Rusty didn't know how to respond to this, but he didn't have to. 'You'll be okay,' a raspy, plugged-up voice said. 'You have to be, hon, because we need you.'
It was Ginny Tomlinson, walking slowly up the hallway toward them.
'You shouldn't be on your feet,' Rusty said.
'Probably not,' Ginny agreed, and sat down on Gina's other side with a sigh of relief. Her taped nose and the adhesive strips running beneath her eyes made her look like a hockey goalie after a difficult game.'But I'm back on duty, just the same.'
'Maybe tomorrow - ' Rusty began.
'No, now.' She took Gina's hand. 'And so are you, hon. Back in nursing school, this tough old RN had a saying: "You can quit when the blood dries and the rodeo's over.'"
'What if I make a mistake?' Gina whispered.
'Everybody does. The trick is to make as few as possible. And I'll help you.You and Harriet both. So what do you say?'
Gina gazed doubtfully at Ginny's swollen face, the damage accented by an old pair of spectacles Ginny had found somewhere. 'Are you sure you're up to it, Ms Tomlinson?'
'You help me, I help you. Ginny and Gina, the Fighting Females.' She raised her fist. Managing a little smile, Gina tapped Ginny's knuckles with her own.
'That's all very hot shit and rah-rah,' Rusty said,'but if you start to feel faint, find a bed and lie down for a while. Orders from Dr Rusty'
Ginny winced as the smile her lips were trying on pulled at the wings of her nose. 'Never mind a bed, I'll just hosey Ron Haskell's old couch in the lounge.'
Rusty s cell phone rang. He waved the women away. They talked as they went, Gina with an arm around Ginny's waist.
'Hello, this is Eric,' he said.
'This is Eric's wife,' a subdued voice said. 'She called to apologize to Eric'
Rusty walked into a vacant examining room and closed the door. 'No apology necessary,' he said... although he wasn't sure that was true. 'Heat of the moment. Have they let him go?' This seemed to him a perfectly reasonable question, given the Barbie he was coming to know.
.'I'd rather not discuss it on the phone. Can you come to the house, honey? Please? We need to talk.'
Rusty supposed he could, actually. He'd had one critical patient, whoj had simplified his professional life considerably by dying. And while he was relieved to be on speaking terms again with the woman he loved, he didn't like the new caution he heard in her voice.
'I can,' he said, 'but not for long. Ginny's back on her feet, but if I don't monitor her, she'll overdo. Dinner?'
'Yes.' She sounded relieved. Rusty was glad. 'I'll thaw some of the thicken soup. We better eat as much of the frozen stuff as we can jwhile "we've still got the power to keep it good.'
'One thing. Do you still think Barbie's guilty? Never mind what the rest of them think, do you?'
A long pause. Then she said,'We'll talk when you get here.'And with that, she was gone.
Rusty was leaning with his butt propped against the examination table. He held the phone in his hand for a moment, then pressed the END button. There were many things he wasn't sure of just now - he felt like a man swimming in a sea of perplexity - but he felt sure of one thing: his wife thought somebody might be listening. But who? The Army? Homeland Security?
Big Jim Rennie?
'Ridiculous,' Rusty said to the empty room. Then he went to find Twitch and tell him he was leaving the hospital for a little while.
9
Twitch agreed to keep an eye on Ginny and make sure she didn't overdo, but there was a quid pro quo: Rusty had to examine Henrietta Clavard, who had been injured during the supermarket melee, before leaving.
'What's wrong with her?' Rusty asked, fearing the worst. Henrietta was strong and fit for an old lady, but eighty-four was eighty-four.
'She says, and I quote, "One of those worthless Mercier sisters broke my goddam ass." She thinks Carla Mercier. Who's Venziano now.'
'Right,' Rusty said, then murmured, apropos nothing: 'It's a small town, and we all support the team. So is it?'
'Is it what, sensei?'
'Broken.'
'I don't know. She won't show it to me. She says, and I also quote, "I will only expose my smithyriddles to a professional eye."'
They burst out laughing, trying to stifle the sounds.
From beyond the closed door, an old lady's cracked and dolorous voice said: 'It's my ass that's broke, not my ears. I hear that.'
Rusty and Twitch laughed harder. Twitch had gone an alarming shade of red.
From behind the door, Henrietta said: 'If it was your ass, my buddies, you'd be laughing on the other side of your faces.'
Rusty went in, still smiling. 'I'm sorry, Mrs Clavard.'
She was standing rather than sitting, and to his immense relief, she smiled herself. 'Nah,' she said. 'Something in this balls-up has got to be funny. It might as well be me.' She considered. 'Besides, I was in there stealing with the rest of them. I probably deserved it.'
CHAPTER 15