Torin and Summer

Chapter 2 (Summer): Make Sure They Leave

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

People react differently to pain meds. Apparently, for me, they removed all filters. There was absolutely nothing stopping the flow of words from my brain to my mouth and out into the world. There probably should have been, but when I saw Bridgette walk into my hospital room, I was glad for the buzz, for something to take the edge off the pain that wasn't related to my surgery.

"I got here as soon as I could, Torin," she said, ignoring me and stopping to stand right beside my husband. Soon to be her husband.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking, Bridge," I said.

She still ignored me as if I hadn't spoken. "You had to leave the theater so fast I couldn't ride with you, so I arranged for one of the other mothers to take Elijah home with her and we can get him later when we're done here."

Torin's head swung slowly to Bridgette, and he blinked at her as if he couldn't believe he'd heard her correctly. 

"What?"

She pressed those bright red lips together for a moment. "I had to Uber to the hospital, Torin, so I could be here for you. I figured when you were done here, you could give me a ride home and we'd pick up Elijah on our way."

"I'm not even sure why you're here, but I'm not leaving my wife to take you home."

"Oh, sure you are!" I sang out. "You leave me aaalllllllll the time so why should today be any different? You weren't here when I needed you so I don't want you here now. Please, feel free to go home with Future Wife Bridgette. Don't let guilt keep you here instead of off playing house with her."

Now Bridgette noticed me. "By the way, Summer, I get you may have been in pain, but I don't think calling me out on Instagram was very nice. It made Torin and me look bad for being friends."

"But you are bad. Both of you are bad, bad, bad. You're a husband-stealing skank and he's a wife-leaving bastard."

"Summer," Torin said, putting his hand on my shoulder, "sweetheart, stop."

"Stop what? Caring that you've gone to the dark side?" I looked at Bridgette and whispered, "That's you, in case you couldn't figure it out from context clues. You're the dark side."

Bridgette looked uncertain, and then she looked at Torin, knowing he'd jump in and save her. Defend the damsel in distress. Surprisingly, he didn't.

"Don't worry, Bridgette, as long as he doesn't contest the divorce, he'll be free and clear to marry you in about five months. That's what my lawyer told me."

"You have a lawyer?"

"You're divorcing Torin?"

Pointing at Torin, then at Bridgette, I answered their questions in the order they were received, just like in customer service. 

"Yes, Torin, I might not have a husband, but I have a lawyer. Did you think I'd put up with being an afterthought forever? And, yes, Bridgette, I'm divorcing him. You two should be good for a late fall wedding."

"We're not getting divorced, Summer."

"Might as well, since I'm just a crazy, jealous woman you can't even deal with anymore. At this point, our marriage is nothing more than a technicality anyway."

How was it possible to have such clarity of thought...and still be convinced I was capable of flying if I flapped my arms hard enough?

"It's a helluva lot more than a technicality, Summer." I could practically hear him grinding his teeth as he struggled to stay calm.

"Not from my point of view, and it's the only point of view that matters." I was still semi-singing all of my responses in a nanny-nanny-boo-boo kind of way. All I needed to do was add a so there at the end and stick out my tongue. That thought made me giggle again.

"We're going to save this discussion for later, when you aren't high on pain meds," Torin said firmly.

"It won't matter. Drugged or not, our marriage went belly up the minute Bridgette entered the picture and you became her little bitch. And if you don't believe me, let me ask you this: who were you with today when I needed you?"

I wiggled my finger at Torin's unhappy face. "Survey says...Bridgette! I sent you a million texts and called you a kabillion times. No answer. You never answered your wife. Hmmm, now why was that?"

Bridgette looked at me, shaking her head. "Because we were at the theater, watching my son's play. You turn your phones off. It's rude not to."

"It's rude to steal other women's husbands, but that hasn't stopped you," I shot back at her. "And, by the way, that was a rhetorical question you just answered. You really do have a hard time with context clues, don't you?"

"I'm fine with context clues," she said shortly, and I could tell she was irritated.

"If you're so good with them, why are you still in my room? I don't want you here. Either of you."

"Torin, maybe we should go so we don't upset her," Bridgette said, putting her hand on his arm. He shook her hand off, but I could tell she was used to touching him. "It'd be smarter to come back tomorrow when she's...feeling better."

"Oh, she's feeling just fine right now! They give you the good shit in the hospital," I assured her. "But I really wish you and your boyfriend would leave. In fact, stop by the house, pack his shit up and get out of my life."

"Summer," Torin said. "Just stop. I'm not leaving you, sweetheart, I'm not moving out and we're not getting divorced."

Before I could answer, my nurse walked into my room. My beautiful, built, burly nurse.

"Nurse Chris, are you here for my sponge bath?" I asked him, and he shook his head and grinned, used to idiots on pain meds.

"I see you got some visitors so you're not all alone anymore." Oooh, his tone said it all. My neighbor had been there for me in recovery, but Shannon had to get home to her children before her husband had to leave for his nightshift job. The nurse had looked confused when I'd been brought up to my room and no one had been with me.

"Oh, they're not visitors. This is my husband and his girlfriend. They couldn't make it earlier because they were busy and his phone was off."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Torin just about exploded.

"All evidence to the contrary," I winked -- well, tried to -- at Chris but it probably looked like I'd been poked in the eye. "Anyway, I want them out of my room before my naked sponge bath. Can you make that happen?"

"I'm not fucking leaving you!" Torin practically shouted in his frustration.

Burly nurse Chris might not have been as big as Torin, but he puffed up pretty well. "If the patient doesn't want visitors --"

"Soon-to-be-ex and his girlfriend type of visitors," I clarified in my singing voice.

"-- then you need to leave or I'll call security."

Torin looked at me, his eyes almost panicked. "Summer, don't do this. Don't make me leave you."

"Oh, I didn't," I said, all energy suddenly draining out of me. "You left me all on your own."

Those nails ran over Torin's forearm and he again shook his arm. 

"Come on, Torin. You can take me home. She clearly doesn't want us here."

Us. You bitch.

He shot her a look. "I'm not leaving here. If I can't be in my wife's room, I'll wait right outside the door."

"You're seriously not going to take me home?" Someone needed to tell Bridgette pouting wasn't a good look for her.

So I did, but she ignored me.

"No, I'm not taking you home. I just explained that I'm not leaving the hospital."

"Nurse Chris," I said. "I'm about to fall asleep. Please make sure they leave."

I closed my eyes and Chris did as I asked.