Monica nodded. “Say hi for me.”
“Have you talked to Krystal?” Krystal and Monica had been friends, too, and better at staying in touch than I was. But it was too hard to keep putting effort into a long-distance friendship knowing how it had ended. With my heart on the line and rejection from her.
Monica shook her head. “Not yet. But I imagine they’ll have called her by now.”
I rapped a knuckle on the desk and stood up. “Dinner tomorrow?”
She bit her lip. “Uh, I have plans.”
I raised an eyebrow. “With who?”
“No one. Just a girlfriend.”
I studied her for a moment, trying to decide if I wanted to push. I shrugged. Monica would tell me if I needed to know. “Fine. How about Thursday?” Wednesday I would be back on shift, so that wasn’t an option.
“Perfect. I get off at six.”
“Bistro?”
“Definitely. It’s Thai Night.”
I grinned. “Oh, sweet. I totally forgot.” Linda Sanouk took over the local bistro once a month and served the authentic Thai food she’d grown up on in Thailand. After I ate my dinner, I would deliver some takeout to B shift at the station. It was always a bummer when your shift fell on Thai Night.
I said good-bye to my sister and made my way upstairs to Mrs. Daughtry’s hospital room. I knocked on the doorway before stepping inside.
“Bryce Storm, you are a sight for sore eyes.”
“Hey, Mrs. D. I heard you might need a jailbreak.”
She laughed, and I was glad to see that her smile and energy level appeared normal. “Not quite. Turns out these pain meds are pretty great. But when they wear off? Ooof.”
I winced. “I bet. I heard you took quite a tumble.” The ice storm had been a doozy. We took almost ten calls at the station, mostly for thankfully minor car accidents in the ice. I should have thought to run by her house and spread some salt on her walk after my shift. I did it for my own parents, and she lived right down the road from them.
She shook her head. “Blasted ice. Caught me off guard. The doctor says I have a pretty nasty concussion, but the worst of it is my back. The radiologist said it was some sort of fracture.”
The guilt spread. “I’m sorry. When will you be able to go home?”
“Krystal is coming Thursday to take me home. They said she’ll need to stay a couple months while I recover, and she said that it works with her filming schedule.”
I froze and tried to school my features.
Krystal was coming home?
It was no big deal. It wasn’t like she’d never been home since high school. She’d come for Christmas or the Fourth of July. But never for more than a day or two. Maybe a week.
“A few months, wow.” I didn’t want to sound unsupportive, but it was a bit hard to believe. “She can really get away that long?” Krystal’s career seemed to be taking off. She had been in two Faithmark Christmas movies last year.
“Oh yes. I think she needs a break. She’s just finished up a four-episode appearance onLaw and Orderand is waiting to hear back on some other auditions. She said it was a good time.”
I just smiled. What if it hadn’t been a good time? Would Krystal have still dropped everything to come care for her mother? Fifteen years ago, I would have said yes, without hesitation. There had been nothing more important to Krystal than her family.
But then she left them.
And me.
I shook my head. It didn’t do any good to feel sorry for myself. I was proud of the girl I’d known back in the day. “I’m glad she’ll be here to take care of you. Is there anything I can do?”
“Well, since I’ll be laid up, I won’t be able to handle the organization of the spring fundraiser for the department.” She seemed irrationally happy about the admission. I didn’t realize she had been dreading it.