The last month had piled it on, repeatedly, and I just … I couldn’t handle any more. I had nothing left in me for conversation. Nothing left for anyone else. I only had another hour or two until Nox got off the school bus, and I still had payroll and a few other things I needed to take care of in the office. Averting my gaze so Artie wouldn’t know I was blowing him off, I gathered my plate of fries and cleared the table as best I could.
"I’ve gotta get back to work, Artie." Sliding out of the booth, I shot him a pseudo-apologetic smile. "We should catch up soon, though. You and Taylor should come over for a barbeque when everything calms down around here.” Artie’s girlfriend, even if she was quiet.
I almost got away, too. Until Artie coughed gently and stepped into my path.
"I almost forgot why I came over in the first place," he said. "I had my security company pull the video from my front porch. You know, the one that I have aimed at the street."
My heart stuttered in my chest, and for some godforsaken reason my palms started to sweat.
"You know, from the night that Boo died."
His words caused a lump to form in my throat from the memory of that night.
"Anyway, it finally came in the mail, so I thought I’d give you the jump drive."
Numbly, I watched as he held out his hand for me to take the small blue memory card from his hand. I couldn’t even reach for it, which made me even more of a wimp than I usually felt like.
Seconds ticked past, with Artie holding out the memory card and me not taking it from him. Finally, he smiled the same boyish smile he always used and picked up my hand with his. He put the memory card on my palm and closed my fingers around it.
"For when you’re ready to figure out what happened."
"Did you—" I tried to form the words to ask him if he’d watched it, but Artie was already shaking his head in the negative.
"No." He swallowed audibly. "I don’t have the stomach for violence or anything like that. Just wanted to bring it to you in case it was something you could use."
He paused, and I thought about answering. Thanking him for giving it to me. I didn't, though.
Instead, I shoved it back at him with a grimace.
"No. I don't want it," I told him bitterly.
"But…" His eyebrows narrowed in confusion. "I don't understand. I thought you'd want it."
"For what?" My voice held more than a little bit of acid in it. "So that I can drag Nox through the experience all over again? Or so I can confront the person who did it and find out they hate animals or did it on purpose? Maybe it was an old lady who thought she hit a deer. Or a teenager who didn't mean to and thought it was a log or something."
Shaking my head, I took a step back and tried not to feel bad about the immediate regret and hurt I could see reflected in Artie's eyes.
"I'm sorry," he said just a little too quickly. "I wasn't trying to hurt you more. I wanted to help. That's what friends do."
I didn't answer him. I didn't know what to say, and honestly I wasn't feeling even remotely able to process anything I might find on the drive.
"I'll talk to you later, Artie. Tell Taylor I said ‘hi’, okay?"
I practically ran away, leaving one of my oldest friends standing alone in the middle of Lucy's. I couldn't even bring myself to care. I was so busy trying to get away that I almost ran into someone walking through the door to the restaurant.
"Excuse me." I tried to maneuver around the woman, but she stepped right into my path at the last second.
We collided and I hit the ground with a resounding thud. My head hit the ground, and I blacked out for a second. Stars danced behind my eyes, and I tried not to move as a wave of nausea threatened to bring back up the fries I'd tried valiantly to eat.
"Parker!" Violet Ortiz, the hostess working for the afternoon, called my name, sounding worried as I blinked up at the bright lights in the ceiling. Still unwilling to move as the room spun around me, I waved her off.
"I'm okay," I groaned and blinked a few times.
"Well, I'm not," the woman I'd collided with snapped. "She stepped on my toes, and these are brand-new shoes. She should have to pay for them out of her tips."
"Ma'am." I tried to sit up, but another wave of nausea hit me hard.
I rubbed the back of my head gently, trying to figure out what I'd hit, and came away with a wet spot of blood on the back of my head.
"Fuck." I did my best to sit up and then stand, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without Violet's help. "Damn, that hurts."
Somehow, I'd completely forgotten about the woman I'd run into, even though she'd had the most annoying voice I'd ever heard in my life. Unfortunately, when I turned around, my hand carefully applying pressure to the back of my head, she was still there, glaring at me like I'd just ruined her life.
"Excuse me." She completely ignored me in favor of addressing Violet. "I'd like to be seated please."
"You're gonna have to wait." Violet, as sassy as the day I hired her, raised an eyebrow at the obviously rude woman and dared her to say anything about it.
The woman's mouth opened and then shut again a second later, like she was shocked that anyone would dare speak to her that way.
"D-do you know who I am?" Her face grew bright red and she spluttered.
Violet, who worked as a hostess to help pay bills while she studied to go to medical school, didn't bother letting go of me while she handled the woman.
If I'd been in a better state, I'd have handled her myself, but with the throbbing in my head and the fact that I was still seeing stars made it almost impossible to speak, let alone kick her out of my restaurant.
"You're going to have to wait." Violet enunciated each word slowly. "In case you didn't see, my manager, the woman you bowled over without a single fuck in the world, is bleeding and possibly has a concussion. If you can't hold your damn horses for five minutes, you can eat somewhere else."
The lady opened her mouth to say something, but Violet cut her off. "No. I don't know who you are, and I don't care."
We’d started to attract an audience, and the woman began threatening to call the police about the situation, when I snapped.
"Do it, ma'am. I don't care. In fact, Violet." I turned to her with a grimace from the pain. "Do me a favor and call Birch PD. Get a report filed and give them a copy of the surveillance. I think I need to go to the hospital."
The room spun around me, and if Violet didn't have me by the arm, I'd have fallen on my ass again.
"Yep," Violet agreed with a sharp nod. "Let's get you sat down."
I closed my eyes, just for a second, and heard Artie trying to talk the other woman into leaving.
"Let me walk you out," he said gently. "You can eat across the street at The Trolley."
She didn't want to go, but Artie had a way of handling people and making them do what he wanted. He must have left with her, because I didn’t hear him say anything else.
When I felt Violet probe at the back of my head, I winced. "Don’t do that. My head hurts."