74 - The Long Way Home

It was nearly eleven o’clock before the final discharge papers to release Lilah were signed.  By that time, she was groggy, exhausted and starved to death.  She would be hard-pressed to say which was more critical at this juncture – food or sleep. 

Even as hungry as she was, Lilah would probably peg sleep-deprivation as the greater of her two problems.  It had to be.  If she weren't a cat’s hair away from passing out cold, she surely would have put up more of a fight when Tony calmly stated that he wasn’t going anywhere.  Good grief, she didn't even say a word when he went on to declare that he would be taking her home and spending the night with her.  

Sleep-deprivation my ass, Lilah Jane.  The anesthesia hangover is just an excuse to let your defenses down.  You can’t stand to let him go again so soon.

Regardless of the truth in that, he may be the only person who wouldn't drive her crazy while ‘taking care’ of her.  Since he didn’t like to be coddled any more than she did, Lilah might actually be able to rest without being a nervous wreck over someone hovering around her apartment. 

The nurse applied the brakes on the wheelchair as Tony exited the white convertible parked at the ER entrance.  Circling the vehicle, he opened the passenger door and reached a hand to help her out of the chair, but Lilah just stared dumbly up at him. 

The anesthesia must be really hanging on strong.  With the exception of the paint job, his car looked just like hers.

“A 2011 Camaro convertible?  Seriously?  This is what you drive?”

For the first time since his appearance in Kentucky, Tony’s face transformed into that heart-stopping grin that she adored.  “I’ve only had it a couple of days, but what can I say?  We both have excellent taste in cars.”

“Okay Ms. Bennett,” the nurse addressed her kindly, cupping Lilah's elbow to help get her on her feet.  “Remember… bed-rest for the next twenty-four hours.  After that you should be able to resume normal activity, with the exception that the doctor noted.”

Nodding at the 'exception', Lilah shook down the pant legs of the borrowed hospital scrubs and shuffled to the vehicle’s open passenger door.  Abstaining from sex for the next week shouldn't be a problem.  She didn't think.

Her butt dropped into the soft leather seat with a quiet groan and she reached for the door handle, smiling wearily at the nurse.  “Thank you.”

“You awake enough to give directions or do I need to use my GPS?” Tony asked, sliding into the car next to her and dropping the convertible top as she fastened her seatbelt.  “I wasn’t paying much attention to landmarks on the way here.  Mind having the top down?”

“I still don’t really know how you found me, but I’m mostly awake and I love the night air.”  In the summer, any time after seven o’clock was one of her favorite times.  Temperatures cooled, but the air was still warm enough to comfortably celebrate the survival of another day while wearing a short-sleeved shirt.

The Camaro slid into gear easily under his masterful hand and he glanced over at her with the ghost of a smile.  “Me, too.   As for how I found you, I went knocking on your landlady’s door and she told me what she knew.  Easy enough.”

She snickered sleepily as her stomach growled with neglect.  That answered the how, anyway.

"Good Lord, I should've guessed.  Verna does tend to keep her finger on the pulse of the neighborhood."

"She seems very well... connected," he admitted with a grin.

Connected, indeed.  There was no doubt the old woman would be knocking on her door the next morning to get the 'offiical' scoop.

"Mm.  That still doesn't tell me why you're here. Oh, hey.  There’s a McDonald’s on the next corner.  Could you let me run in and get…”  Lilah's eyes fell to her empty hands, and then beyond, to the equally empty floorboard at her feet.  Smothering a sigh of disgust, she realized that her bitterly quarreling belly would have to be content with the cheese and crackers in the fridge.  “Nevermind. I don’t have my purse with me.”

“Do me a favor and don’t pull the stubborn pride shit, please.  You’re not running in anyplace and I’ll buy whatever it is you want.”

I love you.

It was weird beyond weird that thoughts of love came from his blunt degradation of the pride and independence that made up the very core of who she was.   She should be all kinds of pissed off and offended, but Lilah was clearly still stoned on sedation drugs.  As further proof of her altered state of mind, Lilah didn't even have a desire to argue with him about it.

“Okay.  Thank you.” 

After relaying their orders through the speaker and receiving the sack of burgers and fries, he guided the car back onto the nearly deserted road.  The quietness of late-night Lexington was broken only by the wind and the faint strains of Bon Jovi's "I'll Be There For You" bleeding out of the speakers.

How appropriate.

Lilah let her head loll on the headrest, slowly swiveling toward him.  The passing streetlights intermittently shone across the face that had been haunting her dreams every night and her stomach muscles clenched with more than hunger.  This felt like another one of those dreams, laced with confusion and foggy understanding.

Her eyebrows puckered and a mild annoyance pierced through the medicinal muzziness inside her brain.  “How many times am I gonna have to ask why you’re here before you give in and actually tell me?  Turn left at the next light.”

“I’m shooting for six,” he told her over the clicking of the Camaro’s turn signal as they waited for the light to change from red to green. 

An irrepressible smile quivered at the corners of her mouth when she caught sight of his teasing wink.  “You’re such a smartass.  I don’t know how I could have possibly forgotten that so soon.”

“Me either, since you’re just as bad as I am.”

Snickering lightly, she refused to validate that accusation with a verbal acknowledgement.  She didn't need to. They’d had more than one out-smartassing event during their time together.  “I can’t believe you restrained that part of yourself with Joanna.”

“What makes you think I did?”

Sneaking her hand into the fast food bag on her lap, she pilfered a fry and nibbled the end of it as the powerful car prowled around the corner.  “Turn right in two blocks.  Because, before she left the hospital, she said she could see why I liked you.”

Actually, she’d said that she could see why Lilah had fallen in love with him and that, physically, he reminded her a little of Walter.  Undoubtedly that information hadn't been relayed to Tony, and Lilah sure as hell wasn’t telling him.

“I didn’t say much to her at all.   My head was elsewhere, which was probably a good thing, seeing as I don’t do the polite game as well as you.”

“Third house on the right,” she directed, choosing not to go there.  This evening had been unpleasant enough without giving life to that discussion.  She preferred to dwell in a polite-game-free world when given a chance.  “You can pull in behind my car.  Verna doesn’t use the driveway.”

He pushed the gearshift into park and took the McDonald’s bag from her before hopping out and circling the hood.  When she put both flip flops on the drive way and pushed to her feet, Lilah bit her lip with discomfort.  Having had such a centrally located ‘procedure’, every movement was painfully magnified with the reminder of said procedure.

“Need help?”

As the car door closed behind her, she looked up into his face, down at his outstretched hand and then back at his face.  “I’m okay.”

The brightly shining lights mounted on the side of the garage made it easy to see the eyebrow that was arched in disbelief.  “You sure?”

She nodded again, but he still regarded her with a healthy dose of skepticism.

“Let me tell you how this is gonna work, Bluegrass.  I’m gonna have enough respect not to smother you with unnecessary help.  In return, you’re going to tell me when you need help.  No martyrdom.  No thinking you’re being an inconvenience.  Just ask.”  He dipped his chin to pointedly meet her eyes over the rim of his glasses.  “We on the same page?”

He made everything seem so simple.  There were no pretentious games with unknown rules with Tony.  He liked everything open and aboveboard -- no bullshit.  It was one of her very favorite things about him.

“Same page,” she agreed quietly, ready to weep with relief.  From the very beginning, she hadn’t had to play a role with him.  “Can I hold onto your arm, please?”

“Sure thing.”

The requested arm was presented without hesitation and Lilah slipped hers through the crook of the elbow, holding onto his bicep with her opposite hand.  Using him as a human crutch, she leaned heavily and took a ginger step in the direction of the thirteen lighted stairs that led to her apartment.

Climbing that simple flight of stairs took much longer than it normally did, but Tony exhibited untold patience with her one-step-at-a-time method of scaling them.  When they reached the small landing that held no more than a plastic porch chair and an overflowing pot of impatiens, Lilah was ready to collapse.

“Key?”

She nodded to the brightly painted “Welcome” sign hanging to the right of the door and released him to lean on the railing.  “There’s a spare in the back of it.”

In a moment’s time he had the lock open, apartment lit and Lilah ushered inside.  Taking a quick glance around, he zeroed in on the two doors at the back of the studio-style living room/dining room/kitchen.

“One of those the bedroom?”

“The one on the right.”

Dropping their dinner bag on the coffee table, he steered her toward the indicated door.  “How about you climb in bed and then I’ll bring your food?”

She glanced down at herself – baggy scrub pants provided by the hospital, flip flops and a pink t-shirt with fuchsia rhinestone lips on the chest.  She looked and felt like a vagrant.

“I’d rather eat at the table and take a shower before I get in bed.”

“Twenty-four hours of bed rest,” he reminded her.  “Can’t you at least do eight before breaking the rules?  Take your shower in the morning.”

Being up on her feet was becoming increasingly harder and, even as he ‘scolded’ her, Lilah felt her shallow pool of energy drain.  Her knees began to quiver just a bit and she curled clutching fingers around the bedroom door facing.

“That might be better,” she agreed weakly, pivoting carefully on her heel.  “But I need to go to the bathroom.  Could you get some pajamas and panties and toss them in to me?”

Under normal circumstances, she would be mortified to have anyone picking through her underwear drawer, but Tony had stopped being ‘anyone’ when he pulled her into his arms at the hospital.  Or maybe it was when he asked her to spare him the stubborn pride shit.  Whatever.  For tonight, anyway, he was… her person.  And she was going to indulge the flagrant delusion that he belonged here.

Tomorrow was soon enough to face the truth.