“On my left knee.”
“What about now?”
“My ankle.”
“Which one?”
“Left.”
“How many fingers do you feel?”
Alegria shook her head. “I can’t tell.”
“But you can feel the pressure?”
“That’s right.”
The nurse moved the bed covers back over her legs. “Do you want the light on or off?”
“On, please.”
“I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’m going to call the resident on duty.”
Fifteen minutes passed before the nurse returned with the doctor. He examined her legs much the same way she had, only this time, Alegria could feel three fingers on her ankle.
“This is great news,” he told her, making notes on her chart on a laptop. “Dr. Gertman will be making rounds early tomorrow morning. He’ll order whatever tests he determines appropriate then.”
“Wait,” she said when the nurse followed the doctor out of the room. “Is there a phone I can use? I need to make a call.”
The nurse pointed next to her bed. Only then did Alegria realize that without her cell, she wouldn’t have access to anyone’s number. It wasn’t like she routinely memorized them when they changed as often as they rotated burner phones.
“Do you have a cell phone? Maybe it’s in here.” The nurse looked in the same closet her mother had earlier. “I don’t see one.”
Alegria rested her head against the pillow. She didn’t want to admit to the nurse that her mother had probably taken it with her when she’d left earlier.
—:—
Mantis left five messages for Alegria before admitting what he’d known before he left the first one. She was refusing to talk to him, just like she’d refused when he came back from Afghanistan.
That they’d inched closer only to be so far away from each other again, hurt like hell. She’d needed him, and then suddenly she didn’t anymore. It was as though she’d flipped the switch on and then back off again.
“Can I make you something to eat?” his mother asked, joining him in the kitchen.
It was only a little before dawn, and he wasn’t hungry. He might not be hungry at all today. His mother pulled out one of the chairs at the kitchen table and sat down.
“Where did you say Alegria is?” she asked.
“At a rehab hospital in Boston.”
“You had no idea she was being moved?”
Mantis shook his head. “None whatsoever.”
“Call her and ask.”
“I have. It goes straight to voicemail.”
“Go see her.”