“Yeah?”
“Like I just drank six Red Bulls or something.” Her smile turned warm and flirty, and she tapped my phone. “You got one more song in there for me?”
“I have hundreds.”
She raised her crystal blue eyes to mine and for one precious moment, something deep in her connected to something deep in me so hard and fast that my chest constricted, trying to hold on to the air that had been punched out. Thea’s eyes widened and so did her smile. The radiance inside her burst through the cracks of her broken mind and I saw her. This girl whom, if we had longer than five minutes, I’d make mine.
But no sooner did I get a sweet taste of mine when the familiar confusion rolled through Thea’s gaze. She was resetting. I was resetting, going from protector to threat. From friend to stranger. From Jimmy to…
No one, Doris finished. You’re no one.
My hands itched to grab Thea and hold on, so I didn’t vanish.
She took a step back. “Who…?”
“Jimmy,” I said. “My name’s Jimmy.”
We did that scene three times that afternoon. Three times, I waited for the curtain of her mind to close and open again and we started over. Actors in a movie, reading a script, but the cameras and crew were hidden from sight. The same words, take after take.
Every time, the confusion swept across her eyes, wiping everything away. Erasing our five minutes. Erasing who and what we were to each other.
Nothing. We can’t be anything to each other because she has nothing to give. No way to give it.
Eventually, we made our way back inside, each still with an earbud in our ear, listening to a dance song together. We sat at Thea’s table, still tethered, a techno beat thrumming in our ears.
“You like this one?” I asked. “BOOM” by X Ambassadors.
Thea nodded to the beat. “I love it.”
She loves it. She’s happy. Delia can shove it up her—
“What is going on here?”
I flinched, and the earbud fell out of my ear. Delia Hughes stood by the table, her hard stare going between me and her sister.
“Delia!” Thea shot to her feet, then immediately froze, gripped by an absence seizure. I watched her to make sure she was okay until it released her, then turned to her sister.
“Hello, Ms. Hughes.”
Delia started to speak, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t to tell me what a great job I was doing. But Thea came around the table and threw her arms around her neck.
“You’re here. How long has it been? Where are Mom and Dad?”
Delia’s voice was a stone. “Two years, and they’re on their way.”
“I’m so glad you came.” Thea hugged Delia again, then stopped short when she saw me. A shy, soft smile came over her features. “Oh. Hi.”
“Hi.”
“I’m Thea Hughes.” She stuck out her hand, and I shook it, drowning in déjà vu.
“Jim Whelan.”
“So nice to meet you. This is my sister, Delia.” Thea laughed at her sister’s sour look. “Oh my God, Deel, you’re such a crank.”
“You’re an orderly, yes?” Delia asked me. “Where is Nurse Soto?”
“We’re shorthanded today,” I said.
Delia pursed her lips. “I see. Well, I’m here now. You may go.”
I glanced at Thea who rolled her eyes and mouthed I’m sorry at me.
An hour later, I was pushing a mop down the hall outside the rec room and saw Rita, Alonzo, and Delia in a huddle. They looked up as I approached and Delia turned to me, arms crossed.
“We can ask him, himself. What were you doing with my sister?”
Shit. I’m going to lose my job. Thea will be alone in the silence.
“N-N-Nothing,” I said. “Just listening to music.”
“Is that in your job description?”
“N-N-No.”
“Are you nervous? Guilty? What’s wrong with you?”
Rita interjected. “Jim’s been taking Miss Hughes for her daily exercise on days when I—”
“When you can’t because you’re short-staffed,” Delia finished. “I don’t pay to have Thea cared for by an orderly.”
“Jim is a fine employee,” Alonzo said. “One of our best.”
Delia sniffed, shouldered her purse and leveled her gaze at me. “Stay away from my sister unless you want to find another job. I can’t imagine your stutter would make that easy.”
Rita’s eyes widened and Alonzo cast his gaze to the ground. Silence fell as Delia’s short-heeled footsteps clopped down the hallway and vanished.
“I’m sorry, Jim,” Rita said. “She’s upset because she’s protective of Thea. I’ll talk to her.”
“Don’t,” Alonzo said. “We should just do what she wants.”
“I’ve got three other residents to deal with since Nurse Fay quit,” Rita said. “Unless Jim takes her, Miss Hughes misses her FAE. I’ll explain it to Delia. She may be a grouch, but ultimately she only wants what’s best for her sister.”
Alonzo frowned. “I suppose,” he said. “But Jim shouldn’t take Miss Hughes for FAE until you get the okay from Delia. The last thing we need is for her to get Dr. Poole involved.”
Dr. Poole was Blue Ridge’s director of operations whose favorite pastime was firing personnel to save money.
Rita patted my arm. “Sorry for the… unpleasantness, Jim. What Delia said—”
“It is what it is,” I said, my blood burning.
Alonzo was about to say something when Joaquin appeared at the end of the hallway.
“Hey, boss, got a second?”
“Coming.” He gave me a curious glance, then walked away.
Congratulations. Doris cackled. Now they all know you have a stutter and Delia is probably going to get your ass fired.
She was right. If I wasn’t careful, if I didn’t leave Thea’s case to the professionals, I’d have to start over somewhere else.
And never see Thea again.
That afternoon, as I cleaned up the empty rec room, I found a new drawing on Thea’s shelf. I glanced at the door before picking up the paper. Marc Antony stood at the prow of a warship, clad in silver armor under a burning sun of orange and red. His sword in the air, his expression stoic and calm. Every detail crafted out of word chains.
She’s not just good. She’s a genius.
As I read the word chains making up a side of one ship, my heart stopped.
Rue true blue bluest sky eye my smile rile rain pain pain pain
“Holy shit,” I whispered.
The lyrics to “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” Distilled down to their essence. The way the song would sound in Thea’s looping mind.
I gave the page a quarter turn, following the words up the ship’s mast.
Wish kiss kind eyes my mist mystical miracle lyrical lyrically utterly utter mutter stutter strum sting sing sing sing
Slowly, calmly, I folded the drawing and stuffed it in my back pocket. This one was mine.
Thea was down in the dark, but I was down there with her.
Chapter 10
Jim