Page 39 of So Long, Honey
“His door doesn’t lock properly on his balcony… where is he?” I asked, setting my bag down.
“Out with that Cooper girl,” She said, pushing around her frosted flakes.
“Mary,” I corrected her, and she shrugged her shoulders. “Hey, have you seen Lorraine?” I asked her. It was a long shot that she knew anything. On the best of days, Margaret was there for a total of an hour when she wasn’t self-involved or staring at herself in a mirror. Half the guys on the team only hung out here because she frequently paraded around in her bathing suit, but I never found the appeal of her.
To me, she looked like Landry was wearing a wig.
I flinched when Margaret looked up from the magazine, “Landry didn’t tell you?” She asked me, and I shook my head. “Last night, the ambulance was here. Mrs. Field and her daughter both left on it. I think the girl is sick again. She was strapped down to the thingy…”
“The gurney?” I asked, the words sticky in my dry throat as my head began to spin. It was back. She was sick again.
“Yeah, that thing.” She snapped her fingers and went back to her magazine without a second thought about the worry on my face.
Panic flooded my body, and my fingers went numb as I collected my bag from the floor and slung it back over my shoulders. “Do you know what hospital they took them to?” I asked before leaving on the off chance that she had more information.
Perhaps something that didn’t make me want to crumble into a ball on their kitchen floor. But my knees were shaky, and my breath was shallow as I waited for her to process the question.
“I heard Dad say that they were taking her to some fancy hospital in the city, that whatever it was, it was bad.” Margaret’s eyes stayed glued on the pages, and it made me want to scream, but it wasn’t her fault, and it wouldn’t do anything…it wouldn’t make me feel better no matter how badly I wanted to expel the emotions from my chest.
“Alright, thanks…” I said before leaving the house and starting back over to the Field house. I banged on the door again, harder this time, and it wasn’t long before Mr. Field had the door open. His expression was annoyance mixed with anger as he registered that I had returned.
“Where did they take her? What hospital?” I demanded an answer, not willing to be pushed around again.
“Go home, Mr. Cody.” He said, stepping over the threshold with his shoulders pinned back. “My daughter is no concern to you.”
“What don’t you people get?” I snapped, it happened. I knew that it was the death of my chances to ever see Lorraine again in a way that didn’t involve us sneaking around and hiding but God, it felt good. “I will show up here, kicking and screaming, every single day until you tell me where she is, Mayor Field. Idon't care if you call the cops. I don’t care if you pull strings that ruin my life. I will be here forher.”
“If she’s sick again, you have to tell me because I’ll go insane not knowing. I know that I’m not rich or smart. The standards you have set for Rae are mountains I could never climb! I’m fully aware thatshe’s too good for me.”I was seething in his silence. “The thing is, sir, we don’t get to decide for her. Tell me where she is so I can go see her, and if she doesn’t want me there, she can send me away. I justwantto help her through all this, and you keep blocking me from getting to her.”
He watched me throw my fit, letting me get everything off my chest with a straight face before he stepped back into the house, his hand ready to shut the door.
“What you want isn’t important,” he said before closing the door in my face.
“Hey,” the ball hit me in the shoulder inside of me, soaring into my mitt from across the field. Landry’s voice a hair too late to warn me about the incoming wave of pain. “Where the hell are you today?” He asked, jogging over to me.
“Have you heard anything about Rae?” I asked him when he stopped in front of me. I rubbed out the pain in my shoulder. It would bruise good but the stinging sensation was already starting to fade. Which was more than I could say about the agony in my chest that I had been carrying around for three days.Three fucking days.
I’d show up on their steps every day after school, but after Monday, they stopped answering the door. I didn’t even know ifLorraine was home or still in the hospital. But I knew she was okay. I could feel it in my bones.
On the third day, Mayor Field called the sheriff's office, and my Uncle Cael waited for me at the gate as I exited the community.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing harassing the mayor?” He asked with his arms crossed over his chest. “He can press charges, Ryan. Cut it out.”
“They won’t tell me what’s going on! Their daughter, Lorraine, she’s my girlfriend and she’s missing. Maybe I should file a police report!” I snapped.
His expression hardened. "Take your truck home, do your homework, and stop harassing the Mayor," he ordered. “I mean it, Ryan.”
I hadn’t been back in twelve hours, but I was tempted to see how far my uncle would go. Was it worth fighting my Dad over tossing me in a cell?
“No, Dad and Mom were talking about it yesterday. It sounded bad…” Landry trailed off. “Little Cooper is going to try to go over to see her. I told her if she has any news, you’re the first person she tells.”
“Thanks, man, and thank Mary,” I said with a curt nod, my eyes filling with water.
“Listen, Ryan… I didn’t know Rae was sick like that, and I’m sorry for giving her a hard time,” he said sincerely.
“No one knew. We shouldn’t have been treating her that way anyway,” I snapped, not at him, just because I couldn’t stop the frustration from bubbling up. “I’m sorry, I’m just—”
“Worried,” Landry finished for me. “You’re allowed to be, man. We all see how you look at her. We know what’s at stake, but you also have a place to be… a game to win. That’s gotta matter.”