by Susan Stoker
She continued down the hall toward the nurses’ station to let them know to keep an eye on Traynesha, and to make sure she at least showered and had breakfast. She hadn’t been kidding when she’d told the woman that she wouldn’t be allowed to see her son if she got sick.
After she’d spoken with the nurse on duty, Sophie heard her name being yelled out from behind her.
“S-Sophie!”
Recognizing the voice, she turned and smiled. Holding out her arms, she took a step back to keep from falling over as she was engulfed in a huge, enthusiastic hug.
“M-Mark. It’s good to s-see you.”
“You too, S-Sophie!”
She pulled back and looked up at the man standing in front of her. Mark Prescott was a forty-three-year-old mentally challenged man who worked for the hospital as a janitor. He had a very low IQ, but was the happiest and most genuine person Sophie had ever met. He was a joy to be around because he loved almost everyone and had no problem working hard and being happy. The first time she’d met him, she’d told him her name, and of course stuttered, and he’d honestly thought “S-Sophie” was her name. And when she, of course, stuttered over his name too, he was thrilled that the way she said his name matched hers.
So now it was their “thing.”
Mark was a large person. He was around six and a half feet tall, with a thick belly that stuck out in front of him. His caretakers kept his red hair cut short, since hygiene wasn’t high on his list of favorite things to do. He was missing two teeth and when he smiled, it was more of a grimace than an actual grin. But regardless of his looks, Mark was one of her favorite people in the world because he had such a good heart. The world needed more people like him in it.
“How are you?” she asked him, squeezing his biceps as they faced each other.
“Good, good. I ate breakfast this morning with Miss May and now I’m here. I saw Charlie outside. Did you see him? He licked my face.”
All this was said with great enthusiasm and Sophie couldn’t help but feel her mood lighten, as it usually did when she was around him. She knew Miss May was one of his caretakers, and Charlie was the Australian Shepherd who belonged to Tadd, one of the homeless men who essentially lived in the vacant building next to the hospital.
“I didn’t s-see Tadd or Charlie yet today, but I’m glad to know they’re out there. I was going to s-stop and get treats for them at the cafeteria before I walked over to m-my other building. Think they’d like that?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Charlie told me he liked the peanut butter muffins. They’re the best.”
Sophie smiled. “I’ll keep that in m-mind.”
“Are you coming back this afternoon, S-Sophie?” Mark asked.
“Yeah, that’s the plan,” she told him.
“Good. I like you.”
“I like you too.”
“Hug!” he demanded.
Sophie knew her grin was huge, but didn’t even care. She opened her arms and Mark hugged her again, lifting her off her feet and spinning her around in circles.
Sophie laughed out loud as she spun, and smiled up at Mark when he finally stopped and put her on her feet again. She patted his cheek. “You’re a good person, M-Mark.”
“You are too, S-Sophie. Bye!”
She watched as he grabbed his mop and bucket and pushed them down the hall to start his shift, saying hello to everyone he passed…doctor, nurse, patient, or loved one. He didn’t care, he just enjoyed being friendly.
Sophie was still smiling as she turned around to head out of the burn unit and down to the cafeteria to grab some breakfast for her homeless friends.
She froze when she saw her neighbor standing near the end of the hallway. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, watching her.
Chief looked good. Really good. It was unfair how handsome the man was, especially considering he was a jerk. His hair was pulled back, as usual, in a sleek ponytail at the nape of his neck. If he wasn’t turned sideways, she wouldn’t even be able to tell he had long hair. He was wearing a navy-blue T-shirt with what had to be his station’s logo on the front and a pair of dark brown cargo pants. She could see a pair of scissors sticking out of one of the side pockets and had no doubt the others were filled with additional medical paraphernalia.
He wasn’t smiling, but he wasn’t frowning either. Deciding she didn’t give a flying fig what he thought, Sophie held her head high as she walked toward the door…and Chief.
“Hello,” she said as she got close. “You found m-me.”
“Yup. I asked the clerk at the front desk where I could find Diontray and Traynesha.”
Sophie looked at her watch. “Visitors’ hours don’t s-start until ten. And isn’t it illegal for her to tell you where they are?” Sophie asked.
Chief shrugged nonchalantly. “She knows me from work. I’m not exactly a stranger around here, and I’ve been here plenty of times outside of visiting hours. As my job isn’t predictable, they’ve made some concessions.”
Sophie sighed. “Fine. Diontray and Traynesha are in room four-thirteen. I didn’t tell her you’d be coming, s-so be gentle. S-She gets nervous around people s-she doesn’t know.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why does she get nervous around strangers?” Chief asked, not moving from his slouch against the wall.
Sophie brought her hand up to tick the reasons off on her fingers as she spoke. “Her husband was in a gang and brought all kinds of nefarious people around the house. S-she lives in a crap part of S-San Antonio. Her s-son was burned in an incident that the cops haven’t come right out and s-said was deliberate, but they implied it. S-She’s worried whoever did it m-might try to m-make s-sure he doesn’t s-snitch on them. S-She feels out of her league here in the hospital, and s-she’s worried about Diontray.”
“That all?” Chief asked dryly.
“You need m-more?”
“No. I think that about covers it. I’ll go easy,” he stated without rancor.
“Good. Now if you will excuse m-me, I have to get to work.”
He looked surprised. “You don’t work here?”
“In the hospital?” At his nod, she said, “Not officially. M-My office is across the s-street at the lab. But part of m-my job is to find patients for our s-studies, s-so that m-means I s-spend a lot of m-my time here. I already know how you feel about what I do, s-so I’ll leave you to your interrogation of M-Mrs. Washington.”
“There’s a connecting skywalk to the building across the street,” Chief told her.
Sophie had no idea why he was still talking, especially considering his thoughts about her. “I know.”
“It’s in the other direction,” he said, uncrossing his arms long enough to gesture the opposite way down the hall from where they were standing.
“I know that too. And you’re being nosy again, but I’ll humor you. I’m going to the cafeteria to buy three large coffees. They taste like crap, but I’ll grab a few of the flavored creamers to m-make them m-more palatable. I’m also going to buy four m-muffins. Then I’m going to go out the front door of the hospital, down the road, and to the abandoned building next door. It’s full of homeless people who are always hungry. They s-sit outside all day, every day, begging for change s-so they can get s-something to eat. I’ve m-made friends with a couple and I try to m-make their day better by s-spending ten bucks I m-might otherwise blow on s-something unnecessary to get them a hot drink and a m-muffin. And s-since you’re s-so interested in m-my m-movements, I’ll tell you that I’ll probably chat with them for a while before heading up to the intersection and crossing the road at the light and going into m-my building across the road. And yes, I’m going to use the crosswalk because it’s the law. God forbid you call the cops on m-me for jaywalking. Now that you’re briefed on m-my m-morning activities…can I get on with it?”
Sophie had been so engrossed in her snitty little rant, she hadn’t noticed that Chief was no longer looking irritated or upset
with her. He was now just plain amused.
“What’s funny?” she asked in the same pissy voice.
“You’re cute.”
“Are you insane?”
“Not that I know of,” Chief said calmly. “I just didn’t realize how adorable you were until right this moment.”
“You hate m-me,” Sophie informed him. “Remember?”
“I don’t hate you. I never have. Been irritated with the choices you’ve made to do what you do for a living? Yes. Hate? No.”
“Coulda fooled m-me,” Sophie murmured. “But whatever. I s-should probably tell you though, that you’re on your own for cutting your grass from here on out. I’m not s-sure I could prevent m-myself from cutting the outline of a giant penis in your lawn. And twenty bucks is a cheap payment anyway.”
And with that, Chief let out a burst of laughter.
Sophie could only stare at him. If she thought he was good looking before, it was nothing compared to him smiling at her, his dark eyes twinkling. She much preferred the look on his face now than the disgusted one of last night.
“Noted,” he told her.
Sophie shook her head and looked down at her watch. She was going to be late if she stood here trying to… What was she trying to do with Chief? She had no idea. “I gotta go. Be nice to Traynesha,” she ordered, trying to look stern.
“I’m not an ogre,” Chief informed her.
“You just go on thinking that. I’ll expect an apology when you find out how wrong you were about m-me,” Sophie couldn’t resist saying.
“We’ll see.”
“Yeah, we will. Later.” And with that, Sophie passed him and headed to the bank of elevators.
* * *
Chief couldn’t help but smile as he watched his neighbor’s ass twitching as she stomped away from him. He’d been distracted when he’d paid her for mowing his lawn, and at The Sloppy Cow he’d been too irritated to really see her. But when she stood in front of him, affronted and bitchy, he’d realized how cute Sophie was.
She was about his height, a couple inches shorter, but that was where the similarities between them ended. Her white-blonde hair was pulled up into a demure bun on the back of her head. Her sky-blue eyes had sparkled as she’d given it to him, and her pale skin had flushed with her emotions, a slight pink hue washing up from her neck into her face.
The jeans she was wearing were molded to her legs, giving him a glimpse of a curvy, healthy woman. Her blouse was perfectly modest, but he could still see a bit of cleavage, which hinted at a nice set of breasts.
He probably wouldn’t have thought twice about her attractiveness except for two things—she wasn’t afraid to stand up to him, and her stutter.
He’d be the first to admit that he was an imposing man. He didn’t smile much and preferred to get to the point when in a conversation. Most strangers took one look at him and either went the other way, or if they did talk to him, made sure they didn’t say anything that he might take offense to. Sophie didn’t. She wasn’t afraid to tell him exactly what she thought. It was refreshing.
And why the slight imperfection of her speech affected him as much as it did, Chief had no idea. Maybe because it was obvious, at least to him, that she went out of her way to use words that didn’t start with the letters she stumbled over, or maybe because it showed she wasn’t perfect. She might look like an angel, but those two things made her more real for him.
Unlike most cultures in today’s world, his demanded that he respect her for her imperfection. The Navajo believed that people who were born with disabilities were to be revered rather than reviled. The fact that Sophie was successful and confident when she couldn’t have had an easy time growing up with her speech impediment only increased his interest in her.
Hoping he was wrong about Sophie, for more than the ethical reasons he’d touted to her at the bar, Chief pushed off the wall. Everything about his neighbor intrigued him. Befriending the homeless outside the hospital, her open affection for the mentally challenged janitor, why she didn’t seem to have a man, and how she came to be doing what she did as an occupation…suddenly he wanted to know everything about her.
The first step to getting to know Sophie was figuring out exactly what kind of trials she signed people up for when they couldn’t afford medical care. After that, depending on what he found out, all bets were off.
Chapter 3
“Thank you so much for coming to talk to me, Mr. Proudfit,” Traynesha Washington told Chief. “I feel so much better about all of this. I mean, Sophie told me everything you just explained, but knowing the papers say exactly what she said they did is a relief.”
“You were going to sign the papers without understanding what you were signing?” Chief asked.
“Oh no. Sophie wouldn’t allow me to do that. She set up a meeting for me with some hospital lawyer to go over the contract. I’m meeting with the lady later. I was embarrassed to see her though, because I knew I didn’t understand none of this. But now that I’ve talked with you, I can feel better about speaking with the lawyer.” Traynesha chuckled. “Sophie said she’s gonna quiz me on some of the terms and stuff before she accepts the signed contract from me. Said she wants to make sure I know what I’m signing. She’s a good one. Lotsa people would’ve taken advantage of me. I’m not that smart and I’m worried about my boy. But not Sophie. I thank God for bringing her into our lives. I couldn’ta paid for any of this without her.”
“Did she promise Diontray would get better?”
“Oh Lord, no. In fact, that was the first thing she warned me about. But she said maybe if neither of us had to worry about money, he could concentrate more on getting better.”
Chief couldn’t deny that was probably true. “I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me, Mrs. Washington,” he told her.
She waved her hand. “Any friend of Sophie’s is a friend of mine. I haven’t known her long, but I don’t know what I would’ve done without her.”
“Right. You have breakfast yet?”
Traynesha looked surprised. “No.”
“I’ll have something sent up for you then.”
“You don’t have to—”
“I know I don’t, but I will anyway.”
“Now you sound like Sophie.”
Chief grinned. “Have a good day. I’ll pray for your son.”
“Thank you. I’d appreciate that.”
Chief headed out of the teenager’s room and straight for the nurses’ station. Luckily, he recognized the woman who was sitting at the desk. He and his fellow firefighters did their best to visit people who had been burned in fires they’d fought. Somehow it made what they did more real…more important.
He’d seen… Chief tried to think of the woman’s name, and came up blank. He’d seen the woman a few times when he’d transported victims to the hospital, and she’d made it more than clear she would be interested in dating him. It wasn’t that Chief wasn’t interested in women, but lately he’d gotten discouraged. He hadn’t found anyone who interested him long term, and thus he’d been spending all his free time with his friends or at work.
“Hey, Chief,” the woman drawled.
“Hey,” he responded lamely, wishing he knew her name. The tag on her scrubs said Hillman, but that wasn’t much help.
“What brings you to our little corner of the world today?” she asked.
“Diontray Washington.”
“Yeah, sad thing,” the nurse said, shaking her head, looking only partly paying attention to the conversation and more interested in checking him out.
“You know what happened?” Chief asked. He hadn’t gotten into it with the boy’s mom because he’d been more concerned about Sophie and the damn contract she wanted the woman to sign, but suddenly he realized that he did want to know more about Diontray’s injury.
“Details are a bit fuzzy. But the cops say he was messing around in one of the abandoned buildings near his housing complex. Somehow he ended up going whoosh, up in
flames, and now he has second- and third-degree burns. Woulda been worse, but he remembered stop, drop, and roll from grade school.”
Chief narrowed his eyes at the young woman. She sounded way too flip about the fact that a young boy’s life was hanging in the balance. She might be pretty on the outside, but her thick makeup, artfully curled brown hair, and come-hither look did nothing for him. For some reason all he could picture was the way Sophie would undoubtedly scrunch up her nose in response to the nurse’s pithy response.
“Hmmm. Was it the building next door?” Chief asked.
“Oh no. I think it was one on the other side of the city. Near the low-income housing, where he undoubtedly lives. The board wants the city to demolish the one next door so they can expand on the hospital.”
Chief relaxed, but only a bit. Sophie had said she had friends who lived in the building next door…which raised all sorts of protective instincts within him, ones he knew Sophie wouldn’t appreciate. But he was glad whatever happened to Diontray hadn’t taken place next door and her friends weren’t involved.
“Say, you want to go out sometime? For dinner or something?” the woman asked.
Chief resisted the urge to curl his lip, barely. Call him old fashioned, but he liked to do the asking. “Sorry, I’m really busy…work, you know,” he told her, turning away from the desk.
“Sure, yeah, I understand. Maybe some other time,” he heard her say as he walked down the hall. He looked at his watch; he still had a couple of hours before he had to be at the station…he could ask a few more questions about the medical trials Sophie was getting patients to sign up for. But even as he hit the button for the elevator, after speaking with Mrs. Washington, he had an idea that he’d definitely be needing to apologize to Sophie, as she said he would.
Forty minutes later, after speaking with Doctor Harris and Doctor Adams—who’d both recognized him from his previous visits to the hospital—he’d found they had nothing but good things to say about Sophie, her rapport with the patients, and the medical lab she worked for. Chief walked toward the rundown building next to the hospital.