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What do you want to do with the rest of the day?" Jessica asked. "The lunch rush should be about over." "Sounds good. We can go out to the farm afterwards, drive around a little." "What's your pleasure? Tacos, pizza, a macwhopperburger that'll take a month off your life?" "Sounds like it should have a warning label on it." "Actually all fast food has them now." Jessica said. "Not on the food itself, but signs were you order. Warnings on the soda machines not to overdo it. We're all children now." "I guess a lot of us act like it." "It sure seems that way. The Chili's parking lot looks pretty clear." "Sounds good." The restaurant was indeed relatively quiet. Alex asked Jessica to order something she thought he would like. I like Mexican food before? "You weren't too particular." Jessica told him. "You said Mexican food was all pretty much the same, like Chinese." Sounds about right. I guess. Some reason or other. "You like tacos," Jessica said, "Hmmm, they have shrimp tacos. How does that sound?" "Sounds good. What are you having?" "The same. Everything here's good, and it makes ordering easier." Her smile is more beautiful every day. She's happy, because of me. Like she was sad and worried, because of me. This is better. Don't remember the feelings though, just know they were there. Because she still has them. The waiter brought water. Chips and dip followed. Jessica ordered. But now she may be in danger, because of me. "I know," Jessica said when he mentioned it. "But when Harry brought up killing people for their body parts, I got a chill that hasn't gone away. I don't know why we had to be the ones to stumble into this." "Because I had a heart attack. Because I ate pizza and burgers and was out of shape..." "NO!" I hurt her again. Scared her too. She didn't do anything wrong. Leaning over she placed her hands on his. "Alex, you're the best thing that ever happened to me. I didn't know what I should be doing with my life, I was just floating along like a leaf in a stream. I chickened out of what I set out to do, because of something bad that happened and I couldn't take it. You can't be a nurse and not be able to deal with those things. Then I met you. You were charming and smart and funny and optimistic and, somehow, different. But something brought us together. "When they put you in that ambulance and I didn't know if I'd see you again, and when you were in a coma - or so they told me - for months and they said I shouldn't expect you to recover, I knew I would die if I lost you. And that's not your fault. It's the fault of corrupt doctors and crooked greedy people. You should have walked out of that hospital a couple of weeks after you surgery, and been back at work in a month. "And I was scared before, I was depressed, I don't like to think what I would have done if..." "It's all right." Alex said. "You're right. I'm having to get to know you all over again, but... I'll never let anyone hurt you like that again. Give me a little more time to get healthy." She continued holding his hands, finally relaxed. "It's gonna be all right." he said. "I can't reach that far, so..." Jessica smiled, wiped the dampness under her eyes. "I didn't yell, did I?" she asked. "Not very loud." Jessica laughed. Like that better. "Alex, I don't know about destiny and chance and all the things people think about how and why things happen, but something tells me there's a purpose here. People don't die, which is what you did, physically, and come back unless there's a reason. Don't you think?" "Yeah, I'm with you. But Harry's right. People that'll kill you for money, they're dangerous." "He is, we'll have to be careful. We have the advantage now though. They don't know we're on to them. I suspect Harry will recommend keeping it like that, for as long as we can." They ate chips and dip and sipped their drinks. The food arrived.
Out at the farm, Alex drove around in the field for a while, then back to the house. "It's about time to try the road." he said. "Ready?" "Let's do it." The area around the farm had a network of gravel roads like the one from the highway to his place. "You can drive around here all day and not meet more than a handful of cars." Jessica told him. "So it should be pretty safe." After another hour or so of driving Alex felt confident he would soon be able to resume driving, although having Jessica along for a while would be prudent. "It's almost like you were never away." she said as they returned home. "You'll be all the way back soon." "Probably the next thing to do is get back to being handy with guns." Alex said. "Just in case." Jessica didn't reply right away. "It's gonna be all right." Alex said. "But we have to do our part." |
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