Face of Death

Chapter 22

I nudged Matt, widening my eyes and nodding in his mother’s direction. “What is she doing here? Amber just…shouldn’t she be at home?”

“You didn’t read the entire article about Amber, did you?”

No, I hadn’t. After I found out it was an aneurysm, I didn’t want to know anything else. I shook my head.

“Amber died a month ago.”

A month ago? “No, that can’t be. Hades took her to get back at me.”

“I don’t think so, Jodi. Amber used to get these really bad headaches all the time. I can’t help thinking she was meant to die when she did.”

“That would mean Hades had me move her.”

Matt balled his good hand into a fist. “He took her out of Heaven and put her in Hell to get back at you.”

“Those aren’t the terms he uses, but yes. That’s exactly what he did.”

Matt looked like he was about to hit something and break his other hand.

“I’m so sorry.” He couldn’t deny it was my fault now. Maybe I hadn’t been the reason Amber died, but I was the reason she was in Tartarus. “Why wasn’t she buried next to you, though? We should’ve seen her grave.”

He shook his head. “Amber always said she’d rather be cremated than buried. She was claustrophobic. She insisted she would be even in death.” That was Amber. Very quirky. “I don’t know if I can do this.” He glanced at his mom. “She never worked in the ER. She was always stationed in the maternity ward.”

“You wanted to see her, remember? This is good. You’ll be able to check on her without randomly showing up on her doorstep.”

“Tyler Gross?” she called again, looking around the waiting room.

“Here.” I stood up and grabbed Matt’s arm, pulling him up. “He’s a little out of it from the pain.”

Mrs. Davenport nodded. “Right this way, please.”

We followed her through the set of double doors and into an examination room.

“Okay, why don’t you hop up on the examination table, and I’ll take a look at that hand.”

I sat in the chair in the corner and gave Matt a small encouraging smile. He breathed out loudly, trying to get control of his emotions. I knew how he felt. I had been terrified to see my mom. He’d thought it would be so easy, checking up on our families. Now, he was seeing that there was nothing easy about it.

Mrs. Davenport flipped through Matt’s paperwork. “It says here that you did this punching a wooden bench after your bags were stolen from the bus station.”

“She wrote that on the form?” Man, that receptionist just couldn’t stop taking digs at us. If it wasn’t a flat-out lie, I’d be insulted.

“Afraid so. Clarice has a strange sense of humor. Most people don’t get her.” Mrs. Davenport smiled at us, and I couldn’t help remembering the way she’d always invited me to dinner and told me I should stop by more often. She was such a caring person.

She gently turned Matt’s hand, looking at it from all angles. “Well, I’m going to wager you broke at least one bone in there, but we’ll need an x-ray to see the extent of the damage.”

“Will he be in a cast?” If Matt had to come back to get the cast removed, it would really screw up our “mail us the bill, and we’ll get our insurance to take care of it later” plan. He’d have to find a different hospital to pull the same scam on, and he’d have to do it without me.

“Most likely. I’m pretty certain he has some broken bones.”

Matt mouthed a “sorry” to me, making me want to melt into the chair. If Hades hadn’t tried to get back at me through Amber, this wouldn’t have happened. I should be the one apologizing. Again.

“You can stay here while we go get this x-rayed and speak with the doctor and the radiology technician.”

I nodded.

Matt followed his mom out of the room. He still hadn’t said a word to her. I hoped he’d get over it enough to at least say something. He’d regret it if he blew this opportunity to talk to his mom again. Of course, there was the danger of him getting too comfortable and spilling everything to her in front of the doctor and the countless other people who were examining him.

I tapped my foot for what seemed like an eternity before they both returned, this time with the doctor, a middle-aged man with a mustache who didn’t say a word as he walked over to the sink and wrote on his clipboard. Mrs. Davenport put Matt’s x-ray up on one of those light boxes.

“Yup. There and there. Can you see the fractures?”

“Guess I won’t be punching anything for a while.” Matt gave his mom a small smile. My heart sank when I saw the way he looked at her. God, I hoped she didn’t notice. She’d think he was having some cougar fantasy or something.

“Should I go to the waiting room while he’s getting the cast put on?”

“If you’d like. Completely up to you and Tyler.” When she said his name, her eyes lit up for a split second. “I always liked the name Tyler. I wanted to name my son that, but my husband insisted on Matt.” She lowered her eyes. “Tyler was his middle name.” She was still grieving.

Matt opened his mouth, but I jumped up and said, “You know, I think I’ll stay if that’s okay with you, Tyler.” He looked at me, coming out of his trance. “I figure you could use the emotional support.”

“Yeah.” He reached for my hand and squeezed it. Alex would’ve hated it, especially since Matt still had strong feelings for me. But Matt needed me right now, and I wasn’t about to deny him something so small as holding my hand for support.

“You two make such a cute couple,” Mrs. Davenport said, eying us.

Oh well, I went with it. “Thank you, Mrs. Davenport.”

She wrinkled her brow. “How did you know my name?”

Damn it! “Oh, um, you told us when you called Tyler into the examination room.”

“I did?” She shook her head. “I must be tired. I always introduce myself as Emily. Mrs. Davenport makes me sound old. But then again, I don’t usually work in the ER. Someone called out sick, and I got stuck working a double. They pulled me from the maternity ward.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re here,” Matt said, on the verge of sounding like a cougar hunter again.

“Yeah, you’ve been really nice.” I jumped right in, trying to make this better. “Some people, like the receptionist, weren’t exactly nice about how this happened.”

Mrs. Davenport looked over her shoulder at the doctor, who was washing his hands at the sink, and then she leaned closer to us and whispered, “Don’t let Clarice get to you. A few months back, she slipped off the toilet in the ladies’ room after insisting that she only uses the bathroom after the janitors wash the seats.” She giggled. “Apparently, the seat was so slippery clean, she shot right off it.”

We all laughed, breaking the tension that Matt had caused. I had to keep him under control. If he couldn’t hold it together, how was I supposed to leave him here when I went to save the others from Hades?

“You all ready to get plastered?” Mrs. Davenport asked.

Matt and I looked at each other like we’d both lost our minds—or she had.

She laughed again. “I mean your cast. God, I haven’t laughed like this in months. I’ve been going through a rough time, but you kids have really cheered me up.”

Being around Matt was making her happy again. Maybe this visit would turn out all right after all.

“Come on. You can pick your color of cast wrap. We have red, blue, green, yellow… I’m guessing you don’t want pink, but some guys do like purple.”

Matt and I exchanged glances. He wasn’t the purple type. My smile faded when I realized why Matt disliked purple so much. Amber’s entire room was purple. Matt always said it looked like a grape exploded in there. He must have been thinking the same thing because he lowered his eyes.

Mrs. Davenport gazed out the window. “You know, my daughter loved purple. My son hated it. She always tried to get him to wear purple shirts. He never would. And now…” She turned back to us. “Well, I don’t need to bore you with my drama.”

“I’ll take purple,” Matt said.

It took all my strength not to cry. I clenched my teeth and fought the tears as Mrs. Davenport put a cast on Matt. She had no idea her son was sitting in front of her. My heart ached, and I wanted to tell her the truth. I wanted to let her know she hadn’t lost both her children. I wanted to make up for taking Matt from her and for sending her daughter to Hell. But I couldn’t. If we even tried to explain this, she’d think we were crazy, and she’d call security. That would be the end of Matt’s time with her. We had to stick to the original plan. He was my mom’s nephew. At least he’d be able to see his parents that way.

After the doctor finished wrapping Matt’s hand in a purple cast and made a quick exit, Mrs. Davenport took a black permanent marker from the table behind her and handed it to me. “Want to do the honors?”

I looked at Matt and knew what he wanted. “Actually, I think you should sign it, Nurse Davenport.”

“Oh, please, call me Emily, and I don’t think Tyler wants me to sign it. He doesn’t even know me.”

If only she knew how wrong she was.

“I would like you to sign it,” Matt said. “You’ve been really nice, almost motherly.”

Oh, God, Matt. Please, don’t slip up. Don’t say anything suspicious.

“All in the job description, but if you insist.” She took the marker and signed her name across the back of his hand. She held his hand while she did it, and Matt’s bottom lip quivered a little. I held my breath until she let go of him. “There you go. Now, since you aren’t from around here, I guess this is goodbye.”

“You might see him again. His aunt lives here. He’s going to be staying with her for a while.” He couldn’t stay forever because he wouldn’t age, and people would definitely notice that, but at least he’d have some time before it got risky to be here.

“Oh, really? Who’s your aunt? Maybe I know her.”

“Laura Marshall,” Matt said.

Mrs. Davenport’s face lit up. “I know Laura well. Our kids used to…” Her smile melted away. “They used to date.”

Neither Matt nor I knew what to say, so we stayed silent.

“I’m sure Laura is happy to have you. She’s been through a lot since Jodi disappeared. Not that I need to tell you. You know all about that, I’m sure.”

Matt nodded.

“I can imagine how she feels. I’ve lost both my children. But poor Laura, she never had any closure. She doesn’t know if Jodi is alive or…” Her voice trailed off. Her eyes watered, but she forced a smile. “There I go again. Telling you two about my troubles.”

“It’s no problem, really,” I said. “We appreciate how nice you’ve been.”

“Well, it was really nice meeting both of you. You made me smile for the first time in a long time.” She took one of my hands and Matt’s good hand in hers. “Thank you for that.”

I swallowed hard, afraid if I said anything I’d start bawling.

She let go and turned to Matt. “And, Tyler, I do hope I’ll see you again. We should all get together for dinner sometime after you’re settled.”

“I’d really like that.”

We said goodbye and left. Matt walked slower than a tortoise. He didn’t want to leave his mom. I glanced at the clock in the waiting room. It was mid-afternoon already. We’d spent most of the day in the hospital.

“Hungry?” I asked.

The thought of food seemed to perk him up a little.

“Oh, wait. No money.” I reached into my pockets, hoping to find a twenty stuffed in there, and to my surprise, I did. Attached to it was a pink Post-it note. Buy yourselves some lunch. Mom must have snuck it into my pocket when she’d hugged me. I held the bill up to Matt. “It’s on my mom.”

We drove to Alberto’s. Matt’s idea, of course. It was the place we went on our second-to-last date, back when I thought Alex was stalking me, and I referred to him as Green Eyes because I didn’t know his name yet. I wasn’t sure how Matt was feeling about me right now. He had to have a little resentment toward me. I’d killed him and sent Amber to Hell. He was a great guy, as perfect as anyone could get, but that was too much to get past. Wasn’t it?

“Bagel and vanilla milkshake?” he asked.

“You remember that’s what I had when we came here?”

“Of course. I wasn’t lying when I said I was in love with you.”

Was. So, he wasn’t anymore. That was good. I loved Alex. Things would be easier if Matt didn’t have those feelings for me. But then why did I feel bad about it?

“You had a foot-long sub and ate all of it.” I was suddenly feeling nostalgic.

“I’m surprised you remember.”

“Why? I cared about you a lot. Wasn’t it obvious?”

The waitress came to take our order. I recognized her from school. Wendy Something-or-Other.

“Hey, Wendy,” Matt said with a big smile.

She cocked her head to the side.

“Um, your nametag.” I pointed to the big block letters.

“Right!” She laughed. “You had me for a second.”

I forced a laughed and nudged Matt under the table with my foot.

“Just a little game I play when I go out to eat. It’s funny how many people think I’m psychic or something.” He placed our orders, and once Wendy was out of earshot, he said, “Sorry. I promise I’ll get used to this.”

“It’s okay.” After all my screw-ups, Matt’s were nothing major. “So, back to my question. Did I not make my feelings for you clear?”

“You did, but you were so distracted the day we came here. That guy—” He tapped his finger on his cast and avoided my eyes. “Alex was following you, and there was the whole thing with the school nurse.”

There had been a lot going on. I’d come into my Ophi powers and was suddenly dangerous to every living thing around me.

“I was thinking.” He raised his eyes to mine. “We’re going to see that Mason guy again tonight, and I’m guessing you’ll be going back to…” He swallowed hard and before he could continue, our food arrived.

“Anything else I can get for you?” Wendy asked.

“No, I think we’re good,” I said.

Matt took a sip of his milkshake before he continued. “I’ve only got a few hours to convince you that you’re better off here with me. I want you to allow me to do that. To give me four hours to prove I’m the best guy for you. That this is the life you should choose.” He reached his good hand across the table and laced his fingers through mine.

As much as I wanted to protest, to tell him I loved Alex, I couldn’t. I squeezed his hand.