Cross Roads

“Ben, this is bad. How many fingers do I have up?” She had wet down a towel and was dabbing it on his forehead.

He grinned at his nurse. “Ugh, 22.”

Katie started laughing and slapped his arm. “You be serious with me, Ben Cross. He gave you quite a beating.” She lifted his hair to wipe away the blood and noticed the wound that was destined to be a scar on his upper forehead. “What’s this, Ben? It looks like tonight isn’t the first time someone took a fist to you.”

He lifted his arm and felt the old wound from his prior injury. “Oh, I took a fall in the ice back in Seattle, I’d almost forgotten about it.” Ben became silent and let her clean his head while his memory drifted back to the story Mickey had fed him the other night, wondering when the old man or angel would get out of his life. He stopped her from cleaning the injuries any further, and his eyes stared into hers. He kissed her hand and said, “You are the sweetest lady I know, Katie. Thank you for taking care of me, but I’m fine now. Let’s go out there and finish the greatest blizzard party this town has ever seen.”