"Be right back, Mr. Sharp."
"Conner, please."
Becky smiled and headed towards her Jaguar. She had to pull the sweats up when she walked so she wouldn't trip, but the string on the waist stopped them from sliding off her body. She never once felt embarrassed about the way she looked. The people in the parking lot turned to stare when she climbed in her expensive car. Glancing in the rearview mirror, Becky smiled at her plain face and messy hair.
Traffic was a steady flow on the way to the pizzeria. Without even thinking, she stopped at the red light where she saw Chloe's car lying mangled on its side. Becky took deep breaths and tried to stay focused. Luckily, the light soon turned green and she was able to continue driving.
The pizzeria didn't have any other customers inside. An older Italian man took her order. Four large supreme pizzas, breadsticks, soda, salad, and cinnamon bread was her first purchase. The one hundred dollar gift certificate to the pizzeria was the other.
"While you fix that, I'm going to run to the grocery store. I'll be back in a few."
"Give us thirty minutes."
Becky walked in, grabbed a cart, and started down the first aisle. She'd never grocery shopped on her own before in her life. Heck, she'd never stepped foot inside a small pizza place either. After the third aisle, she ran back down to the entrance, left her first cart with the manager, and then grabbed a new cart. She was having so much fun, but even better, Becky was helping Matthew and Conner. I'm covering for ya, chica. Hurry and get better. I'll take care of them, don't you worry.
Becky paid for the groceries and then purchased a five hundred dollar gift card to the store. When she got to the car, she realized there was no place to fit that many groceries, let alone the pizzas.
"Hey!" Becky waved to the cashier from the back of her car.
The cashier walked outside with a concerned look on her face. "Did I forget to bag something?"
"Do you guys deliver?"
"We can deliver groceries, but there's a fee."
"I'll pay double if these can be delivered right now. The driver can just follow me. Can I buy the service for a year for someone?"
"You sure can."
Becky had to make two trips to carry all the food from the pizzeria up to the apartment. Conner's face lit up.
"Aww, you didn't have to get all that food. How much was it? I can pay you back next week."
"Nope. No way, this is my treat. I'll put the groceries away for you."
"Groceries? I don't—"
The grocery delivery guy began carrying in the bags and setting them on the kitchen counter and stove top.
"Becky!"
"When you love someone—"
"You don't even know us."
"I love Chloe, and she loves you. Matthew has become like a brother to me. That makes us family, just like you said."
Conner's cheeks glowed red. "It's hard for me to accept help."
"Pride has caused so much destruction between us all. It's time for that to stop." Becky reached in her bag. "You have John deposit this tomorrow in your account. I won't take no for an answer." Becky wrote out a check to Conner Sharp for twenty-thousand dollars.
"That's a lot of money. Thank you for your offer but I can't accept this…"
"I spend that easily just shopping for clothes." She handed him the gift cards and wrote down the grocery store and pizzeria phone numbers." Both will deliver anything you need for free."
Conner took the check and reached up to wipe at a tear. Becky hurried and filled both their plates so he'd change his focus and not lose his composure and feel even worse. When they were done eating and the groceries were put away, she wrapped up the leftover slices and put some in the fridge and the rest in the freezer. She fixed up a big plate of food to take to the hospital for Matthew.
"You've been so kind, Becky…"
"Here's my number. You call me for anything you need…especially for company. I'll see you again soon, I promise." She bent down and kissed his stubble-covered cheek and then went out the door, never feeling so happy, worthy, and free in her entire life.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
The doctor told Becky and Matthew that Chloe could come off the ventilator and that they'd be reversing the drug induced coma. He warned that she'd be in a lot of pain and was still facing another surgery, possibly more.
"That's great news, right? So she's out of the woods now?" Becky felt such an enormous relief.
"She could still develop infections and pneumonia. We'll also need to watch her for blood clots, but barring any of those things, she should do okay. Before we take her off the ventilator, I'd like to get Chloe back in surgery to fix her nose. She won't be able to breathe correctly if we don't. Her jaw fracture isn't as bad as we first thought. It's not dislocated and should heal properly. She won't be allowed to use it fully while it's healing though. Her hand has a few breaks, and her leg has a serious fracture as well. Those'll take longer. When her hand heals more, we'll remove the pins. Do you have any more questions?"
"When she's taken out of her coma, will she be able to talk? Will she be…the same?" Becky had to know what to expect in order to help her friend.
"We won't know all those answers until she wakes up. But in my opinion, there's no reason why she won't make a full recovery. It'll just take time. Take into consideration her jaw fracture when it comes to speaking. But she's mending nicely."
"Thank God," whispered Matthew.
The doctor booked Chloe for surgery the next morning. When she was taken from the room by the transporters, Matthew told Becky he needed to go home, see his dad, and get cleaned up.
"I can't have her seeing me looking this bad," he laughed.
"I'll stay here. Take your time, and if something happens I'll call you."
"I won't be any longer than a couple of hours. Don't let them take her off the ventilator and bring her out of the coma without me being by her side."
"I won't." Becky hugged Matthew and then watched him get on the elevator. Hopefully he wouldn't be angry over what she'd done. All he knew was that she bought some pizza. I'll know soon enough.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Matthew climbed in the Silverado and drove back to his apartment. His guilt was eating at him. All Chloe wanted to do was help him. There's no way his old pickup would have gotten him to the hospital without stalling several times. It wasn't safe to drive anymore and Chloe knew that. She went through all that trouble to get me a new truck, just so I'd be okay, and I threw her kindness in her face. She wasn't trying to impress me or rub my nose in her money; she wanted to catch me when I was clearly falling. He wasn't even getting a paycheck this week, and probably wouldn't be getting one next week, either. I don't know what I'm gonna do about money, but I have to be with her.