Chapter Six
Elliot
My head still hurt, but I couldn’t miss work. I needed the money.
I would have liked to say my carpentry business was taking off, and I was selling larger-ticket items and getting custom orders, but I only had one client who wanted a dining room table.
I couldn’t finish it until next month. I wouldn’t get paid until after I finished and delivered it.
The revenue from the table would put me in a better financial position.
Until then, I was delivering pizzas and working two other part-time jobs.
My vision was still blurry when I got into my car. I wasn’t sure how I’d deliver pizzas.
I somehow, by some miracle, ended up at the restaurant in one piece, but the drive over was a lesson in not crashing. The only reason I made it without killing myself or, gods forbid, anyone else was that I was familiar with the route, having driven it every day.
As soon as I walked into the restaurant and saw Joel, I knew he’d somehow interfered with my workday. His expression said guilty and fuck you. I did the right thing.
Mandy, my boss and the manager, took one look at me and pointed to the prep station. I hated being the cook. That was the job I had when I first started. After a couple of years, I’d moved over to deliveries, which suited me much better.
“I’m fine.” I felt like shit, but she didn’t have to know that. I glared at Joel, who had apparently killed all his brain cells with each puff he’d taken, because he met my gaze with defiance he shouldn’t have shown if he had any sense at all.
“You might not be aware, but you’re pale, and the cut on your head is very...” She swirled her finger around her own head, at the spot where the wound was on mine. “Nasty looking.”
I sighed. “I need the tip money.”
I would have a hard time driving after dark, especially on roads I wasn’t as familiar with, but I’d figure it out. Somehow.
“I can’t allow you to drive today. I have it on good authority that you’re not supposed to operate a vehicle per the doctor’s orders.”
I glanced at Joel, giving him my best glare. He looked entirely unapologetic for reading my very private discharge papers and then snitching on me. Mandy backing him up made him cocky.
“The tips are yours as long as you take care of yourself.” His voice trailed off. His mouth kept moving, but I couldn’t make out the words. Then his voice grew louder than before. “Need the money for bills...”
The sound of his voice might as well have been a spike he pounded into my brain. I didn’t know when it happened, but I must have blacked out and fallen. When I blinked, I found myself on the restaurant floor, staring up at Mandy and Joel.
“Call 911,” Mandy said. Joel pulled out his phone.
I wanted to tell him I was fine and not to cost me any more money than I’d already spent.
When my mom died, it was sudden. She had a brain aneurysm.
Those things sneak up on a person. But I had called the ambulance for her, so I knew how much that particular chauffeured ride actually cost. Limousine rentals were cheaper. Not that I had much of a choice.
Whatever was happening made my vision and hearing go wonky. Mandy and Joel’s conversation faded before they did.
I was mostly out before the paramedics arrived at the restaurant, but I caught glimpses of them. One of them focused on the wound on my head. She noticed me staring at her and smiled. “There you are. I see you hit your head recently. Did you hit it a second time?”
I tried to speak, but I couldn’t seem to form words. She glanced at Mandy and asked her when I didn’t answer right away.
“When he fell, his head hit the floor. I think.”
The woman nodded.
“Is he going to be okay?” Mandy asked. I couldn’t see her from my vantage point, and I couldn’t move my neck. I later realized it was because the paramedic had put a padded collar on me.
“We’ll do everything we can,” the paramedic said. It was a non-answer, likely meaning bad news.
She spoke to her partner. By then, my hearing had faded again, but I saw her mouth move. Then I was lifted and laid onto something soft. The movement made the pain spike.
I blacked out after that and didn't remember anything until waking up in the hospital.