Three Day Summer(51)

There is movement behind her. Someone’s at the flap of the tent, and Cora immediately gets up like she can sense it. A professional through and through. “Look, I have to get back to work,” she says. She goes to a bin next to me and takes out two white pills. “Aspirin,” she says. “I’d give you ice for your eye, but we’re out.”

“Cora . . . ,” I start, but I don’t even know how to finish that sentence.

Either way, she doesn’t let me. “Look,” she says again. I’m starting to hate that word. “Amanda’s waiting for you outside. She’s worried about you. And also . . . we really need the stretcher. Besides, someone is playing out there and you don’t want to miss it, do you?”

I look at her, frustrated because there seems to be nothing I can say to make her listen to me. To make her understand.

“Who is playing, by the way?” she asks gently.

I listen carefully to the strains of music drifting through. “I think it’s Joe Cocker,” I finally say.

She smiles at me then, wholeheartedly. “I knew you would know,” she says. She offers a hand to help me up.

I begrudgingly take it. At least it’s an excuse to touch her one more time. She leads me to the exit, and I feel emboldened by the gravity of the situation. And by the fact that I knew it was Joe Cocker even after being punched unconscious.

“Wait,” I say. “Can I just . . . can I get a good-bye kiss?”

Cora looks at me and the smile disappears. She sighs in frustration. I see her look around the tent at one of the older nurses who is busy with a patient. Then I see her stare at someone else. Only then do I realize that her ex has been here the whole time, the one with the glasses. He’s pretending to be busy, but we can both see that he’s glancing over our way every chance he gets.

Suddenly I’m angry. Sure, I’m going back to Somerville and I momentarily have a girlfriend, but what bullshit excuse does he have for letting her go in the first place?

Cora’s looking back at me then. She leans over and I close my eyes out of habit. I plan to savor every moment of this. Only all I get is a brief touch on my cheek. A peck. My eyes fly open again.

“Good-bye, Michael,” Cora says.

Her hand is on my back and for a moment, I think she’s going to pull me in for a real kiss.

Instead, she uses it to firmly guide me right out of the tent.





chapter 59


Cora


I don’t look outside to see Michael’s reunion with Amanda. I just take a deep breath and try to gather myself. My face is warm and, I assume, flushed.

“Cora.”

It’s Ned. God, I am so sick of boys saying my name. I turn to him with a glare he doesn’t entirely deserve. “Not now, Ned,” I say, and sweep past him looking for something to busy myself with. Something medical.

He frowns but doesn’t come after me. I tell Anna I’m ready for my next assignment, and she sends me over to an old man who needs his vitals checked.

When I say old, I mean it. He must at least be in his seventies if he’s a day. I wonder what on earth he’s doing here. His arms are bony and spotted and his back curves like a question mark in a white sleeveless shirt. But there’s a spark in his eye that tells me he’s at the festival by design.

He tells me his name is Ray.

“Was just having a little trouble breathing,” he explains when I ask him how he’s feeling.

I listen to his lungs.

“And how old are you?” I work in casually.

He looks at me and grins. “Why? Are you interested?” He laughs heartily at his own joke. “I’m just kidding. You’re definitely young enough to be my granddaughter. How about we leave the age thing at that?”

“Okay by me,” I say. “Any other medical history I should know about?”

Ray tells me he had a heart attack a few years ago and then tells me some of the medications he’s on. I write it all down on his chart.

“I couldn’t miss all this, though. Not the music,” he says.

I stop and stare at him then, at this stranger six decades my senior who suddenly sounds so familiar, and I’m staggered by a rush of thoughts and memories that blow through me. Of Michael.

Just a few minutes ago, he was here, pouring his heart out to me, and I just brushed it aside. Told him we had a nice day, like it meant nothing more than that. Like he meant nothing more than that. When really, if I let myself think about how he said he felt around me, I felt exactly the same way. Like I was made of more than I thought but also lighter at the same time. And like someone believed in me.

Drops of water fall onto the chart I’m writing on. I’m crying.

Oh, no.

This is no good. No good at all. Crying for me is like showing anger. I don’t do it very often but when I do . . . it’s usually pretty epic. And uncontrollable. I can’t even remember the last time I let myself cry in front of anybody.

The hiccups have already started, and Ray peers up at me.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

I mean to say yes but instead, I let out a huge wail.

I see Anna look at me in alarm and walk over. Out of nowhere, Ned has suddenly popped up at my other side.

In the meantime, the snot has started flowing freely from my nose and I am officially heaving. Loudly.