“Will…what…happened?” Tina’s words were slow in coming, and they were barely audible over the sounds of monitors in the room.
“There was an explosion” Will said, in a voice that was soft and soothing, yet loud enough to be heard over the sounds of the machines hooked up to Tina’s body.
“You can speak up” Tina said, while trying to nod. “My ears still work.”
Will allowed himself to smile ever so slightly. “The car we were checking out exploded. Forensics are still trying to figure out why. It shattered most of the windows on that side of the station. You and I were hit with shrapnel…”
Tina noticed Bob’s smile vanish entirely. “What…what’s wrong?”
“Tina…” Will stopped for a moment, and took a deep breath. “I…I spun you around to ask…the explosion…your back was to it…”
“Will…there’s no way you could have known…”
“It should have been me Tina…I’m so sorry…” Will’s words trailed off as tears started flowing down his weary face. He looked down and started taking deep breaths. His shoulders rose slowly and fell quickly, like a heavy weight kept pressing them down.
“Will…don’t blame yourself…how…many…cars explode…in this town?” Tina waited for a moment while she watched Will’s shoulders gradually cease their piston like regularity. “Will…look at me…” Will’s head slowly rose, as did his eyes. They were bloodshot and squinted. He never once raised his hands to wipe away tears. “You can’t…blame yourself. It could have been you…or…anybody out there.” Will’s eyes closed and he was visibly biting his lip. Tina smiled and closed her left hand slightly. Will’s eyes shot open as he felt Tina’s hand tighten.
“I…I shouldn’t have…”
“Shhhh…It’s okay…it’s…nice. You can hold it until they kick you out.”
Will smiled and gripped a bit tighter.
***
Phil sat down his empty water glass. “That’s the one thing I don’t like about Aberdeen…the nasty water.” Bob was engrossed in the menu, and only looked up after a few seconds.
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong man?” Phil bent forward and spoke more quietly. “Your moods are a bit all over the place today. Granted, we are in an unusual situation, but you seem to go between super happy and super zone-out all the time.”
“Unusual?” Bob took a long drink from his water glass, and sat it back down. “Twenty-four hours ago I found out one of my best friends died. I thought seeing his old place would give me some closure for the day, and all I’ve done is get my other best friend almost killed and on the run. Half the time I can’t help but think we’re in some Ben Affleck-Matt Damon vehicle and I choose to go with it. The other half of the time I think about the fact that Jer is dead and I won’t even make it to his funeral because we decided to skip out of town when the going got rough.” Bob grabbed his glass and chugged the rest of his water. Phil watched the glass hit the table, and Bob stared at the glass as well. They both looked up and saw Abbie coming towards them with a pitcher of water.
“You guys look thirsty. Do you want me to leave the pitcher?”
“Yes please” they said in unison.
