Chapter Sixteen
“Eli! How’s my best buddy doing today?” Mitch says as he walks into my room, interrupting the mindless boredom I’ve been stuck in since the boys left.
“Hey there,” I say, flashing him a smile.
“Well look at you, no more peeking at you through all those wraps,” Mitch replies, pointing to my head.
“Yeah, but they shaved my head and I look like a doofus,” I say with a sigh. “But it feels better this way than with those bandages on.”
“Eh, it’s only hair,” he replies with a shrug, “it’ll grow back.”
“I suppose you’re right. But until then, I’m definitely not winning any beauty contests, that’s for sure,” I say with a chuckle.
“I don’t know, there’s plenty of pretty bald men and women out there,” Mitch teases.
“Yeah, but I’m not interested in other women,” I say.
“Oh?”
“I’ve actually got my eye on someone here,” I say.
“Really?” Mitch replies. “Who’s the lucky gal?”
“Mm-hmm, one of the nurses here, actually,” I say.
“Well dang, Cassanova! Good for you!” Mitch says with a mile-wide grin, sitting down next to me.
“You might know her,” I say. “I guess I’m supposed to, too. . .”
“Please tell me you ain’t talking about that Darla, are you?”
“Actually, I am,” I reply. “She’s an amazing nurse.”
“She’s a maternity ward nurse, what is she doing down here?” Mitch asks, seemingly shocked. “She hates ICU work.”
“Not sure, but this is where she works,” I say with a shrug. “According to the boys, she’s my girlfriend. . . Or she was, before the accident.”
“Eli—”
“You know, I’m not too sure how to proceed with all of this as I am now but I gotta say, I ain’t too mad about it.”
“Eli, Darla is not who you think she is,” Mitch says with a sigh, his face going from happy-go-lucky and grinning to concerned, fast enough to make your head spin.
“Why? What’s wrong with her?” I ask.
“She’s a maneater, that’s what’s wrong with her,” Mitch says. “She likes to mess with your head, chew you up, and spit you out like you’re nothin’. I’ve told you this before!”
I can sense the anger and vitriol spewing out in his bashing of Darla, and it leaves me feeling confused. . . but he’s made it clear we’ve discussed this before.
“Maybe you’ve forgotten but I have amnesia, Mitch,” I reply. “I hardly remember you, to be fair.”
“Sorry, I just don’t want you to get hurt,” Mitch says. “She’s an awful person.”
“How would you even know that? Did you date her?” I ask, and he immediately looks repulsed and anxious.
“What, me?” Mitch asks, pointing to himself and laughing nervously. “No way, no! My buddy, Joe—”
“From the bar,” I say as a flash of a memory peeks through. “Joseph, from the bar. I went to tell him off, and you said you’d talk to him about following her around, right?”
“Well, yeah, but—”
“You’re good friends with him, so you’re already biased,” I say. “If I’m remembering correctly, we’ve also already spoken about his bad deeds before. He’s not without sin either, and honestly, he seems to be the villain here. So, with all things considered, I don’t understand why you hate her so much.”
“Eli, it’s a bit more complicated than all that,” Mitch stammers. “And we aren’t supposed to get you all riled up.”
“Well, it’s a bit too late for that,” I say, feeling a bit angry at his poor attitude toward Darla. “I may not remember everything, but I know how I feel about her, and you should respect that.”
The room falls silent, the only sound coming from the television, the murmurs of the cowboys in the western I’d been watching on and off droning on in the background. Mitch looks off toward the window, as if he’s deep in thought, before shaking his head. “Well, I better get going,” he says suddenly.
“What? But you just got here,” I say, raising my brow. I really must have upset him more than I thought.
“I’ve got some stuff to take care of,” Mitch replies as he gets up. “Take ‘er easy, Eli,” he says before he disappears out into the hallway. . . and there’s something about his weird, erratic behavior that leaves me with an odd sense of unease.
Rosita is going to be so irritated with me, I think to myself as I look down at the time on my phone. That took way longer than a half hour. I sigh as the doors slide open. My eyes immediately scan the hall, looking to see if I can find Rosita to apologize. Guess she’s in a patient’s room, I think as I walk back onto the ward and get to the nurse’s desk, just in time to see a familiar face.
Joseph’s face, and he’s coming out of Eli’s room.
Panic immediately sets in, and I duck down as he walks by, his cowboy boots clicking loudly on the tile. What is he doing here? And why was he in Eli’s room?
I need to find out.
Poor Rosita will have to wait.After I glance toward Eli’s room and see that none of the machines are going off, and that he’s preoccupied with the TV, I stalk down the hall after Joe. After seeing him, I have a horrible feeling that it really is all connected to Joseph.
Quietly tip toeing down the hall—glad I was wearing flats—I watch from a pillar as he boards the elevator, waiting for the door to close before flying as fast as I can down the stairs, hoping I won’t lose him in the shuffle of the hospital. Thankfully, however, once I reach the bottom floor and peer out the doorway, I can still see him a few steps ahead of me. So, like a lion on the prowl, I creep after him into the parking lot.
For once, I’m glad that I have to park farther out to make the walk to the hospital shorter for the patients when I realize that whatever he’s driving, our cars are in the same area. I duck and weave between cars, making sure not to be seen as he gets in his car, and I make a mad dash for my own.
I need to know where he’s going, I think to myself. There’s no reason for him to be anywhere near Eli.
Ever.
I get to the back of my car, and I squat down, watching him as he sits there. Luckily, he takes a moment before he leaves, and as he slowly pulls out of his spot, I scramble for my front seat. I twist the key in my ignition, praying that it’ll start, and when it does, I am in hot pursuit.
I quickly put on some sunglasses as I follow closely behind, but I’m still sweating bullets when we have to stop at a light. I duck down and try to find the ascot that I had worn out one day. When I find it, I wrap it around my hair as well, trying to hide my identity the best that I can.
Lucky for me, Joe doesn’t look back at all, seeming to be far too focused on getting to wherever it is that he needs to go. So much so that I almost lose him three different times once he speeds into the hills, hitting about eighty.
Where is he going in such a hurry? I ask myself as I continue to tail him. Does he live out this way? But then he takes a sudden turn up a very familiar dirt road, and my mind feels like it might explode.
He’s going to Eli’s.
I wait until he’s just out of sight before turning onto the dirt road, and then I scoot up it myself, my heart pounding. What could he possibly be doing here? I ask myself. The boys are probably there. . . Is he going to hurt them? They may not be my kids, but I care about them immensely. I’m not about to let some psycho ex of mine touch one hair on their heads.
I watch him park in front of the house, and I speed up, my tires screeching as I come to a halt right behind him as he angrily stomps toward the house. I get out my phone and fumble with it a minute, taking a picture as he turns to look at me, his eyes wide as I get out of the car and slam the door.
“Joseph Rutherford Middleton!” I scream as I march right up to him, blocking his path to the door. “What do you think you’re doing here?”
“Darla, you need to move,” he replies as he tries to push past me, but I bob and weave and continue to obstruct him from going any further.
“No! You’re going to tell me what is going on here!” I yell. Behind me I hear the porch door open, and I glance over my shoulder to see the boys, Zack and Noah, standing on the porch.
“Darla?” Zack asks.
“Zack, don’t move,” I say. “This man isn’t right in the head, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Darla!” Joseph hollers at me, pushing his chest into mine. “I said, move!”
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what in the blue blazes is going on here,” I growl, standing firm. “Why are you at Eli’s, Joseph?”
“Who’s Joseph?” Noah asks.
“Yeah, that’s Mitch,” Zack says, looking extremely confused.
“Mitch? No, his name is Joseph,” I reply, my eyes flickering right back to Joseph who looks absolutely mortified. “And he’s my ex-husband.”
“Seriously?” Zack asks, shifting uncomfortably where he stands, and Zack crosses his arms tightly across his chest.
“She’s crazy,” Joseph stutters. “I told you all she was crazy!”
“I’m not crazy, you are!” I insist. “You mean to tell me you’ve been working here as Eli’s ranch hand?” As I look him over closely, I remember the man in the barn, the one that Eli had called Mitch. “Jeezum crow! You were the guy in the bandana on Valentine’s Day, watching us while you worked!”
“I—”
“Is this true?” Zack asks. “Are you who she says you are?”
“No! Of course not,” Joseph insists as he rifles through his pants pocket, pulls out his ID, and holds it up. “You see? I’m Mitch!”
“And who did you pay to have that done?” I ask as I snatch it out of his hand. “It’s pretty well made, but the corners are already starting to come apart.”
“Darla, you need to let me through so I can get to my room. I’ve had enough of your insanity for a lifetime,” Joseph says as he tries once again to move past me, but I refuse to budge.
“No,” I say as I stand firmly in his way. “You’re going to explain to me what’s going on. Why are you working here? What’s your angle?”
“I’ve got no angle,” Joseph says as he glares at me. “Joe warned me you were psychotic, but this takes the cake.”
“Stop your lying and fess up!” I demand.
“Can’t fess up to a delusional lie now, can I?” Joe says with a shrug as he takes a step forward. “Now move.”
“If I’m so delusional, Joe, what’s this?” I ask as I pull my phone back out, go to my social media, and pull up our wedding photo. I hold it up in his face, and his eyes grow wide as I turn around and show the boys. Pointing to the caption. “See? That’s me and that’s him, Nurse Darla Middleton and Doctor Joseph Middleton.”
“Oh my God. . .” Noah says. “I knew there was something fishy about you!”
“Boys, it’s not what it looks like,” Joseph insists as the boys slowly make their way toward us.
“What it looks like is that you’re working here to stalk Darla,” Zack says.
“That’s not true!” Joseph says. “Remember? I’m the one that told him about the dating app!”
“Maybe it didn’t start that way,” I interject. “Maybe you didn’t mean for him to find me on there, because you were so sure I’d take you back you didn’t think I’d be on there. But even then, why find work around Thistleberry? Why follow me all the way here and keep harassing me if you weren’t sticking around here to stalk me?” I ask.
“Just keep your mouth shut!” Joseph yells.
“You came to my house, you begged me to take you back, you followed me to the bar when we went on our date. . .” I say. “If you realized that he was dating me. . . No, with how close you got to Eli, you’d easily know that, wouldn’t you?”
“I swear if you don’t shut your mouth, Darla. . .” Joseph growls, and then I feel a hand on my shoulder as Zack steps in front of me, shielding me from Joseph’s growing anger. His face turns as red as a ripened tomato, and the vein near his temple pulses.
“Or what, Mitch?” Zack asks Joseph. “Or should I say Joe? What exactly do you think you’re going to do?”
“Back off, Zack,” Joseph insists. “You’re not part of this.”
“Oh no, I think we are,” Noah says. “It all makes sense now. Constantly talking poorly about Darla, getting angry with Dad every time he’d go out with her. . .”
Noah gets quiet for a moment, and then his eyes widen. “It was you,” he says as he walks in front of Zack, pointing at Joe. “It was you that caused the stampede, you caused Tango to rear up!”
“Have you completely lost your mind, Noah?” Joseph asks, but he is sweating bullets. “Why would I do that?”
“To get to me. . .” I say as I have my own terrible realization that my suspicions were true. “And you’re the one who changed the records at the hospital!”
“No!”
“You’re friends with Joseph Harrison, the head of the hospital, he confirmed it himself,” I say, peering at him from behind the boys. “We had the same hospital system back home. You stole his credentials somehow and changed the info to hurt me and make me think he was dead. . .”
“I’m telling you she’s wrong!”
“You thought I was working maternity, didn’t you?” I ask as all the puzzle pieces fall together in my mind. “You didn’t realize I’d be working the ICU. . .”
“You tried to kill him twice you coward!” Zack yells angrily, launching himself at Joseph and landing a punch to his cheek before the two of them topple to the ground.
“Get off of me!” Joseph howls as they roll around, dirt flying everywhere as Zack’s arm hunkers back and he throws another punch, only for Joseph to block it and toss a handful of dirt in his eyes.
“Zack!” Noah yells as Joseph scrambles to his feet. Noah pursues him, launching his body forward and grabbing Joseph around his legs. As the two of them tussle on the ground, I get out my phone and call the police.
“Hello? Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” the operator asks as I watch Noah and Joseph fight, Noah overpowering Joseph.
“I need a car sent to 641 Texas Rose Lane,” I reply, hands shaking. “My ex-husband tried to kill my current boyfriend! He’s been living in their house and now he’s in a fight with his kids!”
“Ma’am, I don’t understand,” the operator says. “Slow down and—”
“We don’t have time to slow down!” I say. “This man here tried to kill someone! And who knows what he’s going to do next! You have to get hurry while he’s still here!”
“Ma’am—” the operator says, and I watch as Joseph kicks Noah off of him finally, and Noah falls over on his side and grunts in pain.
“You’re going to regret this, Darla,” Joseph says with a snicker. “If I’m going down, I’m going down swinging.”
Joseph rushes to his car, gets in, and quickly pulls off.
“Dang it!” I say as I run toward my car.
“Ma’am? What’s going on?”
“Tell the cops to head to Thistleberry Medical,” I say.
“Previously, you requested—”
“I know what I said dang it,” I say, out of breath as I rush to my car. “He said I’m going to regret this, and I have a patient at the hospital, my boyfriend, that he already tried to kill once in the ICU.”
“Ma’am, I need you to remain calm—”
“Just please!” I say as I turn my car on and pull out, speeding after Joseph. I see him in the distance, and I throw all my worries about my own self-preservation to the side as I slam the pedal down to the floor.
“For clarification, you are now requesting that we send officers to Thistleberry Medical, ICU unit?” they ask as Joseph makes a sharp turn and I follow suit. But I’m soon lost in his dust, and I slam my hand on the steering wheel.
“Shoot!” I say as I continue to drive.
“Someone’s been shot?” the dispatcher asks.
“No! But I don’t know what he’s capable of,” I groan. “Just send your people to the hospital!”