Chapter 18

18

L ouis spotted Eloise through the school doors, and raced outside after her. “Eloise, hi.”

She turned to face him, poised and with a pleasant smile. “Hi, Louis.” When he stared at her without speaking, her smile grew broader and her eyes twinkled. “Did you want to say something?”

He shifted uncomfortably. “I was, uh, wondering how late you stayed at that party.”

“Oh, so you remember that, do you? I wasn’t sure you had any memory of meeting me because by the time I came back downstairs, you were sitting on the steps, passed out.”

“Yeah. Someone woke me up before Christoph’s parents came home, and everyone was gone. To tell you the truth, I don’t know why I passed out. It’s the second time it’s happened to me after only drinking a little bit. And—” he added conscientiously, “after smoking some pot.”

“Hm.” She chewed her lip. “Did you ever think that maybe someone was slipping something into your drink? Do you know anyone who would do that to you?” Eloise added, “You know, since it happened twice?”

A teacher, leading a line of elementary students towards the gate, passed them, crunching over the pebbles in the courtyard and instructing them to keep to their line of two-by-two.

“Hey, Eloise.” A tall, lanky boy called out to her at the same time, causing her to break off and smile at him. “Do you want me to walk over to class with you?” He indicated the outlying buildings across the street.

“Hey, Pierce. No thanks. I want to finish talking to Louis, and we still have time.” Pierce shrugged and loped off, and Louis smiled at that, his cheeks stiff and unused to turning up. Whenthey were alone again, Eloise turned her attention back to him. “So, we were saying…?”

“You were asking if someone could have slipped something in my drink, but I can’t see why anyone would do that.”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “To humiliate you? To steal from you?” Louis flinched.

“Did someone steal from you? I hope you weren’t carrying anything valuable.”

“No, no, it was nothing.” Louis hid from her the realization that for the second time, the money he had collected for drugs had been taken from him while he was passed out at a party. For the past week, he had been racking his brains trying to figure out what he was going to tell Jean about not having the money, and he hadn’t given much thought to howodd it was that he would be robbed twice.

“—and so, because of that, I never drink or eat anything at parties. Unfortunately, I have a friend who lost consciousness at a party after only having had one drink.”

Louis snapped to attention. “Was she okay?”

“Yeah. Luckily her friends were there and they took her home. She reported it and the police are looking into it. I wouldn’t think they would target a guy, which is what makes me think they either thought to steal from you, or—” She reached her hand out and touched his arm,“humiliate you. I’m sorry it happened,” she added.

Louis seethed as he remembered the sequence of events that night. Someone was definitely working against him. When he didn’t respond right away, Eloise spoke up again with obvious reluctance. “I know you’re friends with Max, but I can’t help but think he goes with a bad bunch.”

“We’re not friends,” Louis said firmly. “And he doesn’t go with a bad bunch. He leads it.”

"Okay, so you know your own mind then. That’s good,” Eloise said.

“Not as well as I should. I can’t believe some of the situations I’ve gotten myself into,” he said with uncharacteristic candor. “That’s going to change.”

“Hm.” She smiled, pulled her bag on her shoulder, and started to walk away.

“Eloise,” he couldn’t resist calling out. She turned back. “I just didn’t want you to have the wrong impression of me. You know—after what you saw at the party.”

“I don’t think I do.” Her serene reply and twinkling eyes warmed Louis’s heart and stayed with him after she left.

“Mom,” Thomas whispered. It had been the first word he spoke, and that was three days before her mother arrived. In those three days, he had impressed the doctors with his improvement, establishing set periods of sleep and wake. He wasn’t talkative, but he had been able to answer every simple question they asked him, except for what had happened the days leading up to the accident. He had been able to communicate his desire to drink some water almost right away—in French. It was more than Chastity couldhave hoped for.

Marc accompanied her to pick her mother up at the airport. It seemed like an easy way to lure him away from staying with Thomas while she was gone. She couldn’t quite place why, but she would rather have Maude or Elizabeth at Tommy’s side than Marc. “I’ll stay out of your way,” Marc said as he drove. “I know you need lots of private time with your mom. It’s going to be good for you to have her here.”

She turned to him in grateful surprise. “That’s sweet of you. I agree. It will be good—for both Thomas and me to have her here.” After a moment’s silence, she added, “I’m sorry you don’t have this. I wish you still had a good relationship with your parents.”

“Actually, there is something I’ve been meaning to tell you.” She looked at his profile expectantly. “My mother made contact with me."

Chastity gasped. “You’re kidding me. That’s great.”

“Yeah.” Marc nodded. “Apparently she heard through some mutual friends that I was showinginterest in my son and that pleased her enough to forget some of her anger. She’s hoping to be able to meet Thomas.”

“Oh.” Chastity was caught off-guard. “It’s not possible right now, obviously.”

“You don’t think she could come visit him in the hospital and bring him a gift?”

“No, Marc. He just woke up from a coma and needs as little stimuli as possible.” She peered out the window on her right, hiding thered spots of anger on her cheeks.

“Yes, but your mother is coming to see him,” he argued back.

“Thomas already knows my mother. She’s not a stranger. So please forget the idea. It’s not going to work.”

“I’m sorry for asking.” Marc huffed and stuck his lip out.

A silence fell over them, and Chastity sighed. Here were somesignsof his old self surfacing, the things that made her more and more certain their relationship could not work.

They began to see billboardsfor the airport, and her spirits lifted atthe thoughtof seeing her mother again. That’s when Marc broached the subject in a kinder tone. “Do you think it might be possible at least for you to come and see my parents in Paris? Perhaps after your mom has been here for a while and is familiar with everything, she could stay with Thomas while you come with me. I think the whole reason my parents are interested in a reconciliation is because of you and Thomas.”

Chastity struggled internally, afraid he was trying to gain ground. If she said yes, it would move them closer to a relationship she wasn’t sure she wanted—even platonically—but she also suspected it would help heal some of the anger from the past and allow her to be free from those shackles. When he added, “I want to do anything I can to reconcile with them,” her compassion won over. “Of course, Marc. Anything I can do to help restore your relationship with your parents.”

They didn’t say much else before arriving at the circular airport where they drove down the ramps leading to the parking garage. At the Arrivals gate, she could see her mother yanking a heavy suitcase off the conveyor belt through the glass walls. Chastity tried to signal to her but wasn't ableto catch her attention. When her mom finally exited Customs, Chastity threw herself in her mother’s arms, and Marc hadthe decency to stay back against the wall.

If her mom felt any surprise at being picked up by Marc, she hid it. “Hello Marc,” she said, placidly. “You look well. I'm glad to see your life has taken a turn for the better.”

“Thank you, ma'am,” he replied. “May I push the cart?”

Marc remained true to his word, and for the following week he held back from visiting the hospital so they could have their time together. Now Chastity, her mom, and Thomas had formed a ritual of playing, eating, and watching TV each day in his hospital room. Thiswas the picture they presented whenDr. de Brase finallycame to visit. Chastity was sitting on one side of Thomas's bed, and her mother on the other, with her back to him. Theywere playing Go Fish—a simple card game chosen so it wouldn’t tax Thomas.

“Grandma, give me your kings.”

“I have only one.” She laid it on the table that spun over his bed, and he reached for it but flinched in pain and lay back against the pillows.

“Are you all right, Tommy?” His grandmother pushed the table closer to him.

“Dr. de Brase,” Chastity exclaimed, jumping up when he entered the room. “We haven’t seen you in a while.” She walked over to him, her eyes alight.

“Charles,” he reminded her with a smile. “I’m sorry for it. I had to turn Thomas’s case back over to Dr. Toussaint while I took care of some personal things. Are he and Dr. Okonkwo taking good care of you?”

“They’re both great. And, here's my…I’d like to introduce my mother, Sherri Whitmore.” She turned towards her mom, who stood at Thomas’s bedside.

“It’s a pleasure.” Charles took two steps forward and shook Sherri’s hand. Her mother assessed him frankly, and Chastity smiled to herself. Surely, her mother would notice how handsome he was.

Charles moved over to the bedside. “Hi, Thomas. How are you feeling?”

Thomas had his arms crossed, but his expression was doubtful. “Sometimes I get mad.I’m not used to feeling mad a lot of the time.”

The doctor sat carefully on the bed next to him and took his hand. “That, I’m afraid, is normal after a head injury. Someof your anger is happening because the part of your brain that usually keeps you in a good moodwas hurt, and so you get mad more often. And you also feelfrustrated at not being able to do what you’re used to doing. Does that make sense?”

Thomas yawned. He didn't answer and just picked at the blanket with his fingers. “I’m tired.”

“Here, let’s lower the bed,” Charles said, quietly. When he finished, he gestured to Chastity to follow him out to the hallway. Her mother remained by the bedside.

“I’m getting the updates from Samuel—Dr. Okonkwo—so I’m following his progress from the medical end, but I’m curious. Does he act like himself when he’s awake?”

“In some ways, very much so.” Chastity was happy to share the progress with him after a few days’ absence. “He seems just as sharp as ever. He gets frustrated much more easily, though. He used to be such an easy-going kid, so this is a pretty big change for him.”

Charles nodded and leaned against the doorframe. He was wearing a cable-knit sweater with a V-neck under his winter coat, and Chastity was struck by how much she wanted to lean against him and have him put his arms around her. She mentally shook herself.

“… this can change, actually,” he was saying. “There’s no guarantee that this is his new personality. It could be part of the healing process. I have to say both Dr. Toussaint and I are encouraged by his cognitive progress. His is the best we could hope for.”

“That is so good to hear.” Chastity broke out into a smile, and Charles went still, holding her gaze a second longer than someone who was interested from merely a professional regard. At least that was what her wildly-beating heart told her.

Pulling his gaze off Chastity'sface, Charles stood upright, glancing at her mother. “I was, uh, wondering if you and your mother would like to come to an art gallery opening this Friday? It’s a painter from New York, actually, so your mother might have heard of him.”

“Mom?” She beckoned her mother over and indicated for Charles to continue. He addressed the tall, older woman in front of him.

“Have you heard of a New York painter called Randall Mooers?” Chastity'smom shook her head and he continued. “We’re having an opening at the art gallery featuring his work. I thought it might be fun for you to visit the museum if you’re ready for a night out.”

“That sounds nice.” She turned to her daughter. “We don’t leave the hospital ‘til about 7:30 or so, right?”

“That’s right,” her daughter confirmed, unsuccessfully trying to hide her eagerness. “So we could do that after Tommy goes to sleep, couldn't we?”

“It doesn't start until 8:00,” offered Charles. “And it goes on until 11. So whenever you get there will be fine.”

“Thank you very much for the invitation,” Sherri replied. “We’d love to come.”

“It’s kind of you to think of us,” Chastity added.

After Charles’s short visit, Chastity lifted her arms in a stretch and removed the pins from her hair then rolled onto the balls of her feet. She dropped her head down and swung her hair back and forth. As she stood and twisted from side to side, her mother leaned back in her chair. “So, he’s another one of Tommy’s doctors?” Her tone was casually inquisitive.

“Mmhmm.” Chastity walked over to the windowsill and fiddled with the toys there, stacking the books and putting the pieces to a game in a more orderly fashion. “He was the first doctor who treated him, but he’s on sabbatical so he handed the case back to Dr. Toussaint.”

“And it’s the strangest thing,” she added, turning around swiftly. “He owns the chateau at Maisons-Laffitte, and I teach his son at the school."

“What a coincidence.” Her mom raised an eyebrow. “He seems like a nice man.”

“Oh.” Chastity shrugged one shoulder. “He’s nice—at least here in the hospital. Honestly it came asa surprise to me. When I met him at the school to talk about his son, I never could have imagined him being this warm. Believe me, his expression is not always that friendly.” Restless, she straightenedthe blanket over her son and sat, crossing one leg over the other.

“Hm.” Her mother picked up her Sudoku puzzle and pencil. When her daughter turned to stare out the window, the older womanallowed herself a small smile.