I sighed heavily and slumped back into the cushion of the sofa. “No... they got away.”
“That's a pity.”
“Yeah, it is, it really is. But there's more. Jane came down with a bad stomach infection and was running a high fever last night. I had to rush her to the hospital at two o' clock in the morning.”
Vivienne’s face changed completely. I could see that she had been a little skeptical about my drug bust story, but when she heard this, a look of genuine concern came across her face.
“Oh no! Is she alright?”
I sighed and looked away.
“I don't know, Vivienne, I don't know. I stayed by her side all night. She was crying a lot, in and out with the meds, sweating like crazy. They managed to finally bring the fever down a little this morning, but she's still not doing so great. She’s sleeping right now and the babysitter is sitting with her at the hospital in case she wakes up before I get back.”
“I'm so, so sorry to hear that,” she said softly. “And... I'm sorry that I totally misjudged you, and thought you stood me up for no good reason. One question though: I went out to meet a friend last night, and on the way out, I saw a man driving you back to your place. You looked kind of... well, you looked like you'd had a few beers. Would you mind putting my mind at ease and explaining that?”
Shit. I hadn't counted on her seeing that. I literally had three seconds to decide on the best course of action to take here. Should I come clean and show her the gunshot wound?
The truth was always the best policy, and I figured that sooner or later she would probably find out about it anyway – it had created a decent wound and there was no doubt going to be a scar – so I went ahead and told her.
“Yeah, uh, that guy was an old buddy of mine. A doctor, kinda. You see, there's something about the drug bust thing that I kind of left out.”
“Well, go on, let me hear it,” she urged.
“I, uh, I got shot last night.”
Her eyes widened with surprise. “Shot?! You mean, with a gun?! A real, you know, a gun?!”
I nodded.
“What?! Why didn't you say anything earlier? Are you alright, are you hurt? What are you even doing here, shouldn't you be in the hospital or something?!”
“It's alright, seriously. It’s just a flesh wound. Luckily the bullet didn't hit anything that mattered much. It went straight through. My buddy cleaned the wound and stitched it up. I'll be right as rain in a few days.”
“But... but... it's a freakin' gunshot wound!”
I chuckled. “They're not always fatal, and sometimes they're not even that serious. Last night, I was lucky. Well, unlucky to have gotten shot, but lucky that it wasn't a much more serious injury.”
“Uh, yeah I guess you could look at it like that,” she muttered, looking uncertain. “But seriously... are you okay?”
I could see she was genuinely concerned for my well-being, and I had to admit it felt pretty good to have someone actually care. “I really am, trust me.”
I wanted to tell her this wasn’t new territory for me and certainly wasn't the first gunshot wound I'd ever received, but that would be opening up a whole new can of worms, and I wasn't quite ready for that yet. I glanced at my watch and saw that it was nine o' clock.
“I need to get going. I need to head over to the hospital to check on Jane. Um, thanks so much for allowing me to explain all of this, Vivienne,” I said. “If it's alright with you, perhaps you would allow me to take you out tomorrow night if Jane is feeling better? I promise I'll make everything up to you.”
She smiled subtly. “Perhaps I'll allow you to do just that,” she said. “But there's something I want to ask you first.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
“Could I come to the hospital with you to visit Jane? Maybe I can help cheer her up. She and I got along so well the other night.”
I smiled. “Sure thing. You ready to go?”
“Yep. Let me just change and get my handbag.”
***
I sat on the hospital bench exhausted and worried. The doctors still hadn't been able to get Jane's condition to improve much. She had been happy to see Vivienne, but the strength and intensity of her fever had soon overwhelmed her.