Page 37 of Reaching Hearts

I don’t bother to correct him that she’s not my girl, because… I don’t want to. Which is unsettling. “God-shot?”

He turns so that his body holds the door open. He likes to talk with his hands and he needs them to tell me, “A God-shot is what we say in Al-Anon. It’s when a power greater than ourselves does something that shows us where we’re supposed to be going. And I don’t know you, man, but you’ve got one girl put right here and another running away… you should look at that.” His eyebrows go up and his hands fall to his sides as he pushes himself out of the room with his back and lets the door close on its own.

“Wait!!” I yell through the door. I shove the blanket off me as he pops his head in and looks at me. “Can you help me out of this bed?”

He grins and comes back in the room. “Now this is what I’m talkin’ about!” He unplugs me from the heart monitor, and wraps the IV cord around the pole like Annie’s had been. “You want some socks?”

I shoot him a look. “Give me a fuckin’ break, would ya?”

He laughs, his shoulders shaking with a likable child-like quality. “Sorry. Part of the job.”

“Well, cut it out.”

“Then I won’t offer you my help.” He stands back and throws his hands up like he’s letting loose the collar.

“What’s your name?”

“Oscar.”

“I like you, Oscar.” He reaches out to grab the door as I make baby steps to it. “You’d think I got shot in the leg with how I’m walking. But other than to the bathroom, this is the first time I’ve ventured out after the surgery.”

He watches me, ready to help if I need it, his eyes and body tensely alert now. “How’s it feel?”

“Weird. But good. Funny what we’ll do to see a woman.”

He laughs, his whole body shaking with the sound as we walk out into the corridor, heading to the left. “Don’t I know it!”