Page 60 of A Matter of Time

“It’s not. You don’t just⁠—”

“Let it go.”

“Jory, you need to go back to the⁠—”

“I won’t, I’m done.”

“Tell me what the hell happened, then?” he demanded.

“They said they called you; they must have explained what happened.”

“I know all about your injuries, but not what went on.”

“I dunno. Some guys came after me and I think one of them hit me harder than I realized.”

“Jory, you’re a fuckin’ idiot!” His voice got even louder.

My head couldn’t take the yelling. I hung up and stopped walking so I could figure out where I was. When I saw the stairs that led to the elevated track for the L, I started to climb. I answered my phone on the fifth ring.

“What?” I whined. My head hurt.

“Where are you?” Very controlled voice, but I knew he was talking to me through clenched teeth.

“On my way home.”

“Where are you right now?”

“I have no idea. Leave me alone, okay?” I mumbled as I hung up on him.

As I sat on the L, I had a vision of him sitting outside of my place in his monster car, waiting there so he could yell at me. That idea kept me in my seat five stops beyond where I was supposed to get off. As I sat on the steps leading down from the platform, trying not to freeze, I realized my exit from the hospital had been poorly planned. I wasn’t sure who to call since it had to be either very late or very early at this point. When my phone rang, I answered because it was a distraction I needed.

“Jory?”

“Oh. Hey, Ben.” I sighed because this was not who I needed.

“Where are you?”

“I was sleeping,” I lied, because it was easy.

“Oh, well, sorry, I just wanted to make sure we were okay from the other night.”

“Course.”

“Yeah? You’re not freaked out?”

“No, flattered is what I was.”

“Okay, good.”

“But I gotta let you go, okay? I’ll call ya.”

“You do that.”

I hung up, and immediately my phone rang again.

“Yeah?”

“Jory, goddamn it, where the hell are you?” Sam snarled at me.