3: 3
The party was dull.
Frank and I stood in a corner, drinking juice.
"That guy just now, was that your ex?"
Frank asked.
"Yeah."
"He looks like he still hasn't gotten over you."
I shook my head.
"It's not me he can't get over. It's his pride."
Merlin was the kind of man used to controlling everything.
My leaving without a word felt like a challenge to him.
He didn't want me back. He just wanted to drag me back, to prove that he'd won.
My phone rang, right as I was thinking it.
An unfamiliar local number.
I hesitated, then answered anyway.
"Hello?"
"Is this Miss Dickerson? This is the emergency room at the city hospital."
Something in me went tight.
"Yes, this is she. What's wrong?"
"There's a Mr. Delgado here. He drank too much and had a stomach hemorrhage. He's in emergency care right now."
"You're the emergency contact in his phone."
A wave of dizziness went through my head.
Frank saw the look on my face.
"What's wrong?"
"My... my ex is in the hospital."
"Is it serious?"
"Stomach hemorrhage. They're working on him."
Frank picked up my bag.
"Come on, I'll take you."
My hands stayed cold the whole way to the hospital.
I hated Merlin, hated his coldness, hated his arrogance.
But I'd never imagined anything happening to him.
The surgery light was still on when we got to the emergency room.
A man in a suit came over. Merlin's friend, Miles Simmons.
"So you're Dorothy?"
He looked me up and down.
"You finally showed up."
"How is Merlin?"
"Still in there. Doctor says it's not too bad, just lost a lot of blood."
Miles sighed.
"I mean, come on. It was just a breakup. Did you have to hide like that?"
"Merlin's spent the whole month searching for you like a man gone mad."
"Then tonight he sees you at the party with some other guy, it set him off, and he drank a whole bottle of whiskey by himself."
I said nothing.
"Dorothy, I know what Merlin did that day was wrong. But he's not an unreasonable man."
"Just give him a way out, and this whole thing blows over, doesn't it?"
"Do you really have to push it this far?"
My head was a mess. I stared at the red light over the surgery door.
After a while, the door opened.
The doctor came out.
"Which of you is family?"
"I'm his friend."
Miles said.
"The patient is out of danger, but he needs to stay for observation."
Merlin was wheeled out, face pale, eyes closed, still unconscious.
I looked at that bloodless face, and I couldn't name what I felt.
Miles went to handle the admission paperwork and told me to watch Merlin for a bit.
Frank stood with me for a while.
"Maybe I should head back. You stay here and take care of him."
"Okay. Thank you for today."
"Don't mention it."
Frank left, and it was just me and Merlin in the room.
I sat in the chair beside the bed and watched him.
His brow was drawn tight, restless even in sleep.
I looked at his face and sighed inside, and in the end my hand stayed where it was.
There was no going back for us.
I don't know how long it was before he woke.
He blinked, then opened his eyes and saw me.
"You... you came."
His voice was hoarse.
"Yeah."
"I thought you wouldn't."
He gave a bitter little laugh that pulled at the wound, and he hissed with pain.
I stood up and poured him a cup of water.
He didn't take it.
"Dorothy, let's... let's make up."
He looked at me, a trace of pleading in his eyes.
Two years of knowing him, and it was the first time I'd ever seen that look on his face.
"Merlin, we're over."
"Why?"
His voice rose, agitated.
"Because I didn't help your mom up? Because I didn't comfort your dad?"
"That's nothing, Dorothy, that's all such small stuff!"
"To me, it isn't small."
I set the cup down on the nightstand.
"Those are my parents. They can choose not to care, but I have to."
"They're what matters most to me. The thing you think is nothing."
His eyes reddened.
"I know I was wrong. I really do."
"Give me one more chance, can't you?"
I looked at him, and inside I was completely calm.
"Merlin, it's too late."
"It was already too late the moment you handed Leonora a tissue instead of helping my mom up."
I turned to leave.
"Dorothy!"
He struggled up from the bed and grabbed my wrist.
"Don't go!"
His grip was strong, and it hurt.
"Let go of me!"
"I won't!"
He stared at me, stubborn.
"Not unless you promise you won't leave."
Right then, the door to the room swung open.
Merlin's mother walked in, the woman from the party trailing behind her.
The instant she saw us pulling at each other, Sarah Delgado's face went dark.
"What do you two think you're doing!"
