The other two bystanders handing over my belongings and, seeing that I wasn’t injured, went about their business.
With a squeeze of my hand, the woman at my side left as well.
I filled my lungs with a deep breath and ran my fingers through my hair. No biggy. I’m fine.
The shuttle had passed so, at a much slower pace, I gingerly made my way towards the mall and sat on a bench.
Graceful as ever.
I leaned forward to dab at my skinned knees again and frowned when a crimson stain appeared on my skirt. And then another.
Not my favorite skirt! I dabbed the tissue at my forehead and then looked at it. Lovely.
I didn’t have time for this. Another shuttle was just a block away and I was going to catch this one. So what, I have blood pouring from my head. I needed a new job and I wasn’t going to let one little fall stop me. This was the new me. The positive one. The optimistic one.
Only a few people stared at me funny after I climbed on. Hunter might get a kick out of this story. Especially after the way we met. When he teased me about being a little klutzy, I purposely had rolled him off the bed. I couldn’t help smiling like an idiot remembering what happened afterwards.
I needed to text him.
Except my stop was coming up. Maybe I’d wait until after my meeting at the Lodo Grill. Hopefully I’d be able to tell him I was already employed again.
Thirty minutes later,my day had definitely taken a turn for the better. The manager hired me to start the following Thursday night. She’d confided at the end of our meeting that before I arrived, she’d already decided on another applicant. But when I walked in with a cut on my face and blood on my clothes, she just couldn’t turn me away. So, in an odd way, my graceful splat worked in my favor.
I’d tease Hunter with this information.
Planting my ass on a long planter, I opened my bag and rifled around looking for my phone.
Hm.
Maybe the good Samaritans had dropped it in the shopping bag.
It wasn’t there either.
Feeling a little panicky, I carefully picked through everything again. My wallet was there, and my credit cards and the twenty I’d stuffed into it this morning. My deodorant, breath mints, spare tampon, perfume, bottle of Tylenol.
Damn!
Damn!
I rode the shuttle back to where I fell earlier and thoroughly searched the area. By now, my head was pounding. Still no phone. I opened my bag and swallowed two Tylenol’s with nothing to wash them down.
Somebody must have found it. Like a new blow altogether, I remembered the last text Hunter sent me. I’d had my phone locked but the password was… password. Shit. Dread settled into the pit of my stomach.
I couldn’t even call Hunter since his number was in the phone.
But I did know where he lived.
With renewed determination, I headed back toward the high-rise apartment I’d left just a few hours ago. I’d leave him a note.
I rode the elevator up for the second time that day, but this time it stopped and I exited at the 33rd floor.
Paper. Paper. I knew I had paper in there. Hmm… and my favorite pen? Odd. I jotted out a quick note explaining what happened. I tell him I’ll see him tomorrow, sign my name and a smiley face and slide it under the door. It disappeared easily into the gap between the door and the wooden floor.
Brushing my hands again I felt somewhat relieved.
I also felt achy and the pounding in my head had kicked it up a notch.
Home sounded good. My bed sounded good.
