Pier Lights (16 page)

His mom looked up at him. “I think she just
might be able to handle you. Go on now and fetch me some real food.
Caroline and I are going to walk up and down this hall a couple of
times.” She excused the nurse, said she would be fine in Caroline’s
hands.

Dio agreed, with no choice but to agree. He
asked what real food she wanted. She chose a restaurant a few
blocks away without a pickup window. He did argue this time, said
he didn’t want to go in a restaurant close to home.

“Oh for heaven’s sake, Diomedes, just knock
’em down like Caroline would if they get too fresh with you. Don’t
let your girl show you up. Look at you, you big brute. I think you
can handle it and it’s time I stopped coddling you.”

He felt himself fume, or start to fume,
until Caroline set her crutches against the wall and clung to him,
her arms around his neck. “She’s right, baby. Just ignore them and
think of...” She reached up to talk into his ear, quietly. “Of the
way I look at you, of the way I adore you. And tonight, I’ll do it
again. Any of it you want. I think it’ll be my turn to be in
charge, right?”

Dio cleared his throat and tried his best
not to let her effect show on his face, in his eyes anyway, since
nothing else showed on his face under the stupid mask. “Right.” He
patted her rear and reached for her crutches. “Don’t let her trip
you. Mom, be nice to her.”

He retreated down the hall then turned to
watch a moment. The old woman liked her. So far. The being alone
bit was a test.

Lina hit the stupid
elevator button repeatedly to get the door to close already.
“Close. Just
close
.” Her yelling at the machine made some woman change her mind
about getting in with her and the stupid door finally closed. It
lurched. Started down. To the ground floor where she could get out.
Fast. As fast as she could on the stupid crutches.

She was tempted to just drop the things and
make her foot work. Even if it hurt like hell, it would be faster.
She had to get out of there before Dio came back. She’d go
somewhere close and call Harry. No, Harry might tell Dio where she
went if he took her anywhere. But her car was still at his place,
with everything she owned inside it. She’d have to get back there
somehow.

Dusk was starting to fall as she finally got
off the damn elevator and over the too-polished hospital floors,
carefully, the rubber of her crutches squeaking on the polish, and
outside. Lina took a huge breath of fresh air. Not fresh enough.
Not ocean fresh. She wanted to be on the ocean, somewhere Dio
wouldn’t look for her. Maybe she’d just sleep out there for a
while, a few nights. So far her credit card still worked. She
guessed it wouldn’t for much longer. But it would get her basic
food, maybe a small blanket, and she would camp out somewhere on
the beach until she figured where to go from there.

She’d said one thing too much. Only one
thing. But she’d trusted the old woman. They were getting along
fine.

Stupid, stupid Lina. Trusting again. She
knew better.

Checking the billfold in her little barely
there purse, she figured she had enough for a taxi at least from
Charleston to the edge of Folly Beach. Maybe he would take pity on
her and get her all the way to the pier. She could hope.

Lina flagged the first one she saw, told him
where she was headed and asked how much. More than she could
afford. She said it was more than she had. She wasn’t stupid, not
completely. She had to keep some cash on her.

“Sorry, lady, I can only take you to Oak
Island Drive for that. Take it or leave it.”

That would still give her more than a mile
to walk. She was far too tired and too sore, and it was getting
dark. “I have to leave it.”

He shrugged and pulled away.

Lina hobbled the direction she wanted to go.
If she walked part of it first, then hailed a cab, she might be
able to do it. Then a thought struck. It was the way Dio would
return from the restaurant, and it was about time for him to be
back. It wasn’t like she could look away and hope he wouldn’t
recognize her in the dusk. The crutches would pull his attention.
She should have paid the extra. Frantically, she watched for
another. As she did, she moved close to the buildings. She would
also watch for Dio’s car and duck inside one of the stores if she
saw him. With any luck, she wouldn’t be in between too far to get
to a door.

A block down the sidewalk, she spotted
another taxi. Lina moved back to the outer edge and flagged him.
This time she didn’t ask how much. She got in, told him where she
was headed and how much she had and he could just stop when he got
to that amount on his meter.

“That don’t include the tip, right?”

“What?” Lina barely glanced up at him as she
watched for Dio’s car.

“That amount, that with or without tip?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Hey, a man’s gotta make a living.”

“Yeah, and a girl’s gotta eat. Just take me
as far as that’ll get me. In the straightest direction possible.
I’m not a tourist. I know the roads.”

The man rolled his eyes.

She kept an eye on him and on the meter. He
stopped just after Little Oak Drive and pulled over, in the middle
of nowhere. “Come on, at least cross over to the town for me. You
have to turn around anyway. You can’t do that here. Beside’s,
there’s a few cents left.”

“Yeah, I go all the way across the
intersection and it’ll go a few dollars over your limit.”

“You have to turn anyway.”

“Not with you in the cab.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.”

“Hey, no cursing in my cab.” He pointed at
the crucifix hanging from his mirror.

“Right. Go on just into town. I’ll pay
it.”

“So much for all you have, huh?”

“It means I don’t eat tonight.”

“Not my problem, lady.” He shifted back into
drive and sped down to the bare edge of town. She gave him a
twenty.

“Gonna get out?”

“I want my change.”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“Hey, a girl’s gotta eat.
At least a bag of chips.” Lina sat right there until he handed her
the dollar thirty-nine. “Thanks for doing the job you’re getting
paid to do.” She got safely away from the door.
“
Jerk
.”

On the sidewalk, she sighed. At least Dio
wouldn’t find her outside the hospital. And when his mom repeated
what Lina said that made her so angry, he wouldn’t look for her,
either. Maybe she could call Harry. But she didn’t want to call
Harry. She didn’t want to see anyone she knew or kind of knew. She
wanted to get to the beach.

Maybe she would take Hayes up on his offer
and accept some sit down job at the club. But she didn’t trust him.
He would turn into the same as that other one, the one who caused
her all this trouble in the first place. It wasn’t worth the
risk.

So now what, Lina? You can’t leave well
enough alone, can you?

With another sigh, she plodded her way down
Center Street. Her palms burned. Her underarms were chafed. Her
upper arm muscles tried to cramp.

Oh Dio, I’m so sorry. I’m really so sorry.
Please move on. Find someone tough enough without a sordid history.
Please.

She paused only long enough
to brush her eyes with her sleeve. Making her way across Huron road
in the dark, she jumped when a car turned in front of her and got
far too close. The guy yelled a
sorry
out the window.

“Watch where you’re going,
jackass!
” He wouldn’t hear. His music
thumped too loud.

On the other side of the road, barely on the
sidewalk, Lina started to laugh. She moved farther away from the
road, laughing harder, and harder still until she couldn’t hobble
at the same time. What there was to laugh about, she didn’t know.
Nothing. And yet she couldn’t stop.

She was too tired to get to the beach. It
was too far away. She was hungry. Dio was bringing her food, to the
hospital. She’d let him choose.

Oh Dio, I’m so sorry.

Her laughter turned to tears and she stood
propped on her crutches, her right knee bent to keep pressure off
her foot, her left leg burning with the extra strain, her face
cupped in her hands.

She sniffed the mucous back that tried to
run out her nose. She didn’t even have tissue. She had to stop. She
had to reserve what strength she had in order to get ... somewhere.
To the beach. Even if it took all night. What else did she have to
do, where else did she have to go? She’d sit on the sidewalk and
rest as she needed.

As she needed now.

Lina made her way to a building and
carefully lowered to the cement, let her back rest against the
wall. She breathed heavy and wiped her hands on her jeans and her
face on her shirt sleeves. She sniffed the rest back. Maybe she
would just sit right there until morning. Or until she rested well.
She let her eyes close.

“Hey.”

She opened them to a rough female voice.

“You cain’t sleep here. Go on now and go on
home. Move along.”

“I just need...”

“I don’t care what you need, hear? You chase
my customers away looking like a vagabond sleeping in my store
front. Go on now or I’ll call the cops.”

Lina wondered if she should let the woman
call the cops. If she said she had no home and no money for a hotel
– not quite true but her credit card limit wouldn’t take much more
– they’d put her in a cell for the night, wouldn’t they? And they’d
feed her. It might not be any better than the hospital food the old
lady bitched about but it would be food.

“Go on
.”

“Fine. I’m going.” With a sigh, Lina pulled
herself up with her crutches, nearly fell, but made it okay
enough.

“Wait.” The woman disappeared into her store
and came back again. “Find a taxi to take you wherever you’re going
from here.” She handed her ten dollars and a plastic bag. “There’s
some fruit in there, for strength. Wish I could do more, but I
gotta run my business, you know.”

“Thank you. I’ll repay it as soon as I
can.”

“Never you mind. Just you be careful out
here in the dark, a girl as pretty as you. Don’t you have no one to
call?”

“No.”

“And that means no one you’re willing to
call, my guess. Pride is a powerful bad thing, missy. Just you wait
and see. Don’t let it destroy you. Ain’t worth it. Go on and give
them a call, whose-ever it is you ain’t willing to call. Make it
right. You’ll be glad in the end.”

“Thanks.” It was all Caroline could say. She
understood her point, she did, but the woman had no idea.

Hobbling down farther as she watched for a
taxi, Lina also kept an eye out for a better place to rest. A bus
stop, maybe? She didn’t remember if there was. She never used the
bus, so she never paid attention.

Nearly at the end of her strength’s limit,
Lina saw the yellow glow of an on duty taxi. She moved to the edge
of the sidewalk and waved one arm as she held that crutch with the
other. He slowed, did a u-turn, and came back.

“Where ya headed?”

Lina got in before she told him she only had
ten dollars so if he could just take her as close as he could on
that, she’d make do.

She didn’t watch this one. He seemed okay.
He didn’t ask if tip was included. She closed her eyes and let
herself rest before she’d have to get out and hobble the rest of
the distance.

“Miss?”

She opened them to his voice.

“We’re here. Sure this is where you want to
get out? Someone meeting you?”

They were there. All the way there. At the
west end of the beach, a short distance from the pier. She looked
at the meter. Twelve-twenty. They hadn’t gone that far. It
shouldn’t have been so much. She should have watched him. “Oh, but
I only have...”

“Don’t worry about it. Took the long way to
let you rest your eyes a bit longer. Sure you’re okay here?”

“Yes.” No. But she’d have to be. “Thank you.
I’ll repay you...”

“Forget it. Got a real good tip tonight I
felt guilty about accepting. It’ll more than cover your ride. Have
a nice night. Enjoy the pier. They have music tonight. Some of
these days, I’ll not be working on a night they have music and I’ll
enjoy it myself.”

“Yes. You should. Thank you again.” She
pulled herself out of the cab as her muscles tried to cramp and
closed the door with a nod.

Music on the pier. Like the first night
she’d come down. The night she came home. Or at least the night she
started searching for home.

Lina made her way just
barely into the sand and sat down. She reached for the bag of
fruit. No. Damn. Damn.
Damn
. She’d left it in the taxi. And
she was starving.

When she could find strength enough again,
she’d go find something cheap to hold her until morning with the
ten the cab driver refused to take. And she’d find somewhere more
remote to curl up and sleep.

“Sorry it took so long...” Dio cast his eyes
around his mom’s room and set the bag on her tray. “Where is
she?”

“Left.” The old woman pushed herself up to
sitting and propped her pillows behind her. “Push that over here.
I’m starving by now. What took you so long?”

“What do you mean, she left?”

She patted the bed to motion for him to
sit.

“Why did she leave?” He wasn’t about to sit.
“What did you say?”

“Diomedes, my son, she is not the girl for
you. A nice girl, I said. Find a nice girl. You can’t have that
one. Not for more than a playmate and I think you’ve had enough of
those. Now don’t get me wrong, I know how it is for young men but
the time comes...”

Dio sucked in a deep breath to control his
fast growing temper. “What did you say to her?”