Chapter 16: The Drive Home

The doctor looked from Scott's hand to me.

He wrote something on his clipboard and didn't ask anything else.

"We'll keep him overnight," he said. "Reactions can come back a few hours later. He's going to be fine. You got it in fast."

Joey's eyes were already closing.

He still had my shirt in his fist.

Scott stepped into the hall to make a call.

I heard his mother's voice from the phone, high and fast, and then I heard Scott.

"No. Don't come. I mean it, Mom. Go home."

He hung up and stood in the hall a long time with his back to the door.

At eight a nurse brought in a tote bag.

"A woman dropped this at the front desk. Tall, short dark hair. She said it's his birthday present."

I took out the wooden sailboat and set it on the tray table where Joey would see it when he woke.

I pressed the top of the little lighthouse.

It lit up yellow.

Scott came back in and saw it, and sat down very slowly in the chair by the window.

By ten Joey was asleep for real, breathing slow and clear, the swelling almost gone from his lips.

A nurse said she'd sit with him.

"I'll drive you home," Scott said.

"I'll get a cab."

"Robin. Please let me drive you home."

The new SUV was in the parking garage.

He walked around to the passenger side and opened the front door for me.

He took my crutches and laid them across the back seat.

I sat in the front.

The seat was empty. The leather was cool.

We drove down out of the hospital and across the river without a word.

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