Chapter 23
Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott
Day Eleven
Ileft the hospital feeling better than I had when I walked into it that morning.
Physically, I was exhausted. My feet ached from spending twelve hours trapped inside compression socks and work shoes, and the muscles between my shoulders had tightened into the kind of knot that made yesterday’s massage feel like money wasted.
Still, something inside me felt lighter.
The conversation with Lev had lifted a weight I hadn’t realized I’d been carrying until it was no longer pressing against my chest.
Maybe it was the uncertainty that had been wearing me down.
Maybe it was hearing him admit that he cared about me.
It wasn’t as if one conversation had suddenly made everything simple.
I still had a husband I was trying to divorce, a life I barely recognized, and more problems than any one woman should have been expected to carry at once.
Lev had his own world too, and no matter how close he allowed me to stand beside him, there were parts of it I still didn’t understand.
I should have gone straight home. Instead, once I pulled away from the hospital, I headed toward Da Licking.
Tasha had undergone the abortion that morning.
She had texted me earlier to say she was all right, but I knew her too well to trust two little words typed across a screen.
Tasha could be doubled over in pain with tears soaking her pillow and still send I’m good, girl because she didn’t want anybody worrying about her.
My plan was simple. I would pick up chicken, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, and the apple juice she had suddenly decided she couldn’t live without.
Then I would go to her place, make sure she had taken her medicine, and stay until she fell asleep or got tired of me asking how she felt.
The parking lot at Da Licking was packed when I arrived.
Cars occupied every space near the entrance, forcing me to park closer to the street.
People stood outside waiting for orders, and each time the restaurant door opened, the smell of fried chicken and heavy seasoning rolled into the humid night air.
I cut the car off and reached into my tote. My fingers brushed my hospital badge, hand lotion, two pens, the wrapper from a granola bar, and the tangled cord of my charger but I had no wallet. I frowned and pushed my hand deeper. “Come on.”
Pulling the tote into my lap, I began removing things one by one.
My lip gloss landed in the cup holder. The stethoscope case went onto the passenger seat, followed by a half-empty pack of gum and three receipts I should have thrown away days ago.
I checked the small inside pocket, then the zipper pocket, then the inside pocket again as if sheer irritation might make the wallet appear.
“Damn it.”
I sank into the seat and closed my eyes until the memory came back and remembered I had taken my wallet out when we stopped at the café, then placed it in his center console while shifting my tote out of the way to buckle my seat belt.
By the time we reached the hospital, I had been so distracted by our conversation I walked away without it.
I looked through the windshield toward the restaurant. A woman stepped outside carrying two large bags, and the smell of chicken grew stronger. My stomach growled loudly enough to make me glance down at it. “So disrespectful,” I muttered.
I could have ordered through an app, but the cards attached to my phone were either locked, outdated, or connected to accounts Rome had once been able to access.
I had spent the last few weeks changing passwords and separating everything I could, yet I still didn’t trust any account he had ever seen.
The little cash I usually kept in my tote was gone too.
I had used it to tip the massage therapist and never replaced it.
With no other option, I called Tasha. She answered after three rings, her voice so low and raspy that it sounded as though I had dragged her from the deepest sleep of her life. “Hello?”
“Were you sleeping?”
“I was trying to.”
There was no television playing in the background, no music, and no smart remark from her either. The absence of all three worried me immediately. “I’m sorry, I only wanted to check on you.”
“I’m alive.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“I’m sore,” she finally admitted. “The cramps keep coming and going.”
“Did you take the medicine they gave you?”
“Yes, Nurse Navy.”
“What did you eat?”
Silence.
“Tasha, I’m talking to you.” I frowned.
“I had some crackers.”
I looked toward the restaurant again, wishing I had checked for my wallet before driving all the way there. “I stopped at Da Licking to get you something, but I left my damn wallet in Lev’s truck.”
A tired laugh slipped out of her, weak but familiar enough to loosen the concern knotting my stomach. “You left your wallet in that man’s truck because your little mind was gone.”
“My mind was not gone.”
I hated knowing she was there without me. “Let me go home and shower. I’m going to try to get my wallet back from Lev, then I’m coming over.”
“You don’t have to rush over here.”
“I’m not rushing. I’m bringing you food.”
“And apple juice.”
“Yes, apple juice, got you.” I assured her.
After ending the call, I gathered everything I had dumped from my tote and started the car.
Traffic backed up near an intersection where two damaged cars sat with their hazard lights flashing, so the drive home took longer than it should have.
I slowed down as soon as I entered the parking lot, and the habit had become automatic.
Even when I had no reason to believe Rome would be there, I searched for his car.
My eyes moved across every vehicle parked along the curb.
Nothing looked out of place, so I parked beneath closest to my stairs and remained inside the locked car for a few seconds while checking my phone.
The apartment was always when I stepped inside.
I locked the door behind me, checked it twice, then stood in the entryway long enough for the air-conditioning to cool the sweat.
I carried my tote into the bedroom and let it fall onto the chair.
My scrubs came off on the way to the bathroom, with the top landing near the hamper before I stepped out of the pants and kicked them into the same pile.
Hot water felt good against my skin. I stood beneath it longer than planned, letting it plummet the back of my neck and loosen the tension in my shoulders.
The smell of the hospital washed away first, followed by the faint scent of the café.
Closing my eyes, I heard Lev’s voice again: I care about you.
I couldn’t decide whether that made me feel safer or more afraid.
Lev wasn’t Rome, I knew that. Still, knowing who somebody wasn’t didn’t automatically tell me who they were.
The water began cooling, forcing me to finish.
I stepped out, wrapped a towel around my body, and wiped the steam from the mirror with my palm.
After rubbing lotion into my skin, I dressed in a fitted black T-shirt and loose gray joggers.
I pulled my damp hair into a low ponytail, stepped into black slides, and returned to the bedroom.
My regular driver’s license was inside my wallet, so I knelt in front of the dresser and opened the bottom drawer. Beneath old nursing books, a scarf, and paperwork I had been meaning to shred, I found the clear sleeve containing my spare. “Thank God.”
I slipped it into my pocket, but before closing the drawer, my eyes moved to the liner covering the bottom.
The money Lev returned was hidden beneath it.
For days, every dollar I earned had belonged to that debt before it belonged to me and I was still trying to process him giving it back.
I lifted the loose edge of the liner and removed the thick envelope taped beneath it.
The flap made a soft tearing sound as I opened it, revealing stacks of bills still arranged in the order I had counted them.
I peeled a hundred-dollar bill from the top.
Still, using one of those bills to buy food for my best friend felt better than handing it over because my husband involved me in a theft I knew nothing about.
I placed the bill inside the small zipper pocket of my tote, returned the envelope to its hiding place, and carefully replaced everything over it. My phone remained silent on the bed.
I grabbed my keys and tote, then headed toward the front door while mentally calculating what time Da Licking closed and whether Tasha would still be awake by the time I reached her.
I had just opened the door and had one leg in and one out when Marv was coming down the hallway.
For half a second, I almost ran. Then he raised his face, and something inside me made me nervous.
He didn’t look like the Marv I knew, like he was still fine and clean but something in his eyes was very wrong.
His eyes frightened me most. They were too wide and too restless, bouncing from my door to the wall and then toward the stairwell behind him as if he expected someone to appear.
His pupils were so large they swallowed most of the brown in his eyes.
Faint white residue clung beneath one nostril.
His lips were dry, and his jaw moved from side to side as if he were chewing something that wasn’t there.
His gaze dropped to the chain before returning to me. “I need five minutes.”
“I’m heading out.”
His eyes traveled slowly over my face before dropping to the tote hanging from my shoulder. “Where you going?”
“To check on Tasha.”
“Why?”
“Because she needs me.”
A smile formed on his mouth, but nothing changed in his eyes. “Everybody need Navy.”
I didn’t like the way he said it. “Marv, are you okay?”
His expression hardened so quickly that I regretted asking.
“What you mean by that?”
“You look upset.”