It does.”
    He tried to restore the mood. She walked a little further than the day before and maybe just a little faster although at that pace it was hard to tell. She was too exhausted to do anything but sleep when she returned to the room, but she woke in the middle of the night and wasn’t sleepy. She turned on the laptop, found out that she had a lightning fast connection and that GilesQuery.com was the search engine of choice in this world. She tried some familiar names just to see what would happen. Some came up right away. Some came up as no matches. She ordered Paul Mitchell hair products, make-up from Mac, jeans from Levi’s, and some long-sleeve tees and hoodies from Saks in shades of green, blue, and gray. She knew from watching TV that she was in New England and that it was Fall, but it was always cold in the infirmary. So she also got two pairs of velvet leggings, black and brown, and a long, black silk sweater from Armani Exchange.
    She wouldn’t be able to consider wearing something so sensational at home, but, gods only knew, she wasn’t home. She bought cotton socks, cashmere