Ch 24: Accidents Happen

It had been a few days, and I hadn’t heard from Luke. In the meantime, I still had to keep up with my other client, old Mrs. Rosa. When I arrived at her bungalow for our scheduled session, she opened the door, stroking her orange tabby cat.
“Come in, honey,” she said.
We started our warm-up in old Mrs. Rosa’s living room, covered in outdated green shag carpet. Not only had old Mrs. Rosa been making progress with the weights, her balance and posture were improving - important keys to old lady health. Thanks to the exercise and stretching regimen, old Mrs. Rosa said she could now open a can of pickles on her own.
“How’s Oscar?” I asked.
“He’s good. He’s busy. Tax season,” she said nodding. According to old Mrs. Rosa, it was always tax season. I suspected it was something her son, Oscar, told her as an excuse for why he didn’t visit as often as she wanted him to.
“And the poodle?” I asked.
“Don’t get me started on that, honey. That no good wife of his put the poodle in day care. As if she’s so busy, she can’t take care of a poodle. I have two cats, and I manage just fine.” She put the cat she was holding down, and it ran towards it’s scratching post.
I nodded as we picked up our dumbbells, 5 lbs. in each hand for old Mrs. Rosa, 15 lbs. for me.
“How’s Luke Mulligan?”old Mrs. Rosa asked, giving me a sly smile.
“Good.” I paused for a moment. “I think.”
“What’s wrong? Haven’t shagged him yet?” The only thing shagging was old Mrs. Rosa’s carpet, I thought as we marched in place.
“No.” I considered it best not to reveal too much in case old Mrs. Rosa was the leak. But it felt good to talk about Luke with someone who wasn’t involved.
“I don’t know. We get along great. Besides being ridiculously good-looking, he’s a really down to Earth guy. And it’s so cute when he tries to sing.”
“So what’s the problem?” We started dipping our legs in mini-squats.
“One part of me thinks he’s too wrapped up in Hollywood and his image. The other part understands what he’s trying to do to make good movies that people want to see.”
“My Oscar always says there’s more to the equation.”
I usually don’t understand her son’s accounting jokes, but this time I think I got it. “Yes, there are too many people in the equation. He has a red carpet event coming up, and I think he’s taking a leggy starlet.”
“You’d be such a better lay. I mean date.” She winked at me. I wondered how many people knew about old Mrs. Rosa’s penchant for mentioning sex. I liked her spunk.
As we moved into some body weight exercises like glute bridges and ab planks, we heard a knock at the front door. Before old Mrs. Rosa could answer it, another grey haired woman poked her head in the door.
“Yoo, hoo, Rosa?” When she saw us working out in the living room, she barged in. “There’s been an accident. A famous actress’s been hurt.”
“Who?” old Mrs. Rosa asked.
“I don’t know her, but her face is all over the TV. I was just watching my program and the celebrity news.”
“What does it have to do with me, Doris?” old Mrs. Rosa asked, lifting her butt off the carpet in a bridge position.
“You mentioned your trainer,” she nodded at me, “and Luke Mulligan. They mentioned some connection with him.”
“Luke?” I asked. “Is he hurt?” I couldn’t stand to think about Luke being injured.
“He’s fine. The news was just saying they’d been seen together recently or something.”
“Or something,” I murmured under my breath. While the incident proved old Mrs. Rosa was a gossip, I didn’t have time to deal with her indiscretion. I needed to find out what happened, and Doris was not exactly the most reliable source.
“I’m sorry,” I said to old Mrs. Rosa. “I have to go.” I rushed out, not even sure where I planned to go. In the car, I checked out the news on my phone. There wasn’t a lot of information as a lot was still unknown, but it seemed Gina had been involved in a car accident on one of LA’s freeways.
Instinctually, I headed to Luke’s. I’m not sure why I thought he’d want to see me after I badgered him about his philanthropy and questions regarding his image. At the same time, I felt guilty about wishing something bad would happen to Gina. I hadn’t meant it to actually happen. Even if it meant entering the lion’s den, I thought by going to Luke’s I could somehow make amends with my conscience and hopefully with Luke.
I rang the doorbell and waited. Being such a big house, it could take minutes for someone to get to the door. I almost turned around, having second thoughts that it might be a bad idea to just show up on Luke’s doorstep when someone he was close with just suffered an accident.
Before I could completely retreat, Luke opened the door, squinting in the bright afternoon sun.
“Stella?”
I turned around and came back to the door, still unaware of what I planned to say next. Turns out, I didn’t need a plan. Luke grabbed me and hugged me like I was a life raft. He held on for a solid minute before letting me go and pulling me inside. We walked to the living room.
“You heard about Gina,” he said as he sat next to me on his plush grey sofa.
“Yes, well, I heard she was in an accident. Not much else. Have you heard anything?”
“Not much. Katie is working on getting some more information. Sometimes it’s good to have someone who’s pushy on it so we can get some answers.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I hope Gina’s OK. And if you need me for anything, I’m here.”
Katie emerged from the office by the entryway and clacked into the living room. Her face looked pouty and stern. It was hard to tell if she had bad news or her expression was due to her rigid demeanor.
“Good news,” she said, barely cracking a smile. “Gina’s pretty much OK. Suffered some scrapes and bruises. Hurt her leg pretty badly, but nothing life threatening. And the car’s totaled.”
Luke looked relieved. “Reach out to her people, please. See if there’s anything we can do for her.”
Katie nodded. “Flowers?”
“I’ll send them myself,” he said.
You might think that it would seem weird helping a man pick out flowers on the internet to send to another woman in the hospital, but somehow I enjoyed being able to help Luke. We sat on the couch with the computer between us, looking at different kinds of sprays. Naturally, I steered him away from sending a big bouquet of red roses, which to me spells out love, and instead, suggested a large spray of vibrantly colored blooms for a more cheerful affect.
While I still didn’t know where I stood with him or even the exact status of his relationship with Gina, it was clear he cared about her. And he appreciated my help.
“Thanks for coming,” Luke said. “I needed a friend.”
That time, I didn’t even read into his words. If I was in the friend zone, so be it. I needed a break from scheming about how to hook up with Luke and just enjoy being with him. I sat back and relaxed on the couch.
Luke challenged me to a game of football on his PlayStation, claiming it would help him take his mind off the accident. I’m pretty sure he thought he’d beat me easily, but what he didn’t know was that Daniel and I used to play a lot of video games in our adolescence.
“You’re pretty good at this,” Luke said, turning the controller in his hand, willing his player to turn to the left.
“I used to play with Daniel,” I said as my team blocked his field goal attempt, not taking my eyes off the screen.
Luke still managed to eek out a victory, but not easily. Before we could start the next game - I insisted on an immediate rematch - the doorbell rang. Luke hopped up to answer it, probably expecting someone with some news about Gina.
Being that Gina was laid up in the hospital, I didn’t think there was a visitor who could have ruined the easy and comfortable bond Luke and I created that day.
I was wrong.