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I cut her off. “She won’t be working here. She will make sure my mother is comfortable until I come back and have time to deal with this.”
I then look at Ruby. Her eyes are wide in surprise, but she’s not saying no either.
“I will do this for you,” she tells me. “But I need your help to get out of this mess.”
We both know what the mess in question is.
“I will help you.”
I nod at her and give her my word, knowing full well I have no control over whether I can actually help her or not.
But sometimes, sacrifices need to be made.
SIXTEEN
Ruby
I’ve been at this facility for a little over a week now. It’s been interesting, overwhelming, confusing but rewarding.
I’ve basically moved into Mary Paulson’s room. That was the only way they would allow me to stay here. Besides the fact that I’d be helping his mother, Hawk also thought it would be a good place for me to hide and lie low. My cell phone has been turned off since before we left the motel, and it can’t be tracked at the moment.
Mary wakes up every morning, at six o’clock on the dot. The mention of Hawk, or Hawkeye as she calls him, has not come up again. But she is always agitated until I sit next to her on the bed. Once I pick up her hand and hold it into both of mine, she relaxes a bit. Then, I start talking to her, and she just lays back, listening to my every word.
By the time the staff comes with her medication, she just takes it without protest. The next few hours are quiet as she naps, leaving me with nothing to do until we start the whole cycle all over again.
Meanwhile, I have no idea how long I am supposed to be here for. I have no clothes to change into, and I am relying on staff to launder what I was wearing when I came here. While that’s happening, I wear Mary’s bathrobe. For some reason, me sitting next to her in that bathrobe seems to calm her down even more.
A knock at the door startles me from my staring at her now prone body on the bed. I am a little scared that she’ll die while in my presence, and that Hawk will blame me for it.
“Ruby,” the voice of Mrs. Clarence reaches my voice. “I brought you something.”
She walks in with a large bag that she hands to me. I stare at it for the longest time before finally getting it from her. I am surprised to find a variety of clothes inside of it, all in my size.
“Mr. Paulson sent some money and asked for someone to shop for you. I sent my assistant out to the mall. I hope this is okay…” She looks worried. “She is younger, I thought it would be more appropriate for her to find you something that you might actually like.”
Hawk’s thoughtfulness hits me hard. I was starting to think that he’d forgotten all about me while doing whatever it is that he is doing out there. Having no contact with him or anyone else from the outside world is hard.
“Thank you, Mrs. Clarence,” I whisper without meeting her eyes.
“Mr. Paulson also wanted me to tell you that it will be a few more days before he is able to come back for you.”
I swallow hard and nod in understanding, despite the fact that I don’t understand anything anymore. I have found myself in this impossible situation. I should’ve never agreed to help those bikers, I think to myself. The moment Bricks and Snake threatened me if I wasn’t going to do it would’ve been the moment where I packed my bags and skipped town.
I thought I could do it and get away with it, go back to my normal life once they got what they needed from my conversations with Hawk. What I got instead is an attempted kidnapping and me having to now hide in a mental care facility so that I don’t get caught while Hawk is doing whatever it is that criminals do.
“I just want you to know that what you’re doing with his mother is nothing short of a miracle.”
I jump when Mrs. Clarence’s words reach my ears. I thought she was getting ready to leave the room.
“I have never seen such a change in a patient before simply from another’s presence.”
I nod as I play with the material of a blouse I took out from the bag.
“The human mind is a complete mystery,” she continues. “No matter how much research goes into it, we will never be able to fully understand what goes on through one’s head.”
I finally look up at her. She has this gentle smile on her face, making me wonder if she could ever be mean to anyone.
“Unless they tell us.”
