“That’s so good to hear. Charles has some mild bruising around his ribcage, but they told him nothing was fractured.”
I didn't want to ask, but neither did I want to be rude. “And Noah?”
“His shoulder is sore, and he has a nasty bruise on his arm. Thank God Vicki and Giovanni were out of the house. Bad enough to have as many people there as we did.”
I had to bite my tongue not to ask what had happened. After the news I overheard a few days ago, I wondered if it was something more serious than the plane crash Noah tried to sell me.
“Vicki was beside herself when she heard I was back in the hospital. She visited last night and again this morning. Don't tell my doctor, but she brought me waffles for breakfast.”
Suppressing a smile, I said, “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
He patted my knee. “Have you had any visitors?”
I looked past him to the narrow window. “No.”
“That’s a shame. Does your family live far away?”
Swallowing down the surge of emotions, I replied, “They’re dead.”
“Oh, dear. I had that impression, but I wasn't sure. I’m sorry for bringing it up.”
Looking into his kind eyes, I felt that tightening in my chest again. “It was a long time ago.”
“Surely you have friends who would like to stop by?”
I shook my head, rubbing my fists over my eyes to thwart the stinging tears.
“Don’t fret, Sailor. I’ll be your friend.”
I clutched at his hand. “Thank you.”
Why did he feel so much like a father figure to me when I hardly knew him? Why was a hardened criminal such a kindman? If I was going to continue with my mission, I needed it to make sense, and I needed to harden my affection.
“How do you think two old friends should pass the time?” he asked gently.
“Here, I brought a deck of cards from the nurse’s station.” Pulling them from my pocket, I set them on his rolling table and brought it closer. “What card games do you know?”
“Probably all of them,” he responded with a snicker. “Better question would be which ones do you know?”
“How about gin rummy?”
“You’re on.”
After a few minutes of gameplay, it was obvious he was willing to cheat to win. “You can’t play an ace after a king!”
“Of course I can! Jack, Queen, King, Ace!”
“Aces are low.” Shaking my head, I found myself unable to be mad at him. “You’re such a cheater.”
He tried to look stern, but his smile was infectiously large. “But you ended up with more points than me, so it evens out.”
“That’s because cheaters never win.”
With an exaggerated sigh, he said, “Fine, I’ll concede to your blasted ethics.”
Benito’s playfulness made me laugh, and for a while, I forgot all about not having anyone real in my life. When we’d played to a hundred points and he’d beat me mostly fair and square, we turned on the TV to find 3:10 to Yuma playing.
“Have you seen it?” he asked me.
