Supermarket - Bobby Hall Page 0,71
my morning so much I really didn’t feel like discussing it.
Red was my first real friend since Frank, and we all know how that ended. In that moment, I was less concerned with the mind-bending events ahead of me, and more focused on having a laugh with the only person who’d really been able to help me. He was such a great old man, Red. It made me sad his wife had been taken from him.
But I still had time.
With the things Red had taught me, I could still get my life back.
CHAPTER 17
RED
It was almost 5:00 p.m. when we linked up to play chess. It wasn’t looking good for Red. In five moves I had checkmate. I was lifting up my queen when I saw her.
She was standing by the soda machine at the front door of the rec room, wearing a chunky cream-colored sweater. It was the kind with a loose turtleneck. Black jeans hugged her long legs, amplifying her amazing body.
With a nervous smile on her face, she waved.
I stood up, tipping the board in the process. The pieces scattered across the floor. I walked toward her, my hands in my pockets. So many things raced through my mind. I wanted to talk to her about everything, yet I didn’t. I wanted to tell her everything I’d been going through, but also wanted to escape it all in that moment with her.
“Hey there,” she said, biting her bottom lip.
“Hey yourself.”
“I . . . I’m, well . . . you think we can talk?” she asked, clearly nervous.
“Of course,” I said. “Why don’t we head to the West Wing? There’s a pretty quiet area with a table we can sit at.”
“Sounds good.”
We didn’t say a word to each other on the way. Luckily, it was only a short walk. Out of everything that had been going through my mind, all I could think about was this moment. That this was real and Mia was here. I wanted to pour my heart out but I didn’t want to scare her off.
As we arrived at the table in the West Wing, we sat opposite of each other in low, comfortable chairs in front of a small coffee table that was also low to the ground.
“I’m sorry, Flynn.”
“No, please don’t. I know you’ve—”
“Flynn, please. I need to say this.” She gave me a stare that said I’ve been thinking about this for a long time and now’s the time for me to talk. Then she adjusted herself in her chair.
“I didn’t come yesterday for obvious reasons. But I’ve also come today to tell you that . . . I graduated law school.”
This wasn’t what I had expected. Obviously, she had been in school to become an entertainment attorney but . . . well, what can I say? I’d quite literally been living in my own world.
“The reason it’s so hard to be here is because, as much as I’m still in lo—” She stopped herself. “As much as I care for you, I can’t continue to wait for you, Flynn. I have to live my life and I feel so horrible saying this, but—”
“No, Mia. You’re totally right. As hard as it is to hear, I completely understand. With everything that you’ve been through, I can only imagine how you must feel.”
“But, Flynn,” she said, tears welling in her eyes, “that’s the worst part. My life goes on. But you’re here dealing with this insanity! I wish I could help you, but I just don’t know how.” And that’s when it hit me. That’s when I knew exactly what needed to happen.
“Mia, what if I told you . . . I knew how to escape this.” She wiped her eyes with both hands before the tears had a chance to fall. “What do you mean, Flynn?”
“Well, there is this old man I’ve befriended who is a patient here. His name is—”
“Red. Yeah, I know.” I was taken aback. “You know about Red?” I asked.
“Flynn, this isn’t the first time you’ve woken, remember?”
She was right, though it was crazy to think she could remember Red but I couldn’t. Memories from my previous awakenings were extremely blurry or completely nonexistent.
“Well, if you know about Red, then you know he’s been a great help to me.”
“I can only imagine,” she said. “I remember when you first told me about him, and you explained how he had struggled with his own delusions. And even though he made it out, he was never the same.”
How many