This Time Will Be Different

6

Jack and Paul arrived at the hospital and were directed to the emergency department. Through the open door of one of the hospital rooms, Jack spied two male orderlies attempting to subdue a red-faced man of middle age.

"Sir, calm down," one of the orderlies said. "Calm. Down." But the man didn't. His arms and legs flailed, and he caught the other orderly in the chest with a kick.

"Don't touch me, you fucks!" he screamed.

A woman in a white coat walked purposefully into the room and closed the door behind her. Jack could just barely hear the commotion for a moment before that too subsided and was drowned out by the other sounds of the hospital. Jack and Paul exchanged a look.

A hospital attendant approached and, after Jack told her who they were looking for, he and Paul were led to a secluded wing in the emergency department. They turned left down another hallway and there, thirty feet away, Jack saw Sarah talking with a female doctor holding a clipboard. The hospital attendant left them, and Paul started walking towards his sister. Jack grabbed his arm.

"Would you mind?"

Paul nodded. Jack took a few steps in Sarah's direction. He didn't call to her, instead allowing himself the opportunity to observe her for a moment.

Her smeared eyeliner streaked down her cheeks in two black lines. Her chin had a two-inch gash on it. Her neck: a large, fish-shaped purple bruise. He inhaled once and held his breath, as if to experience what it must have felt like having the man's forearm around her throat. "Sarah," he said now. He was only vaguely aware of Paul some fifteen feet back, watching them.

They embraced. "How are you?" he whispered.

There was no doubt: he didn't want to lose her. Why was he such a fuck up? I deserve this, but she doesn't.

"Hanging in there. Looks like my modeling career is over though." She bared her teeth, displaying a large chip in her right front tooth.

"We'll get it fixed."

"There's no way our shitty dental insurance is going to cover this."

"We'll figure it out," he said. "If we have to, I'm sure your dad would help."

Paul joined them now and gave his sister a hug.

After Sarah got her chin stitched up, Detective Bergfalk came by and offered to take Jack and Sarah home in his squad car. Paul and Sarah looked at one another; Sarah nodded. They hugged again and then Paul turned to Jack.

"Take care of my sister," he said.

Paul left. Only now did Jack notice Sarah had a duffel bag with her. "What's that for?" he said.

"It doesn't matter," she said.

"So, unfortunately," the detective said, as they made their way out to his car, "regulation requires you guys sit in the back. It's not the comfiest, but you guys don't live far, right?"

"No problem," Jack said, and they got in.

The squad car pulled away from the hospital. By now it was past two a.m., and the area around the hospital and campus was quiet. The car drove east on Spruce back towards Center City. They sat silently, Sarah curling up against his arm. If it weren't for the hard seats and the bars on the window separating them from the detective, Jack could have almost imagined they were going home in a cab after a night on the town. They didn't go on many proper "dates" anymore.

Two years ago—before Jack left his job, before things started to deteriorate—they would go on dates all the time. Like that one when they had made plans to each independently go to the Sofitel hotel bar and pretend they didn't know each other. They both dressed up for the occasion. Jack wore a sharp-looking blazer and a button-down with French cuffs. He added a handkerchief artfully peeking out of his jacket pocket; he personally thought it looked asinine but knew Sarah would appreciate it. Sarah donned a short black dress that clung to her waist and hips and stockings, that Jack hoped were held up by a garter belt. He approached her and asked to buy her a drink. After a little prodding and playful flirting and "I don't know if I should because I'm waiting for my husband," Sarah accepted, "but just this one." Five drinks later they were in a cab, their drunken mouths kissing and his heart exploding with how much he loved this woman who was his wife, but tonight was not. And when they were out of the cab, they kissed some more and grabbed and groped their way up the steps to their apartment. In the bedroom, Sarah pushed him on the bed and told him to wait just a minute so she could go to the bathroom. When she came out she was in lingerie and—surprise, surprise— that was a garter belt underneath that dress. She teased him with her fingertips, her tongue, until he couldn't stand it any longer and they made love recklessly, throwing in a couple of stupid positions that were more for show than actual pleasure. And that night when they went to bed, the last thought that crossed Jack's mind was how great his marriage was and how two people had never been so in love and never would be and damn they were lucky.