SPOTLIGHT (9 page)

            “
And look where that got us,” she said to herself. Her voice came out in a hoarse whisper.

            “It doesn't work Abby,” William said wearily from the doorway. “It's broken.”

            She wasn't quite sure if he was talking about the elevator or their relationship but she decided that either statement was true.

            She decided to take the stairs, anything to get away. There needed to be distance between them so she wouldn't repeat her mistakes. The hallway seemed impossibly long though and Abby felt that she was stumbling down it. Suddenly her legs didn't work. Suddenly the world was spinning off its axis.

            Abby pushed on. She took the first step towards the narrow, dark stair well. Somewhere William was calling for her. Her name, not her twin's, and she wished she could turn around and stay with him.

            But she was falling. For a moment she thought he had scooped her up in his strong arms again like he had on the fourth of July. But she was falling and she could not rise and then there was nothing but darkness and somewhere, far, far away there was the Surprise Symphony and it was playing only for them.

Chapter Eleven

            Abby dreamed. She dreamed of a birthday party in a backyard in South Meadow. It was warm and the air was spotted with scattered summer leaves and the wild knotted grass she had known all her life was underfoot. Angelica was at her side and she was singing. Not the loud embellished singing she did to impress adults or the outlandish singing which showed all her range that she did when she was under hot spotlights. No, her sister was singing softly, sweetly for only the three of them. She was singing happy birthday to Billy.

            Abby dreamed of sweet, blue-eyed Billy, the quiet boy from her childhood. He hid his freckled face under a fall of long blonde hair and his gorgeous gaze was masked behind thick-rimmed glasses but beneath that he was always smiling. When Angelica was done with her pretty song, Billy leaned forward and blew out the candles. He made a silent wish and Abby made one along with him. She didn’t dare speak of it out loud though. Not to anyone, especially not to her twin sister.

            “I’m going to marry him when I grow up,” Angie whispered in her ear, while Billy cut up the cake.

            Abby wasn’t sure how her sister could be so confident about something like that, but Angie was always confident about everything. If Angie wanted Billy then she would have him. She always got what she wanted and Abby always let her.

            She dreamed of a sweet old lady with the same icy blue eyes set deep in her wrinkled face. She held up an old instant camera in her withered hands.

            The three children stood in a row. Angie and Billy held hands but Abby stood alone to one side. She looked away thinking about the wish she made, thinking about the dreams she planned. She smiled knowing that even if she couldn’t have those things she would still be content in the things she did have. Billy’s grandmother snapped the camera and for a moment everything was blinded out by the flash of light.

            With a mechanical whir the camera ejected the photo. Abby watched as the picture slowly began to develop. Slowly it bloomed before her and when it was all finished, it showed Angie and Billy and herself, not as children but as adults.

            In the photo Abby looked taller and stronger, her thin brown hair falling around her face, her expression still melancholic. Billy had become William, his face and frame turned lean. He was no longer a sweet little boy; he had become a handsome man. His bright blonde hair had faded nearly to brown and his freckles had all but disappeared. His arms which she loved so much were strong and muscular and his whole manner had become radiantly confident. The only thing that remained of the boy he had been was that sweet carefree smile.

            Beside him Angelica posed. Her own frame was similar to Abby’s but her demeanor was clearly far more dazzling even in freeze frame. But Abby wanted to see her face, wanted to know what her sister had grown to look like after ten long years. But Angelica’s expression was caught in a bright beam of light. There was no way of making it out, Abby realized; she would not find the answers she was looking for there. To find forgiveness, she knew, she had to look to herself.

            Abby woke in a slow start and for a moment the whiteness of the hospital blinded her. When she could see, she was more than a little surprised about who was beside her.

            “Aaron?” She said and her voice came out rougher than she expected.

            “Glad to see that you’re awake,” her boss said good-naturedly.

            “What are you doing here?” Abby asked, amazed.

            Aaron laughed. “Is that anyway to greet a visitor at your sick bed?”

            “Sick bed?” Abby repeated dully, her voice still raw. It felt like her brain wasn't keeping up with the situation.

            She looked around the room, taking it all in. It was a normal narrow hospital room that she might have shared with someone else but the other bed beside hers was empty. On the small end table near the foot of the bed was a beautiful array of flowers, get-well cards and smiling teddy bears that she knew at once had come from the cooks and other wait staff at the restaurant.

            Abby moved to touch her flushed face but her right arm was stuck through with an IV that snaked up and behind her bed, connected to something out of view. She used her left hand instead and felt the heat radiating from her face, though her body was run through with a bone-deep chill.

            “A fever?” She said more to herself than to Aaron. “In summer? Only me.”

            “More than that. People don't just fall over from a fever,” Aaron admonished. “Fever brought on by exhaustion is what the doctors said. They asked me if you were working too hard. But I'm your boss, I couldn't say yes.”

            Abby wanted to laugh but she knew the motion would jar the headache that was progressively making itself known. Even her eyeballs hurt.

            “
Are
you overworked?” Aaron asked, looking more concerned than Abby had ever seen him.

            “Wow,” Abby smiled, “I must look really in a bad way if you're worried about me.”

            “Shouldn't I be worried?” Aaron asked. “You nearly fell down the stairs. If William wasn't there to catch you before you tumbled down eight flights of stairs, you'd be dealing with a lot more than a high temperature. Not to mention I'd be down another waitress and then what would I do?”

            Abby didn't know what to say to that.
William saved me. Again.
He's always there when I need him.
Thinking about it was making her head hurt worse than it already did. She decided to change the subject.

            “Not that I don't appreciate you filling me in,” Abby said. “But you really are the last person I'd expect to see here. You're going above and beyond the call of duty of a boss.”

            “Well William called Noelle when he took you to the hospital. He said he didn't know anyone else that was close to you.” Aaron explained.

            Abby frowned at that and Aaron paused noticing her sour expression but she nodded for him to continue.

            “Noelle left yesterday morning for her gig. Believe me, Noelle would turn around an entire cruise ship to come back for you if she could. But since she couldn't, she called me and sent me out to check up on you. If I didn't, she'd never let me hear the end of it.”

             Aaron shrugged. He was blushing a little, an expression she had never seen him wear. Abby had to wonder if he was embarrassed at being caught breaking his bad boy image and actually doing something nice or if it was something more.
He does seem to smile whenever he mentions Noelle's name.

            Abby refused to connect the dots all the way on that one. The last few hours had held too many revelations for her to accept a growing romance between her boss and her coworker.
If it's true,
Abby thought,
at least someone's happy. And they already argue like a married couple.

           
“Thank you. I'm glad you're here,” Abby said. Though she had just woken up she was already feeling tired again. 'Exhaustion' Aaron had said. That was definitely the word for it.

            “I'm glad I'm here too. You shouldn't be alone,” Aaron said. “And you don't have to be.”

            “I didn't want to worry my parents,” Abby replied. She knew that hearing their daughter was in the hospital would upset them, bringing up all sorts of memories of Angelica’s passing.

            “I didn't mean them,” Aaron said, shaking his head. “I meant William. He's been pacing in the waiting room all night, worrying about you. He should be here instead of me but he refused to come up.”

            “Refused?” Why did that make her heart hurt?

            Aaron nodded. “He seems to think that you're angry at him. He said you wouldn't want him up here.”

            “He's right,” Abby sighed. “I don't want him up here. I can't see him right now.”

            She knew she had a lot to think about and with her head clouded as it was, now was not the time to deal with the things she now knew.

            Aaron looked down at her sympathetically. “Whatever is going on between you guys, work it out,” he said.

            Abby was more than a little surprised by that. Aaron had always been very open about his romantic interest in her and even more open about his dislike for William. Abby figured Aaron would take any opportunity to get between them, but that didn't seem to be the case.

            “You do work too hard,” Aaron continued. “You put too much pressure on yourself. But when you're with William you're happy. You finally let your guard down.”

            Abby shook her head, feeling weary. There was so much to think about, so many memories to sort through and most of them were sad.

            “It's not that simple,” she told Aaron.

            “It should be,” he said.

            Abby felt like she was going to begin crying all over again but it seemed like she was all out of tears. A silence stretched between them then and when Aaron finally realized that she was not going to say any more on the subject he heaved a sigh.

            Aaron walked over to the small chair in the corner where a duffel bag rested on the seat. “The doctor wants you to stay until the morning to make sure that fever breaks. I grabbed a few things from your apartment you might need. William let me in.”

            Abby nodded. She remembered that she had given him an extra key a few weeks earlier since she was so prone to running out of her apartment in a hurry and forgetting hers.

            Aaron picked up the duffel bag and set it on the edge of the bed for her. He yawned cavernously.

            “Go on home, Aaron.” Abby told him. “I'm fine really.”

            Aaron smiled. “I do have to cover
two
waitresses' shifts tomorrow now.”

            “Sorry about that,” Abby said.

            “Don't be sorry, just get better and back to busing tables.” Aaron headed towards the door.

            “Aaron,” she called to him. “Please tell William to go home too. Tell him that we'll talk.”

            It was the most she could promise. The thought of William just outside of her room waiting for her was enough to break her heart but it wasn't time to see him yet. If nothing else, he had betrayed her trust and that was going to be hard to forgive.

            “And Aaron,” Abby called again as he opened the door.

            He paused, turning to her. “Yeah, Abby?”

            “Good luck with Noelle,” she said with a wink.

            Aaron reddened but then he laughed harder than she had ever seen him.

            “Thanks,” he finally said. Then laughing again he stepped out and shut the door.