Chapter Seven
The Same Perfect Page...
It was six forty-five when Victoria arrived at Sunnybrook Park, fifteen minutes early. The air was cool and crisp; the perfect fall weather for an early morning run. Sunnybrook Park was an eye-catching landscape of lush greenery and rugged trees. As she pulled into the lot adjacent to the park, she saw that Ted's car was already there. She parked beside him and sat for a minute with the engine running.
She spotted him stretching near the benches at the edge of the trail. When he saw her car slide in beside his, he smiled, waving his arms to get her attention. Looking at him standing there, eagerly waiting for her, gave Victoria a tingly feeling.
Must be this cool weather,
she thought, brushing off the sensation as she headed his way.
The sight of her made small bumps creep up on Ted's skin, an effect the chilly morning breeze hadn't been able to achieve. She was dressed in a black sports bra and matching lycra running pants and jacket. He watched her long legs stride toward him, accentuating the curvy slimness of her hips. Her thick black hair that usually hung down her back was pulled into a ponytail sitting high on her head, revealing her long, slender neck. He thought she looked like the African queens he'd seen in history books. Her face was fully exposed, flaunting the natural beauty it possessed: high cheek bones, regal nose, inviting lips, and expressive brown eyes.
“Good morning,” Victoria greeted him.
“Good morning,” he smiled.
They stood beside each other, performing warm-up stretches to loosen their muscles. “Aren't you cold?” she asked, extending her leg to flex her calf. Ted's only clothing was a white t-shirt and a thin pair of black running shorts.
“No, I love cold weather. Growing up in Boston, you get used to it,” he answered, inhaling a deep breath of air.
As they continued to stretch, Victoria took a moment to study Ted, gazing at his pleasing complexion; not pale, and not exactly olive, but a nice blend in between. He had the kind of skin that could hold a nice tan in the summer. When he leaned forward, she appraised his svelte waist and narrow hips, and when he bent to stretch his legs she checked out his behindâhigh and tight.
Not bad for a white boy!
she said to herself. His chest was broad and his muscular arms looked strong and strangely inviting. All that, plus his six-foot three-inch frame made him look alarmingly good.
I need to stop looking at this man,
she thought to herself.
They both finished stretching at the same time. “The three-mile trail is a little bumpy in a few places.” Ted motioned toward the clearing ahead. “But it's an otherwise smooth run. I know you have much younger legs, but I'm a very advanced runner so don't be upset if you get dusted by an old man this morning,” he joked. He felt playful, enjoying the tease.
“Talkin' trash already, are we?” Victoria laughed. “Okay, old man, let's see whatcha got.” She gave him a small shove on the shoulder, then sprinted ahead toward the trail. Ted ran after her, and they were off.
They started at a moderate pace, not knowing each other's gate or rhythm. But after only a few lengths, they quickly fell into sync and picked up their speed. Ted glanced over at Victoria, noticing her long stride. He knew she was fast because he was running at his usual rigorous pace and she was gliding smoothly beside him. When they came up to the point that signaled their last mile, Ted wanted her to see that he was still in great shape for a man twelve years her senior, so he quickened the pace. They challenged each other, running faster and harder, their competitive juices flowing.
When they reached the quarter mile point, as if on the same perfect page, they slowed their pace and started their cool down run. They were getting closer to the end and could see their cars parked in the distance. “Not bad for an old man, huh?” Ted panted in between quick breaths. Being very pleased that he'd shown her his vitality, and in a gesture to mimic her earlier playfulness, he gave Victoria a small shove on the shoulder. Then everything went wrong.
Victoria lost her balance and went tumbling to the ground. She fell hard, rolling off the side of the paved trail and onto the rocks and thorns near the bushes. When her fall ended, she was crouched on the ground several feet away, grabbing her ankle and screaming out in pain. It was as if it had happened in slow motion. Ted saw her falling and reached out to catch her, but even at their slower pace they were going too fast for him to stop what he saw happening.
“Oh my god, are you all right?” Ted was down on his knees, huddled beside her. “Victoria, are you all right? Are you okay?” he asked again.
She'd stopped screaming, but she was holding her ankle, wincing. When she looked up at him, he could see the pain on her face. Her right leg was bent in an awkward position and the material of her pants was ripped, blood trickling through. “My ankle,” she said slowly, “I think it's bad.”
Ted leaned in close. “Let me see.” It was more a statement than a question.
When Victoria removed her hand from her ankle, all he saw was blood. She looked at the deep cut and moaned. She tried to remove some of the blood from her hand by wiping it on the freshly fallen leaves covering the ground.
Ted pulled off his T-shirt, making a tourniquet around her ankle. They were half a football field's length away from their cars, and judging from the looks of things, he knew that Victoria couldn't make it that far. “Hold on tight,” he said. Without hesitation, Ted scooped her up into his arms and carried her to his car. After safely securing her in the front seat, he opened the trunk, reached into his gym bag, and threw on the extra T-shirt inside. Within seconds, they were on the road.
You're What's Most Important...
Ted switched lanes in and out of traffic in his rush to get Victoria to the hospital. He'd already run two red lights, and was now handling his Jaguar like a veteran NASCAR driver. “We'll be there in just a few minutes,” he said, trying to comfort her.
Victoria was slumped against the passenger door with her head against the window. Her ponytail grazed her shoulder, swishing from side to side with each bump in the road. Ted was driving with one hand on the wheel and the other gently, but securely, wrapped around hers. He'd been holding her hand since they left the park.
Victoria knew she was in bad shape. When she'd fallen, she landed hard on several jagged rocks. She'd twisted her ankle to the side, then rolled over another sharp object. She didn't know whether it was broken glass or a piece of sharp metal, but she knew it was damaging when she felt her skin rip open when it made contact.
“This is all my fault,” Ted mumbled, continuing to weave in between cars.
Victoria spoke slowly through the pain. “Ted, it was an accident, and accidents happen. Let's just make sure we get to the hospital safely.” He'd just dodged in front of another car.
The emergency room was crowded but calm, not like the chaotic scenes on TV shows like
ER
. The large waiting area was full of people in varying states of illness and injury. Ted knew that emergency room visits could take a very long time, and unless you had a missing limb or gunshot wound, the wait could be hours. He walked up to the attendant and handed her Victoria's paperwork. “Chip Langston is a good friend of mine,” he smiled. “I'll be sure to tell him that his ER staff does a fine job the next time we're on the driving range.” He dropped that bit of information to let everyone behind the desk know that he was friendly with the head of the ER. Five minutes later a nurse with heavily frosted hair came into the lobby and called Victoria's name.
After nurse frosty hair took Victoria back, Ted sat in the waiting area, praying he hadn't caused her any permanent damage. Two hours later, nurse frosty hair motioned for him to come back toward the double doors. He bolted to his feet, anxious to see Victoria.
They walked down a long hallway. “She's going to be just fine,” nurse frosty hair said. “Ms. Small requested that we come and get you. When the doctor comes back he'll talk with you both. She's right in here,” the nurse smiled, escorting Ted into the room.
Victoria sat slightly slumped over on a small examining table. A flimsy hospital gown and blue scrub pants had replaced her blood-stained running clothes. Ted looked down at her feet. Her running shoe dangled loosely on one foot, while neatly bandaged gauze covered the other. He walked over to her, reached for her hand and held it in his. “How're you feeling?” he asked softly. “Are you still in pain?”
“Yeah, they gave me something for it though,” she said, rubbing her head. “Ted?”
“Yes?”
Victoria was tired and her voice was faint. “I knew you'd still be waiting, so I wanted to let you know that I'm okay. I know you have a meeting this morning that you're already late for. I can take a cab home. I'll be okay . . . ”
“Shh,” Ted quieted her. “Right now you're what's most important. I'm not leaving.”
They looked down and studied their intertwined hands, firmly secured around one another. Even though Victoria was woozy from the pain and the medication she'd been given, she was aware of Ted's tenderness. When the pleasant-faced doctor entered the room, she turned her attention to him.
“Hello, I am Dr. Obikwelu,” the tall, dark, reed-thin doctor said to Ted as he extended his hand.
Ted was still holding Victoria's hand, so he used his free one to greet the doctor. “Ted Thornton,” he said, giving the man a firm shake.
Dr. Obikwelu looked down, glimpsing the hand lock that Ted and Victoria shared. A frown slowly spread across his face. Victoria was too preoccupied with her pain to notice, but Ted recognized the man's expression. “What's the verdict, doctor?” he asked with an edge.
Putting his bias aside, Dr. Obikwelu explained that Victoria hadn't broken any bones, but she'd badly sprained her ankle. She needed several stitches to close the wound above her anklebone, along with the deep gash on her upper thigh.
He wrote two prescriptions and handed them to Victoria. She was in no condition to comprehend, so Ted gently took them from her. Seeing that Ted would not be ignored, the doctor gave him a list of instructions on how Victoria should care for her wounds. Ted took in every word the doctor said, nodding in obedient agreement with the stack of ordersâall for Victoria's sake.
“You are ready to go now, Ms. Small. Do you have any questions?” Dr. Obikwelu asked, begrudgingly looking in Ted's direction.
Victoria was tired and slightly dazed, an effect of the painkillers. The doctor's crisp Nigerian accent sounded like Mandarin to her ears. Slowly, she registered his question. “Can you give me something else for the pain?” she asked.
Dr. Obikwelu was startled by her request. An hour earlier when she'd complained that she could still feel the sting of the needle he was using, he gave her a double dose of lidocaine to numb her as he sutured her wounds. And he'd just given her two painkillers before a final review of her chart. The doctor couldn't believe Victoria's high tolerance to the medication.
“Ms. Small, I just gave you Percocet not too long ago. I understand that you are in pain, but I do not want to overmedicate you. Believe me, the narcotic will help to ease your discomfort. Just give it time to work,” Dr. Obikwelu advised. “I gave you a strong dosage. You will be in . . . how do you say it? . . . la la land before you know it.”
After the doctor left the room, Victoria was relieved that she would be able to finally go home. She fiddled with the string of the extra gown that nurse frosty hair had given her to cover up, then tied her jacket around her waist while Ted stuffed her ruined clothes into a plastic bag.
“She's lucky to have such a good friend to help take care of her,” the nurse winked at Ted.
“I'm the lucky one,” Ted winked back.
La La Land...
Ted was driving calmly now, still holding Victoria's hand. She'd been lucid enough to give him directions to the pharmacy in her neighborhood. After getting her prescriptions filled, Ted returned to the car and they headed to her house.
As they drove in silence, save for the soft jazz playing on the radio, Victoria ripped into the bag of medicine and swallowed a pill.
“Victoria, what are you doing?” Ted asked with concern, trying to keep his eye on the road.
“I'm taking something for the pain.”
“But the doctor already gave you painkillers. Is it that bad?” Ted flicked on his turn signal and pulled off to the shoulder of the road. He reached over and took the bottle of pills from Victoria's hand, reading the directions as he dialed on his cell phone.
“What're you doing?” Victoria asked in a whiny voice.
He knew she wasn't herself. “I'm taking care of you,” he told her. Once the pharmacist came on the line, Ted explained what Victoria had done, then listened for instructions. After a few minutes, he was relieved to learn that she wasn't in danger. “You've overmedicated,” he said, rubbing her hand with care, “but the pharmacist said you're going to be fine.” With yet another small scare abated, they were off again.
When they finally arrived at 1701 Summerset Lane, Victoria was too groggy to use the crutches they'd given her at the hospital, so Ted wrapped his arm around her waist and helped her to the door. As she reached into the pocket of her jacket, fumbling for her keys, she looked over Ted's shoulder and saw her next-door neighbor, Ms. Swanson, peering out the window. She gave the old lady a quick wave before she and Ted disappeared inside.
Victoria was glad to be home, and Ted was glad to be there too. He allowed the comfort to swallow him, knowing he was in her intimate space. The décor was layered with richly textured fabrics, a mix of contemporary and African art, and large-scale furniture. He managed to get Victoria to the sofa in her living room. “Where's your kitchen?” he asked.
Minutes later, he emerged from the kitchen with a box of crackers he'd found by searching her cabinets. “The pharmacist said you should eat this since you've taken so much medicine on an empty stomach.”
“Thanks,” Victoria managed to say. She was lying outstretched across the sofa.
Ted took a seat beside her. He'd been dreaming of being this close to her, but under much different circumstances.
“My car, it's still at the park,” Victoria said in a sleepy voice, raking her fingers through her badly disheveled hair.
“I'll call my car service and have it towed here,” Ted offered.
“No, you've done too much already.”
“It's the least I can do. Remember, this was all my fault,” he said, picking up his cell phone to make the arrangements.
“Stop saying that. You saved my life,” Victoria smiled, doing her best not to slur her words. “You're the best friend in the whole wide
woooorld
,” she said with a woozy grin.
Ted controlled his urge to laugh.
The doctor was right. She's in la la land.
Just then Victoria's phone rang. She reached for it in a clumsy attempt, picking up on the third ring. “Hello?” she answered in a weak voice.
“Victoria, you sound weird. What's wrong?” Debbie asked.
“Oh, hey Debbie. I had an accident this morning, but I'm okay now.” She was tired, barely releasing the words from her lips.
“What? What kind of accident?”
Ted had finished his call and could see that Victoria was fading fast. “Here,” he motioned, reaching for the phone with one hand as he held hers with his other. “Let me speak to her. You need to rest.”
His voice sounded so soothing and his touch felt so warm, that Victoria didn't put up an argument.
Ted proceeded to tell Debbie the entire story from start to finish, including how Victoria had come to be in her present drug-induced state. Debbie could hear the concern in his voice. “Rob and I are headed out of town to Miami in a few hours, but we're going to swing by on our way to the airport to check on her,” she said. “And Ted, thanks for taking care of my friend.”
“No need to thank me. I'll stay with her until you get here.” Ted hung up the phone and looked at Victoria. He was still holding her hand.
She looked up at him and smiled. “Can you help me upstairs to my bedroom?”