Read Online Interlude by Josie Daleiden - Free Book Online Page B

him his meds. He
received a vase full of flowers, but he didn't know who would have
sent them. Jeremy and his family were still pissed at him for
attracting the criminal element to their quiet neighborhood, and
the only other visitor he had seen was from HR at Weatherly-Park
telling him about his insurance coverage. Looking as the card:
    I saw on the news what happened. I'm so
sorry! I had hoped to keep this away from you, but it seems I was
too late. I'll be up to visit soon. It'll be good to see you
again!
    -Karen
    As Cal rushed frantically to find some kind
of date or time on the delivery slip, he heard a lilting female
voice at the door to his room. He looked up with a sense of dread
as the recognition hit him.
    “Hi Alice,” Cal muttered in a fake, jovial
tone. She made her way over to his hospital bed, sliding the side
rail down so she could sit at the foot of the bed. She regarded him
with a look that said she didn't want to be there, but she hid it
with amazing skill as she spoke through a fake smile.
    “How have you been?” She asked finally, her
question punctuated by placing her hand on his thigh.
    “How have I been?” Cal responded in whispered
astonishment, adding, “I got robbed and knocked unconscious! How do
you think I've been!?” His noticed his voice rising in the quiet
room. He lowered his tone as Alice observed him cautiously. “What
are you doing here anyway?” He said finally. She moved to console
him, but he held his hand out. As he touched her advancing
shoulder, he noticed the sticky residue on his arm left by the IV
needle that was taken out. Somehow that held his attention as Alice
continued her attempt to communicate with him.
    “I'm here because I'm still your wife.” she
managed to say. She moved his hand from her shoulder, placing it in
between hers as she squirmed on the bed.
    “I don't need you here.” Cal said flatly.
    “Oh yes you do! Jeremy and Sarah don't want
you living with them anymore. Their whole neighborhood blames you
for all the commotion you caused. You have no home, no job, and no
place to stay.” She said triumphantly. Her little eyes held a mix
of self-righteousness and desperation.
    “Actually, he's going to be staying with me.”
A familiar voice came from the entryway as the hospital noises
faded out. Cal recognized that voice! That beautiful, breathy voice
that was so calm and controlled. Alice turned slightly to glace at
this unfamiliar woman. She burned with visible envy as her eyes
looked Karen up and down, from her tan high heels, to her gray
skirt and maroon top. Karen made her way over to the bed, her heels
clicking quietly on the tile floor as Alice fumed. She swished her
hair over her shoulder as she stuck out her hand.
    “I don't think we've met. I'm Karen.” She
said with a polite smile. Her long, graceful fingers waited in
tense silence as Alice finally shook her hand.
    “Are you the, his, I mean?” Alice's confused
response made Karen smile a little more in spite of herself.
Alice's confidence floundered as she finally blurted out, “You're
that GIRL!” As Alice stood up from the foot of the bed, Karen moved
over to look at the flowers she had sent. She smelled them audibly,
her inhalation the only noise in the silent room. It was as if the
world had stopped moving. Cal had never felt so helpless, so
awkward and inadequate as he tried to think of what to do next.
Alice made the next move.
    “We're checking Cal out and taking him home.”
she said petulantly.
    Karen moved over to the bed, closer to Cal
than she had been in almost a month. In the sterile hospital room,
everything about her was pushed into high relief. He could smell
her lovely scent; he could hear the gentle swish of her clothes as
they moved on her body. As she shifted her weight from one foot to
the other, Cal listened to her speak ever so condescendingly to his
soon-to-be-divorced wife.
    “Have you run this by Cal by any chance?” She
asked, a smug half-smile the only