Alone in his apartment, Mitch tossed and turned, desperately
waiting for sleep to come. When scotch didn’t work and red
wine just made him irritable, he gave up. Hours before daylight
would show, he got out of bed and got dressed. He could go for a
run, but it was too dark and cold at this hour; he could go to the
hospital, but he wasn’t sure there was much point in that.
He stepped out of his apartment building and called Sheldon.
“Yo, why the early hour, bro?” Sheldon answered in a sleepy
voice. It was 4 a.m.
“Meet me at Barney’s.”
Fifteen minutes later, along with the late-night partyers who
were still drunk, they sat across from each other in the twenty
four-hour diner that doubled as a bar. Mitch ordered a coffee with
double Jameson’s. Sheldon ordered black coffee.
Sheldon spun his coffee cup around in its saucer. “Mitch,
man, you’re in some deep shit.”
“Yeah, I’m beginning to figure that out. Amanda’s been setting
me up. Probably the Youngs too.” He reached into his jeans pocket
and pulled out three vials, then rolled them on the surface of the
table. “Amanda’s phone is filled with pictures of my financials, tui
tion bills, checks from Kindred. I deleted them all before smashing
her phone, but I’m sure it’s too late. The damage is done.”
“So now what?”
“I’m going to wait to hear what’s in store for me.”
“It’s going to be bad.”
234
JULIE HATCH
“Well, then let it be bad.” Mitch wrapped a napkin around
the vials and rolled them into a tight ball that he batted back
and forth between his hands. “I’ll disappear for a while and take
that six-month vacation I’ve been wanting. I’ll visit Mom, spend
a few days with her.”
“That’d be good. I haven’t talked to her in a while. My bad.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll make up for it when I visit her.”
“What if you don’t have to leave? What if they just give you
a slap on the wrist?” Sheldon watched the back-and-forth game
of the napkin-wrapped vials.
Mitch looked at Sheldon as if he was nuts. “Come on, Shel
don. You really believe that?”
“Nah, you’re probably right.”
“It’s all right, I could use the break. I need to get away from
the hospital and from the city. And as for Amanda, that bridge is
burned.” Mitch continued, “Anyhow, enough about me and my
impending doom. Let’s focus on what’s next for you.”
“I’ve had some good numbers on the genetics project. HHI
should be happy.”
“Have you talked any more with WMI?”
“You mean about my big project?”
“What do you mean your project? Last I knew, it was our proj
ect. We’re supposed to be a team, Sheldon.”
“Yes. We are supposed to be a team. And up to this point,
we’ve made a great team.”
“What do you mean ‘up to this point’?” Mitch batted the
napkin ball back and forth harder and faster.
“I mean that if I were a betting man, my money would be on
you not surviving this latest fiasco.” He paused. “In which case,
there’s no ‘you’ in ‘our’ project.”
“Are you serious? Sheldon, man, don’t do this. It’s going to
turn out okay, you’ll see. Have you talked with WMI since all this
shit came down?”
235
“Not yet.”
THE VERY BEST OF CARE
“Well, don’t. Hold off until the dust settles. I’m asking you.
Please, don’t write me off, Sheldon. Don’t cut me out.”
“It’s not up to me, Mitch. You’ve dug your grave.” Sheldon
shrugged. “We’ll see what happens.”
Mitch stood up, put the vials in his pocket, and left the
restaurant
