I found Rachel inside an examining room at Northwestern Memorial. She was lying on a gurney and staring up at the ceiling while another woman shone a light in her eyes.
“They’re green and they’re gorgeous,” I said.
The woman snapped off her light and was about to cal security when the judge intervened.
“Ignore him,” Rachel said. “He’s my boyfriend.”
Trumpets didn’t exactly sound as the last sentence rol ed off her tongue, and I thought I might have been better served muttering non sequiturs with the old-timer at the bar.
“Family and friends are not al owed back here,” the woman with the light said. I glanced at her name tag: JAIME SINGER, ATTENDING
“Sorry,” I said. “How long do you think she’l be?”
The apology seemed to buy me some rope. Jaime even smiled as Rachel sat up.
“Actual y, we’re just about done.” The doc turned to her patient. “Your X-rays show no damage and it doesn’t look like you sustained any sort of concussion. The cut on your head isn’t deep enough for stitches, so we’l just stick with the butterflies. You stil have a headache?”
Rachel shrugged. “It’s getting better.”
Jaime took out a pad of paper and began to scribble. “I’m going to give you something for the pain. Then maybe Lancelot here can give you a ride home.”
Jaime and Rachel looked at me and laughed. I didn’t get it, but that didn’t seem to matter. Then Jaime was gone. And we were alone.
“You okay?” I said.
“A little sore, a little light-headed, but I’m fine. What are you doing down here?”
I shrugged. “Came to get you.”
She sighed and held out her arms. I pul ed her close.
“What happened at the lakefront?” she said.
“We can talk about it later.”
Rachel nodded into my shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Rach.”
She looked up. “For what?”
“This. What we talked about this morning. Everything.”
She shook her head. “This wasn’t what I was talking about. What happened to me today could have happened to anyone. In fact, it did happen to a whole bunch of other people. Except much worse. And none of them even knew you.”
She was right, but that didn’t touch the hol ow inside, the fear that flared every time I saw the emptiness in Katherine Lawson’s eyes and wondered when it might again be mine. I folded my arms around Rachel, trying to capture what lay between us, trying to keep it safe.
“I love you, Rach.”
She drew me down and kissed me hard. “You better, pal. Now take me home. Hospitals give me the creeps.”
We fil ed her prescription at the hospital pharmacy and caught a cab north. On the drive home, she tucked the top of her head against my cheek and immediately fel asleep. I sat quietly, listening to the cabbie talk on his cel and watching the headlights drift past.