Wren turned the granola bar over, read the label again, and nodded in agreement.
CHAPTER FIVE
FRIDAY, AT 6:10p.m., Lee took the elevator down to the ground floor. For the first time in weeks, his day off coincided with the weekend, and he didn’t feel that tired. He might even be up for dinner out with Marcelle before fatigue won. Someplace quick. Like Sakura. They could get dinner, and he could still be in bed by eight o’clock.
Lee dug out his phone and sent his girlfriend a text.
Lee:Can I take you out on a date? Sakura?
If she wasn’t at Red’s Health Club, she’d already be waiting for him at his place, he knew, so he kept his phone handy as he stepped out of the elevator and crossed the lobby.
Marcelle:What about Tsunami? It’s so much nicer!
Lee sighed. The wait at Tsunami could be an hour or even two on a Friday night. He’d never make it.
Lee:If you can get a reservation in the next hour, I might be able to keep my eyes open.
He debated calling the restaurant himself. Chances were Marcelle would ask him to anyway. And even if he did get a reservation before eight o’clock, dinner at Tsunami was never a quick affair. Marcelle would want time to get ready, and she’d want him to shower and shave, too. They’d run into friends or some of Marcelle’s clients, and he’d be lucky if they got back home before eleven.
Lee muttered a curse and stepped outside. But the sight of black hair streaked with blue stopped him. Wren Blanchard sat on a bench past the hospital’s entrance.Was she just now discharged?He’d signed her release forms hours ago.
“What are you still doing here?” he asked as he approached her. Wren turned, looking startled at first, and he saw that she pressed her phone to one ear. She held up her free hand and silently asked him to wait.
“No, Mamaw, it’s okay,” she was saying. “Rocky is coming to get me.”
Lee frowned. Why was she still at the hospital? Was this Rocky her boyfriend? If so, why the hell hadn’t he picked her up?
“I’ll call you as soon as I get home. I promise… Okay, Mamaw. Bye." She ended her call and stuffed her phone into the multicolored bag at her side, all without meeting his eye. He watched her square her shoulders before looking back up at him.
“Why are you still here?” he repeated, even though he suspected the answer. Lee found that he was a little pissed at this Rocky guy.
“I’m just waiting on my ride,” Wren said. Her cheeks colored, and with a nervous gesture, she brushed her blue bangs out of her eyes. He noticed a piercing in her left brow he hadn’t seen before.
“When were you discharged,” he asked, watching her closely.
She gave a defeated sigh, and Lee could see that he’d embarrassed her. He didn’t mean to, but she should be in bed, not sitting on a metal bench as night fell.
“Around 4:30. My grandmother was supposed to be here, but she doesn’t drive. Her neighbor was going to take her, but there was…” Wren waved her hand dismissively. “…a pot roast incident.”
Lee’s eyebrows leapt. “A pot roast incident?”
“Yeah, um, apparently, when you get old, everything revolves around dinner. And her neighbor Nanette had this crockpot failure, and…” She took a deep breath and eyed him with desperation, her cheeks now scarlet. “I can’t even go on. Old people drama.”
Lee forgot all about Rocky and sushi reservations as he watched her blush deepen.
“Anyway, it’s fine. I can Uber,” she said, pulling out her phone again.
Lee held up his hand.
“Wait, I thought you just told your grandmother that Rocky would pick you up.”
Wren rolled her eyes. “Well, she’s seventy-eight, and she doesn’t need to know that Rocky’s daughters have strep and my best friend had to work, and I’m stranded at the hospital. She feels bad enough as it is.”
Lee shook his head, knowing that she wasn’t going to Uber her way home. “You’re not stranded at the hospital anymore. I’m taking you home." He held out his hand to help her up, but she just stared at him.
“I didn’t ask you to.”
He wasn’t sure, but she sounded offended. “You didn’t have to ask. I offered.”