Old Brown Eyes

Mood Indigo

The hours seemed to crawl by. I kept glancing at the clock, unable to stop myself. Five o'clock came and went. The minute hand slowly crept up to the twelve and soon it would be six o'clock. Rick should have called me by now. He was always punctual. My hand hesitated as I started to pick up the phone. Should I?

Several times I picked up the phone, then put it back down again. He was probably busy and would call me when he got time. Probably got one of those overseas orders he was always telling me about and the customer, as they often did, wanted to talk all things music and Sinatra with him.

I tried not to drum my fingernails on the table waiting for him to call. It was Thursday night and he was meant to drive down tomorrow. He would leave early in the morning, and we would meet for the first time at dinner Friday night. It was strange that I hadn't heard from him all day.

Just as I had determined I would call, my phone began ringing. I frowned. It was an unknown number.

"Hello?" I answered, my stomach in knots of dread though I couldn't have explained why.

"Is this Hadley?"asked an unfamiliar woman's voice with a strong Jersey accent.

Oh, God. "Y-yes, it is," I answered hesitantly. "Who is this?"

"Oh, thank goodness," the woman went on. "I was hoping I had the right number. This is Margie, Rich's assistant."

I gulped. Something bad had happened. I just knew it. I didn't say anything and Margie went on.

"Listen, he wanted me to call you because he had a doctor's appointment today and what they found wasn't good. He's not going to be able to come down and see you. He's actually in the hospital right now."

I felt all the air leave my lungs in one fell swoosh. In the hospital? What the hell? "What happened?" I asked in a panic, my heart constricting with fear.

"It was a routine checkup. But he said he'd been having some pain and some shortness of breath, so the doctor did an ultrasound and they found a DVT. Pretty deep in his leg. The doctor said it's a good thing he didn't make that drive because, well, he probably wouldn't have made it..."

"Oh my God," I murmured to myself. "Well, is he going to be okay? What's going on? What are they doing for him?"

"He wanted me to get ahold of you and have you call the hospital because he can't call out on his phone. He's at Atlantic City Medical Center." She gave me his room number. "Please call him. He desperately wants to talk to you."

"Of course! I'll call him right away. Thank you so much, Margie."

"No problem," she answered. "And hey, if there's anything I can do for you don't hesitate to call me. You can reach me on this number anytime. I'm just going to be in and out of Rick's house, doing some cleaning and laundry. He's not really sure how long he's going to be kept at the hospital."

"Thank you so much again, Margie," I said sincerely.

My hands were trembling in my palms were sweaty as I ended the call and immediately dialed the main number to the medical center. A polite, pleasant voice young woman answered the phone and immediately connected me to Rich's room. When he answered, he sounded more annoyed and irritated than sick and pained. It almost made me smile with relief to hear the angst in his voice.

"Rich?" I said softly.

His tone immediately softened. "Hadley," he said on a sigh. "I'm so glad it's you. I've had my sister, my nephews, friends, all kinds of people calling me and irritating the shit out of me. And all I wanted to do was talk to you."

I was smiling but I couldn't help my eyes feeling with tears. "Well, I'm here now. How are you feeling? I was so worried when Margie called me and told me. What's going on?"