Read Pleasure in the Rain for Free Online Page B

doing?”
    “Ready to leave this place.”
    The nurse walks back in and says, “Everything’s taken care of. This is your ride, I assume?”
    “Yes, ma’am,” I say.
    “All right, then. We’re going to miss you around here.”
    “I think I’ve outstayed my welcome and then some.”
    “Never. But I know you’ll be glad to get back to regular life.”
    I nod even as I wonder if there will ever again be such a thing.
    “I’ll be wheeling you down to the front entrance of the hospital,” she says and then directing at Thomas, “Would you like to meet us there, young man?”
    “Sure,” he says. “I’ll take the shortcut to the parking garage and meet you down there. Nice to see you, Mr. Ashford. You have a safe trip back to Atlanta.”
    “Thank you for coming, Thomas. I appreciate it.”
    “Sure thing,” he says.
    Dad doesn’t bother to hide the worry in his eyes. “You’ll be all right, son?”
    “Yeah,” I say, “Thank you for being here. For everything.”
    He reaches out and shakes my hand, squeezes my shoulder. “We’ll be talking, okay?”
    I nod and watch him leave the room. I believe we really will.
     
    ♪
     
    I’M WAITING AT THE front entrance with the nurse who’s doing her best to assure me that someday not too far from now all of this will just be a bad dream. I don’t know how to tell her I can’t imagine that day ever coming, so I simply nod and try for a smile. Thomas drives toward us from the far end of the parking lot. It’s not until he’s rounding the curve under the hospital portico that I see who’s in the front seat with him. Her name slams into my chest like a train into something unfortunate enough to be caught in the middle of the tracks. It literally knocks the wind from me. I have to remind myself to breathe deep and even.
    “Are you all right?” the nurse asks, noticing.
    “Yeah,” I say, “I’m fine.”
    CeCe is staring straight ahead, not yet having let her gaze fall across me. I, on the other hand, cannot take my eyes off her. Her face alone tells me she’s lost a significant amount of weight. Her eyes have that hollowed out look beneath, like someone who isn’t able to sleep.
    Thomas stops the truck, leaves the engine running, gets out and walks around. I try to stand, but feel the weakness in my knees when they refuse to do as I am trying to make them do.
    “Whoa there, cowboy,” Thomas says, taking my elbow and helping me regain my balance.
    “Thanks,” I say, even as I hate my own weakness.
    Thomas opens the passenger door. CeCe slides to the middle. He helps me in. I thank the nurse.
    “You take good care now, you hear?” she says.
    I nod and close the door.
    As soon as it shuts, I breathe in the subtle scent of CeCe, some kind of clean, minty shampoo that makes me remember pressing my face into her hair and drawing in the smell I associate only with her.
    We’re both looking straight ahead, keeping our shoulders tilted just enough that we don’t touch. I feel the change in her, the wall that might as well be positioned in between us right now. I know the reasons for it. I can imagine every single one she has thought about and blamed herself for and felt guilty over, and I get it.
    I’ve felt so much guilt myself over Beck and what had happened. I knew to expect these changes in her. Thomas warned me, but even if he hadn’t, the fact that we haven’t spoken once since that nightmare night tells me everything I need to know. She’s shut me out and, knowing CeCe as I do, I doubt that she’ll ever let me back in.
     
    ♪
     
    WE’RE A FEW MILES down the highway when Thomas looks over and says, “So how long are you two planning on ignoring each other?”
    I glance across at him, more an excuse to capture CeCe in my line of vision than to actually acknowledge what he’s said, but nonetheless I’m compelled to answer.
    “How are you, CeCe?” I ask. My voice doesn’t even sound like my voice. My question has the neutrality of someone