Chapter 2

Okay last week we met Kevin and followed him through his trials with his first love. We left Kevin as he moved away from his home town after a heart-breaking betrayal. We pick up with Kevin starting a new life in Michigan.

For the first month, I lived in a highway motel. After I got my first paycheck I moved into an apartment. It was much better but it didn’t feel like a home.

The pace of life in Michigan was very different. My neighbors in the building came and went and rarely, if ever, spoke to each other. I was used to saying at least hello to everyone I ran into.

The strangest thing to me was that if I asked someone if they needed help with something they were doing, they automatically assumed that I either wanted to be paid or was trying to rob them or trick them.

Life at the hospital was just as bad. I was used to a situation where everyone helped everyone else. On my shift, there were six X-ray techs. And most of what they did was sat on their asses playing Candy Crush on their phones.

If a patient came in most of the time they didn’t move until they had finished the level they were on. Then they had to look around to figure out whose turn it was.

But I was there to work. So, I just started doing exams. If no one else got up when a patient came in. I did the exam. After a few days, the status quo had changed. There were days when I did almost every exam that came in.

I didn’t mind. I was there to work. I was learning a lot and working hard helped to take my mind off of Theresa. I have to admit that sometimes at night I walked around my neighborhood and found a phone at a restaurant or other place and called Theresa just to hear her voice.

At the end of the second month, I found out what living in the big city meant. Each month we were called into our supervisor’s office for a review of our performance over the last four weeks.

I was expecting a great review. I had clearly busted my ass and I was proud of the work I’d done.

“Kevin, I have some complaints,” he said. I was shocked.

“You have the highest production numbers of any tech on any shift in the hospital,” he said. “The patients love you. I have all kinds of compliments on your patient care skills and how kind you were,” he said.

“Those don’t sound like complaints,” I said.

“Kevin, the other techs in your department claim that you’re not taking turns and you’re just grabbing every exam that comes in. That means that they don’t get their fair share of exams and their production suffers. They’re saying that you’re not being a good team player,” he said.

“But when patients come in, they’re in pain and they just want their exams,” I said. “They shouldn’t have to wait until we figure out whose turn it is or when that person feels like getting up to do the exam.”

“Kevin, I agree with you,” he said. “But this is just the way things are done. Try to fit in, okay?”

So, I did. I became more like the big city people I worked with. I was never rude to patients or to anyone else. When my turn was coming up, I cleaned the room and disinfected all the equipment and I treated every patient as if they were the most important person on the planet.

But I no longer tried to start conversations with my co-workers. I no longer volunteered to help them out with difficult exams or patients. I didn’t volunteer to take their turns when they needed to go out to lunch early or got back late.

I also didn’t go out and bring in patients because the transporters were complaining about me doing their jobs. I played the game. And they noticed.

A few of them tried to bring it up. I quickly squashed the conversation and politely but firmly let them know that I had learned the rules and I’d already had experience being stabbed in the back.

There were a few nurses and a doctor or two that I had great and friendly relationships with. That paid off. There were times when fragile or cantankerous patients came in that they’d explain to our boss, that Mr. or Mrs. Such and such was special for thie reason or that and they thought that perhaps Kevin should be the person to do the exam.

I sometimes ate lunch with some of the nurses, and often brought them coffee or iced coffee when I came in. That didn’t go over well with some of the techs who had at best a detente with the nurses and at worst an outright adversarial relationship with them.

“Kevin, whose side are you on?” one of the older, lazier techs asked me.

“The patients’ side,” I told her.

Usually, when it wasn’t my turn, I was scouring real estate magazines and websites. I wanted to get out of my apartment and away from my unfriendly neighbors. I wanted to have a house of my own again.

But every house that I thought I liked, brought up thoughts of Theresa. Just the name Theresa was enough to bring on feelings of hurt and loss. There were so many times that I went and looked at a place only to blurt out, “Theresa is gonna love this place!”

The rest of my week usually sucked after that. I had no explanation why after three months I still couldn’t get over a small town, town slut, who couldn’t be bothered to tell the truth if her life depeneded on it.

I had found a lawyer and had divorce papers sent to Theresa. I’d been smart. When I left I’d left more than half of the balance in both our checking and savings accounts.

We didn’t have much in the way of property at our age. All we had was my car, my mom’s old car that Theresa drove, and the house.

I’d left Theresa more than half of our money, a car and the house. I estimated that Theresa got about eighty percent of our assets.

The lawyer assured me that there would be no problems. It was a no-fault divorce. Even if Theresa didn’t sign the papers, it would go through unless there was an unfair division of the property involved. He told me that I would only hear from him again if there were problems.

On the other hand, I was asked out a few times a week, but I had no interest in dating. When I took the time to explain my situation, it only led to more flirting and an it’s just a matter of time attitude from the women involved.

And the women ... that was a completly insane situation. The sheer variety of women in a big city is incredible.

There were short women, tall women, tiny women, fat women, pretty women and not-so pretty ones from a smorgasbord of ethnicities and cultures.

There were women with large breasts, some that gave Theresa a run for her money. The problem was that those women fell into two categories. The first category were huge fat women whose gigantic ta-tas were simply proportional to their gigantic bodies and usually came with a gigantic gut.

The second category was women with huge unnatural fake boobs. Those boobs or “foobs,” as we called them were obvious by the way they moved or didn’t move.

Most of the women with bigger boobs also had pretty much no booty. And most of them had no need for a personality. They were so assured of the fact that most men wanted to get their hands on those titties that they felt no need for manners or charm.

I began to appreciate Theresa even more then. And it wasn’t just her body. I’ve described the improbabllity of Theresa’s proportions several times. Her body is simply incredible, but what I missed most was her heart.

I missed that sense that she loved me so much that she would do anything to make me happy. I missed the feeling of being with someone who just wanted more than anything else to be with me.

No matter what she’d done or why, I loved Theresa.

Finding my house was the respite I needed from obsessing over Theresa. All of the financial and logistical nightmares I had to wade through shifted my attention from my broken heart enough that it was no longer a sharp emotional pain.

I worked constantly, picking up extra shifts and overtime whenever it was offered. I really needed the money for the house.

I took classes at Home Depot and did most of the repairs myself. There were so many things I still had to buy. I had to buy a lawn mower and yard tools. I had to have a new garage door.

My house also had a small filthy pool in the back that was overrun with mildew and tree roots. If I ever intended to use it, I had to come up with eight hundred dollars to have the tile fixed and sealed amd then pay a plumber another five hundred to repair the drain.

The house simply sucked money out of me at an alarming rate. I slowly began to meet my neighbors. There was an elderly woman who lived directly across the street from me that I often waved at.

It was she who introduced me to my neighbors on either side. Together they told me how I had gotten the incredible bargain I’d gotten on my home.

The previous owner had died in the house was one reason.

The house was supposedly haunted by her ghost was another. And finally, it was a dying neighborhood. Not the type of neighborhood that was being killed off by crime, the type where all the houses were owned by older people.

It was too far from the inner city and the excitement of clubs, bars, restaurants and things that younger people enjoy.

The younger people preferred apartments closer to the action and to public transportation and entertainment.

When I moved in it was the end of the summer. As we moved into fall, I raked leaves, for my self and my neighbors.

Rose my neighbor across the street was always telling me that I should meet her daughter. But it seemed as if everyone knew someone that I should meet. I was always polite but somehow, I never really wanted to meet anyone.

Winter came very suddenly and without any fanfare. It seemed as if one day it was sunny and hot, the next it was cooler and we had amazing colors from the falling leaves and the third day I awoke to find eight inches of snow on the ground.

I had no idea how or what to do about it. In Grace Lake. We almost never got snow. Even then it was never more than an inch or two. I didn’t even own a heavy coat.

I had to go to the hardware store to buy a snow shovel. That was my first hint that I had problems I didn’t even begin to understand. My Mustang usually handled like an extension of my will. I love my car. But that morning she was like a completely different pony.

On the way to the Home Depot I passed a car lot. I understood suddenly why people who lived in a city with no hunting, fishing or off roading areas needed four-wheel drive vehicles.

I pulled into the lot and found out something important. I was planning on buying a small, older, used jeep. I made a deal on a brand-new Ford SUV with four-wheel drive.

It turned out that being young, having a good job and no debt gave me awesome credit. The dealer tried to sell me a new Mustang too.

I drove my Mustang home. The dealer even arranged to have the new car delivered.

I bought a snow shovel and some rock salt and got busy as soon as I got home. I shoveled my walk, and then my driveway all the way up to the garage. I pulled the Mustang into the garage for the winter and walked across the street to do Rose’s snow.

It was my weekend off so I had nothing else to do. I didn’t think my elderly neighbor could get out and lift the heavy snow that had fallen. I was lost in my thoughts and enjoying the physical activity ... Okay ... I was wondering what Theresa would say about the snow.

Theresa would have come out and played in the snow. Theresa always found joy in every new experience.

The sound of a woman’s voice snapped Theresa from my thoughts.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” she screamed. “Nobody told you to do that! We’re not paying you shit, so you might as well just move on to the next sucker!”

The woman standing in the open doorway and screaming at me looked nothing like Rose. I caught a glimpse of beautiful green eyes peaking angrily out from a mass of dark red hair.

She was tall, she was thin and she was barely clothed. She pulled a threadbare robe around herself to protect her body from the cold. Her boobs, while not in Theresa’s range were beautiful and on the larger side for her thin frame.

I couldn’t see her butt, since she was facing me. But I was looking at one beautiful, pissed off woman. Her skin was pale and she had high, visible cheekbones. Those cheekbones made her look like a model.

Theresa had a pleasant or cute face, this woman was beautiful.

I had no idea what to say to her so I kept shoveling.

My ignoring her seemed to anger her even more. I looked at her beautiful eyes and smiled hoping to disarm her anger.

“Stop pretending to look at my eyes, you perverted freak,” she yelled. “My tits are down here. Get a good look before the police get here and throw you into jail where you’ll spend the rest of your life as some huge black guy’s bitch.” I laughed at that.

“Do you understand fucking English?” she yelled. In her attempt to make sure I heard her, when I was sure that people on the next block could hear her, she stepped out onto the porch.

She made one, two, almost three tentative steps onto the icy surface of the porch and then went down. I was torn, but the nice guy in me outweighed the bitch in her, so I went up onto the porch.

I scooped her up and opened the door. “What are you doing?” she screamed. “I don’t want you in my God damned house!”

She started beating my shoulders and back as I put her down on the ratty sofa in the living room.

“Whass gong on?” said Rose who appeared from the kitchen clutching a heavy frying pan.

She looked at me and smiled. “Oh, hi Kevin,” she said, putting the pan down.

“Hey Rose,” I said. “I was shoveling your snow and this crazy woman started cursing at me and then fell on her ass on your porch.”

“Kevin,” she smiled. “The crazy woman is my daughter, Aria.” She turned to the hissing and practically spitting woman I’d dropped on the sofa.

“Aria, this is Kevin,” she said.

The spitting, cursing, cat-like bundle of fury that I’d unceremoniously dumped on the sofa stopped squirming and trying to get up, then she looked at me as if seeing me for the first time.

She wasn’t the only one who was surprised. It was hard for me to equate the tall, thin, busty woman with the incredibly long legs on the sofa as even being vaguely related to my short, fat, Hispanic neighbor.

Rose had a beautiful tan complexion and her body, except for the lack of boobs reminded of what Theresa might have someday looked like.

Aria had milky, very pale skin and you could almost make out freckles on her cheeks.

“I thought he’d be taller,” she spat. “And if this guy can walk on water, like you seem to think, his feet ought to be bigger.” Those comments were directed towards her mother.

Then she looked at me. “Don’t you have snow to shovel?” she sneered. “And don’t bother pretending to look at my eyes, my boobs are down here. Sneak as many peeks as you can because that’s as close as you’re ever gonna get.”

“Don’t put yourself out,” I smirked. “I’ve seen bigger and better.”

“Maybe on a fat chick,” she spat.

“Nope ... And she had a better butt too,” I said.

“Bullshit,” she hissed. She stared at me as if she was trying to see if I was lying.

“Nope,” I repeated. “I watched her grow up. She was my dream girl.”

“You said WAS,” she said. “What wrecked the fantasy?”

“I married her,” I said. I headed for the door as her mouth dropped open and she stared at me.

“Hey, Kevin,” she said as I reached the door. “Keep it down. Some of us work at night ... And that SCCRRRUUUUUUUUUNNCH sound the shivel makes drives me crazy while I’m trying to sleep, okay?” I nodded.

Over the next couple of weeks, the temperatures dropped even more and occasionally we got the odd inch or more of snow adding to the total. I saw Rose often, as we sort of semi-regularly had coffee or just visited one another to chat.

I fixed a couple of issues around her house. And we exchanged gifts at Christmas. I ran into Aria a time or two, but the meetings were nothing special. There was absolutely no chemistry between us. I didn’t really care, but it was mostly because I was still stinging from the breakup with Theresa.

But life is nothing if not unpredicatable and Aria and I were thrown together over something we both cared about. It was a Wednesday night in early March when an ambulance brought in an elderly female who’d fallen in her home.

After checking her out the ER docs had sent her for X-rays. I was beyond shocked to find Rose on my table.

We were almost done with the exam when Aria came storming into the exam room. She was angry and in tears and barely dressed. She had on a trench coat and the rumors from the CNA’s and transporters was that she was naked under it.

“Mama, are you okay?” she cried. “What happened?”

“She’s gonna be fine,” I said. “Come over here, I want to show you something.”

“It fucking figures you’d be here!” she screamed. “You’re always hanging around her. Why are you so interested in my mom? Did you have anything to do her falling? Don’t you have a job?”

“Aria, shut up!” I said. I grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the exam room. Once I got her out of earshot, I gave it to her.”

“Why the hell are you dragging me around?” she began. “I should call security and...”

“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?” I yelled right back at her. “You go ahead ... I’ll call security for you. And I’ll have them throw YOU out of here. Things are too serious now for your bullshit!”

“She’s MY mother,” she whined. “So...”

“She’s my patient,” I said. “The job you were wondering about ... This is it. This is what I do. I wasn’t at home when this happened. They brought her in a little while ago. I was going to show you her X-rays and explain the situation to you ... Now, can we do that or is the stick up your ass pressing on your brain?”

She closed her eyes and lowered her head. Both of her hands came up to rub her temples. She took several deep breaths and then looked up at me, a different person.

“I’m sorry Kevin,” she said. And I could tell she meant it. “Maybe someday I can explain it to you, but I have trust isses and anger issues. I know redheads are supposed to have hot tempers but in my case, it’s multiplied. And it’s not just you ... So, can we just do what you said?”

I walked back inside of the exam room with Aria trailing behind me. I flagged down one of the registered nurses that I often ate lunch with. I whispered in her ear and she nodded at me.

“Thanks Claire, I owe you one,” I said.

“Lunch tomorrow ... On you,” she smiled. “And not here in the cafeteria!” she threw over her shoulder.

“So, what’s that all about?” asked Aria. “You fuckin’ her?”

I turned around and glared at her. “Aria, I have two questions for you,” I said. “Number one can you pull pain meds out of your ass? And number two ... Do you have any friends?”

“What’s that got to do with you fucking some prissy assed nurse?” she hissed.

“First off nobody is worried about who’s fucking Claire,” I said. “That’s her business. Claire is my friend. Friend’s do things for each other. Claire as a nurse, can get a doctor’s order for very strong IV pain meds and she can give them. That’s a hell of a lot better than you or me trying to give Rose a pill.

Now in Claire’s case it’s even easier because she does have a relationship with one of the ER docs. So, I ask her for a favor ... she asks for something in return. A favor for a favor. I buy Claire lunch ... She’s always short on cash just before payday because she spends money like it’s water. In exchange for that lunch, Rose gets her pain meds started a lot earlier ... Which means less pain for her.

Now look at this screen.”

I show her, her mom’s X-ray.

“Okay ... I see bones,” she said.

“See this long bone? It should be connected to your mom’s pelvis. This part is called the femoral neck. See how the rounded part on the end is missing. It’s still lodged in her pelvis. Fixing this is going to require surgery. That’s what I was doing when you came in.

As soon as I submit these X-rays they’re going to suggest taking Rose to surgery. That’s why I’m stalling.”

“What!” she screamed. I slammed my hand over her mouth.

“Aria ... Shut up!” I hissed.

“Why are you... ?” I put my hand up and she stopped talking immediately.

“I thought you liked my mom,” she said.

“Aria ... I love your mother,” I said. “So, I’m going to put up with all of your bullshit. You see that guy over there? He’s the on-call orthopedic surgeon. He’s okay ... But only okay. I just don’t trust him enough for him to do the surgery on Rose. As soon as I saw that your mom’s hip was broken I called in a favor.

Doctor Temperance Brennan is the best orthopedic surgeon in the state. She owes me a favor. She’s on her way in. I’m stalling because I want Rose to have the very best.”

She nodded. “Does it make that much difference?” she asked quietly, for a change.

“Yes ... The right surgeon can make the difference between just reconnecting her hip and Rose being able to walk again. I want Rose to go back to being herself ... Not some wheelchair bound old lady.”

“Kevin ... Who is this lady?” asked Claire from behind us. “Bones came in and wants to see her X-rays.”

“I’m sending them right now,” I said. “AP and Lateral views of the left hip. I did a 3 view Pelvis with obliques so they could see the acetabulum and help figure out which device to use.”

“Good, I gave her the pain meds you wanted,” she said. “I’m still trying to decide if I want lobster or steak for lunch tomorrow.”

“I’m still trying to decide whether or not to kick her ass,” whispered Aria.

They had moved Rose to a room. She was groggy, but she smiled as we came into the room.

“It’s good to see you two getting along,” she said. “Where were you? Were you guys out on a date? I fell and my leg is killing me. They gave me something for the pain and I feel like I don’t need to walk any more. I can just fly wherever I have to go.”

“It’s the pain meds,” I said.

“It would have to be,” said Aria.

The rest of the evening was ... A fucking nightmare. It was awful or ... AWEFUL ... Meaning awesome in how full of shit it was.

They took Rose in for surgery. Dr. Brennan came out and told Aria it would be at least five to six hours so she might as well go get something to eat and spend a few hours relaxing before she settled in to wait.

“Kevin do you want to do the surgery with me?” she asked. “I’m gonna need a good tech on the C-arm.”

“Dr. Brennan ordinarily I’d jump at the chance to do it,” I said nervously. “But Rose is almost like my mother and ortho work is brutal.”

I took a seat in the waiting room and Aria sat near me. Not next to me just near me.

She rubbed her temples and my heart went out to her. “Aria ... Look we’re waiting together,” I said. “And it’s going to be a while. I ... Well I am kind of hungry ... Are you?”

“Okay we’ll eat,” she said. “But this ain’t a date or anything like it!”

“This is a really nice place,” she said a short time later.

I’d taken her to my favorite Italian restaurant. I hoped it would give us a chance to relax and get rid of some of the anger in her and the tension between us.

“So, what’s going on between you and my mother?” she asked.

“We’re friends,” I said.

“There’s more to it than that,” she said. “Nobody treats anybody like you treat her unless they either want something from them or they’re already getting it.”

The tone of disgust in her voice made it obvious what she was thinking. I almost spat out a mouthful of pasta as she said it.

“Aria, get your mind out of the gutter,” I said. “It’s not like that.”

“Kevin don’t be an idiot,” she hissed. “There are only two things that motivate people ... Money and sex ... And my mother doesn’t have any money. I’ve seen kinks that would turn your hair green, so you having an old lady fetish ain’t that weird.”

I looked up at her wondering how the hell someone so young could be so jaded. Then I remembered all the shit I’d been through in Grace Lake.

“And don’t think that you’re getting any from me,” she hissed. “I’m not the type of woman who fucks a guy because he bought her dinner at a nice place. I’m not one of your “friendly nurses.”

“Aria, I didn’t bring you here because I wanted to sleep with you,” I said. “I brought you here because it’s my favorite restaurant and I wanted to relax and not think about what’s going on with Rose for a little while. When we get back I the hospital we’re going to have hours of waiting and wondering and hoping.”

She twisted her pasta around her fork but didn’t eat it. She looked as if she didn’t believe me.

“So is this some type of sympathy play or just a nice guy thing,” she said. “You know ... You help me through my mom’s problems and in gratitude I’m supposed to give you some pussy?”

“Aria, for the last time it’s not any kind of play,” I said. “I’m here because your mom is really important to me. No other reason. I don’t want to have sex with you. You’re not my type. It will never happen.”

Her entire face turned red and the anger came back, but just as quickly it went away.

“Are you gay?” she asked. “No wonder you aren’t trying to fuck me.”

“Aria, I’m not gay,” I laughed. “I just don’t want you.”

“Bullshit,” she spat. “Everybody wants me. I remember the first time I saw you in the snow. You were looking at my boobs even then.”

“Aria, I’ve seen way bigger boobs than yours,” I laughed. “I’m sorry I looked that first day but I’m a guy ... We do that. But you have nothing to worry about with me. I’m just not interested in you.”

She stewed as we finished eating. And on the drive back to the hospital she sat next to me and fidgeted.

When we got back to thr hospital’s waiting room, she asked,”So if you’re not gay, why aren’t you interested in me?”

I looked at my watch and estimated the amount of time we had. Then I told her my story. I told her about growing up in Grace Lake and how much I’d loved it there. I told her about my dad dying and my mother passing, later on. I told her about seeing and falling for Theresa at a very young age. I told her about how I’d loved Theresa from afar until we finally met.

I told her about the early stages of our relationship and the two things that had almost broken us up before we got started. I told her about us getting married, and how blissful our life together was until Theresa disappeared.

Then I told her about how the town I loved had turned its back on me when I needed its support. I told her about what had happened to me while I was in jail.

Finally, I told her about what Theresa had been doing behind my back and how I couldn’t stay there anymore. I told her about my move to Michigan and how I just wanted to start my life over and get Theresa out of my heart and my soul so I could have some kind of happiness.

“Aria, I try to be as nice as I can to every person I meet,” I said. “I treat every person I run into as if they’re my friend until they do something to prove otherwise. Rose is a really special person to me. I’m sorry if this offends you but knowing Rose has been like having a second chance at having a mom. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for her. So, you don’t have to worry, this has nothing to do with you or trying to sleep with you.”

“Only because you still love HER, don’t you?” she said. “You still love that Theresa girl. I could feel all the pain in your voice when you talked about her. Jeezus Kevin you’re almost as bad as I am. You’ve only slept with one woman your entire life? For a guy that’s unheard of. That’s why you see her as being so damned special. You need to get out and get some, Kevin.

Not me of course, but I’m sure any one of these hospital whores will haul your ashes for you, no strings attached. That more than anything will help you to get over Theresa. Then you’ll see that every chick walking may not have boobs that big or the butt that you seem to worship even now, but we’ve all got the same thing between our legs and hers was nothing special.”

“Aria, thanks for the advice,” I told her. “But sex isn’t the answer. Even though you seem to think that every guy who sees you wants to have sex with you, it isn’t the only thing that matters. When the only tool you have in your tool box is a hammer, you look at everything as if it’s a nail. I fell for Tneresa long before we ever had sex.”

She’d moved closer to me by then.

“What I miss most is the way her eyes lit up every time she saw me,” I said. “I miss the way she always just had to be touching me. Whether we were alone or not. I miss her laugh and her voice and her touch and her smell. Going out and screwing some stranger is only going to make me miss her more.”

There was no one else in the waiting room so we sort of took it over. We sat in silence for a while and finally drifted off to sleep. In sleep Aria’s head and shoulders gradually leaned my way until she was resting on me. I woke up and noticed it, but I didn’t move her. I wrapped my jacket over her to keep her wam and drifted off to sleep myself.