Two weeks later Frank wondered if he could pretend he was having a relapse and hide out until he figured out how to get off the damn roller coaster his life had turned into. Dammit all this was worse than when he had been married to the woman.
For two weeks, two solid weeks, things had started to smooth out. The lawyer started handling all of Melissa's stuff so he didn't have to. The kids were coming to terms with things and had settled back in at their old school with teachers and friends that were glad to have them. And shock of all shocks they weren't blaming him for all the crap that was disrupting their lives; they actually acted like they were worried about him though he wasn't sure how long it would last. He wasn't getting calls every five minutes from family or work. And he'd had Vee's full and undivided attention. They hadn't done much physically with their alone time but still, she was there and willing to do whatever he asked of her. Except she'd squawk a little bit when he got more personal than she expected. Like the time he woke up, went hunting for her, and found her waxing her legs. She'd wanted to stop or for him to give her some privacy but eventually she settled down after giving him a strange look when he insisted he wanted to watch.
"Damn Girl, those are some long legs. They're gorgeous … but you're about to freeze me to pieces with them waxing whatchamacallits."
"Strips. Waxing strips. And I gave up razors when I was eighteen and some village women showed me how to get rid of body hair without the risk of opening an artery. Overseas it was safer to wax also because of infections from untreated water and all of that garbage. Here in the States I keep doing it because it lasts longer and is way cheaper. You know how many razors I went through when I was shaving my legs? And I couldn't use the cheap disposable ones either or I would wind up with the Marquis de Sade's version of razor rash."
She'd offered to wax his beard but there was no way in hell. When she laughed and asked about giving him a Brazilian wax job he threatened to lock her up for threatening a police officer with torture. She'd giggled long and hard and it had been worth the embarrassment to see her so happy and carefree. It wasn't often that she was.
Yesterday had been his first day back at work … or at least back at the precinct. He'd done a little paperwork from home but primarily on cold cases. He'd even made a little headway on a couple of them. Yesterday had kicked his butt and that was on top of having to play the twenty-question game when people were trying to pry into his personal life.
He'd gotten home to find that Vee had packed up her stuff. He'd been tempted to ask her to move in but after thinking about it he knew neither of them were ready for it. Syd had also called her to come back which is where she had spent today. Cleaning up from the last of the Spring Break crowd.
What had him so hacked off at the moment wasn't that he had to go back to work; hell he needed to. It wasn't that Vee had to go back to work. He knew how much she valued that bit of her independence. It wasn't even that their break was over because reality was bound to intrude at some point. It's that while he'd been prepared for all of that … a call from Melissa's father had caught him broadside and he was drowning in drama yet again.
He pulled into his parking spot in front of his condo only to back right back out and head over to Vee's apartment. Thankfully she was home as evidenced by the Coupe being where it was supposed to be. He didn't have the energy to bound up the stairs but he decided if he had to crawl he would. He knocked but barely gave her time to answer before he was pushing her door open and stepping inside. He grabbed her and pulled her to him tight and muttered into her hair, "You're mine. Mine. I am not losing this. I am not going to let her take this from me. Jesus, I might owe her something but not my soul."
"Frank?" Vee asked, her voice muffled from where she was smushed against the man's shirt.
"I gotta stay here tonight. I can't stay there by myself. Not tonight. I just … I just need …"
"Hey, reciprocity remember? You hosted me for two weeks, now I get to do for you at least for tonight. Sounds like a fair exchange would you …" Vee nearly yelped when Frank took them both down to the floor.
"You're mine woman. Understand? I know things are going to get crazy but you're mine. You said you'd wait."
Vee knew right then that something more had happened … and not a good kind of more. She murmured assurances and rubbed Frank's back and after a few moments she felt him relax a little right before snarling an f-bomb.
"What a shit day this has been."
"Wanna talk or go beat something to pieces in the gym?"
"I wanna beer … or some scotch."
"Sorry, fresh out. I suppose I can …"
"No. I said I want one. Didn't say I should have one. You sure don't need to run out and get me something. No way in hell am I going to start that shit. I lived through it once, not happening a second time." Frank rubbed his forehead like he was getting a migraine before saying, "Wouldn't say no to some iced tea if you have any made."
"I have that or I can make you some butterscotch milk if your stomach is full of acid."
Frank thought about it then shook his head. "The tea. That warm milk stuff you make puts me to sleep and … and I need to … talk. Need … need … you … need you to understand what is going on."
For Frank to actually say it told her even more that something not-good had happened.
She came back with the glass of sweet iced tea to find he'd taken off his coat and tie and was sprawled on the sofa. "Have I told you I love this sofa?"
"A few times," she answered trying to keep things light until he was ready to actually do the talking he'd claimed he needed to do.
Finally he sighed. "Day started out I got called to a scene. Good lord. I pull up and Ryan looks like he is about to puke … give him a day and if he hasn't called you then you might want to call him to see how he is dealing. Anyway, I know it's bad but they hadn't said anything about a body so I check the look in Ryan's eyes and just dammit all, I knew it had to be a kid and it had to be bad. I look over and see a guy cuffed and in the back of a cruiser. Things ain't looking good. I go inside and find the worthless piece of crap baby momma getting sobered up before she gets hauled off just like her boyfriend. Grandmother is in another room barely holding it together. Paramedics … Vee, I don't have any business adding to your nightmares."
"Shhhhh … you forget what parts of the world that I worked in for a while. People don't value human life the way they do here in the states. Just say what you need to say to bleed it off."
"It was a little girl … six years old. Six. Six freaking years old. They got the bleeding under control but I heard they were hours doing reconstructive surgery once they stabilized her enough to get her through surgery. I hope they put those freaks in general pop. Damn, sometimes rough justice seems like the best justice."
Frank's head wound up in Vee's lap and she just wiped the sweat from his brow and tried her best to comfort him. She'd seen worse. She wouldn't tell him that but she'd never forget helping the woman to try and bury what was left of her only daughter with some dignity after she'd been gang raped and all but torn to pieces because they'd had no male strong enough to defend them from the roaming gangs of young refugees that had flooded their town.
"I spent the rest of the morning filling out paperwork. Cases like that … they depress everyone, not just the people who work it, so no one was in a good mood. Nothing goes right. Everyone snapping and back biting. Perps and witnesses even seemed to be in a pissy mood. Things finally started to let up a little after lunch when we got word the little girl was going to live. About an hour later I get an emergency text from Melissa's father. He had come to the hospital at the request of her primary doctor. Aw shit."
Vee undoes the top couple of buttons on Frank's dress shirt and starts to rub his neck when he sits up.
"There were some irregularities in some of Melissa's tests. Her primary called in a neurologist." Vee cringed, waiting for the shoe to drop. "They ran some scans and they're pretty sure she has brain damage. And not just from the accident. She has what they call a localized brain bruise or something like that from the impact during the accident. They thought that was affecting some of her fine motor skills; it was in the right location. But she was also exhibiting some cognitive … uh … can't remember exactly except that they noticed she was off and since she hadn't had a drunk on at the time they had done a few additional scans that looked for other things. She's got early stage Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome."
"Wet brain syndrome."
Surprised Frank asked, "You know what that is?"
"Yeah, you see it a lot in cultures where there is a lot of heavy drinking from a young age; or, in backwater work hells where the men drink more than they eat 'cause they're lonely … or what have you. It is caused by B1 thiamine deficiency … alcohol can damage the digestive track so that absorption is compromised. Sometimes alcoholics fill up on … er … liquids and forget to actually eat a balanced meal of solid food."
Frank nodded. "You know what it does?"
"It damages the parts of the brain that can lead to ataxia, dementia, hallucinations, inability to tell truth from fiction …"
Frank said, "Yeah. It was that ataxia …"
"An irregular gate."
"Yeah. A physical therapist caught it and reported it, suspecting it wasn't caused by nerve damage in her foot. Her old man was a mess. Dan is in Tallahassee at some conference, he didn't know who else he could call. Sure as hell Coral would only make things worse. I've done what I could but, damn I'm getting sucked back in."
"No, you're just being an advocate for your kids and this is what it takes. Melissa's family is going to have to deal with the reality she built for herself. Have you talked to the kids yet?"
"Yeah, it wasn't pretty but the older two took it better than I expected. Shelly could only cry. Dan's wife's sister is a nurse at a rehab center over in Cape Coral and knows the family. She went over to try and help answer as many questions as she can. The kids' counselor is on board. Dan will be back in the morning and he'll drive back over with his father who is staying at his place tonight. I got a hold of Melissa's lawyer and he'll deal with how this affects the legal stuff. Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn."
After a few more moments Vee got up and helped Frank to lean back on the sofa. "Drink some tea. The sweat will help a little with the shakes. I'm going to turn the bed down and make sure everything is locked up."
"Huh?"
"Been a long day Frank. You're still recovering and this is another nasty shock. And I need to just hold you and … and … do whatever it is that we wind up doing; I need to give you whatever you'll allow me to. Best place to do that is bed. Just give me a moment."
"You gonna call Ryan?"
"Text him so he doesn't just bang on through the door if the date he is on tonight tanks out."
"Date huh."
"Yeah. Well, maybe not a date exactly. He and that woman Natalia are going to catch a concert down at the waterfront."
"He and Natalia … er …"
"Yeah. I know about the 'er' and it doesn't thrill me to see him going back around. Ryan has a bad habit of sticking with the known even though the known comes with painful memories. But I suppose Natalia is still better than Lily who has been riding his case about like The Cougar has."
Frank already knew who "The Cougar" and Lily were and agreed that anything would be better than those two. He just didn't see a lot of hope for Ryan where Natalia was concerned. She was a woman that seemed to run hot and then cold at unpredictable intervals.