Rachel blinked at Agnes for a few seconds and then said, "No."
Agnes' face fell. "No?"
"Nope. Al doesn't need another woman in his life." She looked at Lauren as if making her point.
Lauren, to her credit, said, "It's nice to meet you, Agnes. I'm Lauren. The rude one is Rachel. This is her daughter, Emma."
Emma peered at Agnes through her thick lenses and said, "Were you really Al's girlfriend before Mum?"
Agnes said, "Yes. Sorry, Rachel, was it? You're Al's wife now, I take it?"
"You do," Rachel said. Then she sighed and said, "Sorry I was rude. Al told me about you. He said you two were pretty serious. You moved away, though, to the Okanagan."
Agnes shrugged sheepishly. "I did. Now I'm back. Look, I'm not looking to pick things up where we left off. I know the two of you are married, and I'd never get in the way of that. I was just hoping to reconnect with an old friend, but I found out from his work that he's here."
Sunny asked Rachel, "Did his eyes open while you were in there?"
She shook her head. "Not this time. The doctors said not to be discouraged, though. It'll take some time."
"Oh, so he will wake up?" Agnes asked.
"He should, but should and will are two different words, aren't they."
"Sunny told me he was in an accident."
"Yes, with me," Lauren said, gesturing to herself. With her neck brace, cast and crutches, it was a wonder she was getting around herself.
Agnes looked at Sunny. "Were you in the car, too?"
"Oh, you mean because of this?" Sunny asked, gesturing to his sling. "No, I was shot."
"What?!" Agnes breathed, eyes wide with shock.
"You must think we're an unlucky bunch," Rachel said, softening at last and offering her hand.
Agnes took it and said, "It'd be rude of me to say, but yes. Dare I ask what happened?"
"I think for your safety it would be best if you didn't," Sunny said. "The people responsible are still at large."
Agnes looked at them one at a time as if trying to spot if one of them would give away that they were joking. Sunny wished they were.
"Would you like to see him?" Rachel asked.
Agnes nodded. "If that's all right with you."
Rachel looked at Sunny and said, "Why don't you take her in with you. We'll wait out here."
Sunny nodded and opened the door. Tej led the way, Agnes following, and he closed the door behind them.
Without the breathing tube in his mouth, Al looked almost like he was sleeping, except for his head wrapped in bandages and the nasal canula providing assistance breathing. He wasn't sleeping, though; more accurately, it was more than sleeping.
Agnes crept toward his bed, face crumpling, tears running down her cheeks. She reached out and tenderly stroked his stubbled cheek. Sunny would not report to Rachel the look on Agnes' face as she looked down on the man she was once in love with; by all accounts, that affection hadn't disappeared. Maybe it was just the shock of seeing him in this condition, and maybe she was simply moved to nostalgic warmth for him, but Sunny wasn't sure that was the only explanation for her demeanor.
"I asked him to come with me, you know," she said, almost to herself. "To the Okanagan. I found a job with Okanagan Regional Library, and I wanted him to come with me and live with me there, away from the disapproval of my parents; they wanted me to date a Chinese boy, you see."
"Ah." Sunny knew all about the preferences parents had for their children where dating was concerned. His own sister had been the victim of those preferences.
"He'd found a job with VPL, though, and he didn't want to give it up, but more than that, his father was sick, and he didn't want to leave his mother alone in case his father passed. How could I possibly insist after I found that out?" The last few words came out wet, because she was blubbering now.
Sunny sympathized with her, but he couldn't help thinking that if Al had gone with her, he'd never have reunited with them all; maybe Lauren would have found him on Facebook like she had before, but he might not have made the long journey just to attend Mrs. Anderson's memorial and meet a few old friends, not when he had a life with this woman in the Okanagan. The Lawrence Street Detective Club would never have been whole again, not the original five, even if Tej and Joanie would have still been there to fill in the gap. Rachel wouldn't be married right now, and Emma and Logan wouldn't be in their lives at all. As much as he felt for this woman, he was glad Al hadn't gone with her.
"His father passed away fourteen years ago," he said. "Have you been away that long?"
"That sounds about right." Agnes turned to him and said, "When did he meet Rachel?"
"Summer of 2009." Sunny chuckled and said, "Sorry, I should clarify. He reunited with her, with me, and with Lauren and her husband Joe, back in the summer of 2009. We grew up together back in the Seventies."
Agnes took this in, then her eyes widened and she gasped. "Oh!" She flew out of the room, and Sunny followed after her, concerned.
Rachel turned to see Agnes striding up to her, and something on Agnes' face made Rachel brace herself, curling her hands into fists.
Agnes stopped short, though, and said, "You're Rachel."
Rachel blinked in surprise and said, "Yeah, I thought we'd established that."
"No, I mean you're Al's Rachel. The one he talked about, all the time. His first crush. The one he was so sad to never see again because he'd moved away."
"He talked about me all the time?" Rachel asked, surprised, but Sunny saw a hint of pride on her face.
"Uh, yeah, can you believe I was jealous of a thirteen year old girl?"
"Sorry," Rachel said, chuckling.
"So, you found each other again," Agnes said. Her voice had a hint of awe in it, like she couldn't quite believe they'd defied the odds.
"We did. It took an old woman dying to be the catalyst, but it happened."
Agnes frowned. "I don't understand."
"We all met at the memorial for a woman who used to live on our street, she was sort of my mentor. Actually, I first ran into Al at the library downtown a few days before that, but I wasn't in the best place, mentally, so I didn't make a good impression. The memorial was where we really got to talking."
Agnes nodded. "And then you fell in love. You couldn't write a better story."
Rachel shrugged. "It's a little more complicated than that, but yeah." She'd refrained from telling Agnes about Lauren, and her relationship with both her and Al; that would have made things even more complicated and diminished the legend of Rachel in Agnes' mind. Plus, Emma didn't need to hear that, and she was listening avidly to their conversation, thrilled to learn an origin story for one of her adoptive parents.
"Are you married, Agnes?" Tej asked, unafraid to establish this fact and lance the boil of two unacknowledged romantic rivals negotiating each other.
Agnes flinched as if slapped and said, "Separated, actually. That's one of the reasons I moved back home. My kids and I."
"Oh, you're a mom?" Lauren asked.
She nodded. "Patrick, ten, and Melissa, eight. We're living with my parents until I can afford a place of my own. It's awful."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Sunny said, reaching into his inside pocket and drawing out a business card to hand to her. "I work in family law. If you need any legal advice, please, don't hesitate to contact me, pro bono."
"Oh!" Agnes took the card and said. "Thank you. I may take you up on your offer."
"Hey, look, why don't I give you my number, too?" Rachel said. "Maybe we can stay in touch, and I'll let you know when Al's awake; I'm sure he'd love to see you again."
"Oh! That would be... wow, that's so big of you." Agnes was inordinately moved by both offers, and had to hold back tears as Rachel entered her number into her phone. She sent her a text immediately to return the favour. "Thank you."
"Do you want to go grab a bite to eat?" Lauren asked. She seemed to have intuited Agnes' need for a friend, too. "I don't think he's going to wake up tonight, and we probably shouldn't be hovering outside the door."
"That's really nice of you, but I do have to get back for my kids' bedtime," Agnes said, to Sunny's relief; he was afraid he'd have to make an excuse for Tej and him, because they had to get home too. "Maybe when we've been back living here a little longer, they'll be more comfortable with me being gone in the evening; night shifts at work are already going to be a challenge. I appreciate the offer, though, and hopefully soon I'll be able to take you up on it, you all seem like such kind people."
"Well, it was nice to meet you, Agnes," Sunny said. "It's nice to have run into someone from Al's past."
"Same here!" Agnes said, smiling. She went over and peeked through the window at Al again, sighed in resignation and said a final goodbye to them before leaving.
They all watched her leave, and once she was gone, Rachel said, "Jesus Christ."
"You okay?" Lauren asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I can't believe I gave my husband's ex-girlfriend my number. Who does that?"
"A good person who saw someone who's obviously in distress," Sunny said. "Separated, moved back home from the Okanagan with her kids? She's obviously leaving a bad marriage."
"I guess you'd know the signs." Rachel walked over to the door to Al's room and peeked through the window again. She placed a hand on the window for a second, then turned back to them. "Let's get out of here. There's nothing more we can do tonight."
As they drove home, Tej turned to him and said, "What you said about Agnes leaving a bad marriage, do you think it's true?"
Sunny shrugged with his hands on the wheel. "Hard to say, but that's my instinct."
"Why do I feel like we haven't seen the last of her?"
"We haven't. That woman was away for fourteen years, but as soon as she returns, having fled from her husband, she seeks Al out? She might have claimed she wasn't looking to threaten their marriage, but she wants Al back in her life in a big way."
"Here's where I'm concerned: where's the estranged husband, and what will he have to say about that?"
"That's what I was thinking."
"Fuck, Sunny," Tej said. "You're still recovering from a gunshot wound. The last thing I want you to do is get involved in another case. Don't go being the hero again."
"Believe me, I've had my fill of being the hero," he said, chuckling. "I will provide her legal representation if she needs it, but that's all. That's well within my capabilities."
"Good," Tej said, sighing in relief. Then she lamented, "We have three members of the LSDC out of commission with injuries, and now this woman shows up needing help."
"Joe's okay. Joe's worth two of us."
Tej burst out laughing. "Great! So, you're just going to volunteer him without asking Lauren?"
"No, of course not."
"Hm. I can see the two of you talking about it when you go to the hockey game on Friday, though. I can see Joe getting all chivalrous about it."
"Will you be all right if I go?" Sunny asked.
"Yes, of course! You two haven't gone in a while, what with the last few months being so tumultuous. You deserve some male bonding time."
Sunny nodded. "I wish we'd taken Al along. He'd never been a big fan, but I could have pushed a little harder. His near death experience has made me reevaluate how good a friend I've been to him."
"I don't think Al missed out," Tej said. "Wasn't he busy having sex with Rachel and Lauren whenever you two were at the game? I think he'd much rather have been doing that."
"Maybe bringing him would have prevented that from happening."
Tej huffed and said, "Oh, please, it would have happened, just some other way. Rachel and Lauren are pretty irresistible when they're together."
"You'd know."
Tej looked askance at him and said, "You wish it could have been you, don't you."
This wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation since Tej confessed she'd been with them back at Harrison Hot Springs, and it made him groan every time. "Let's not keep returning to this. I don't want it to cause tension between us. It's all moot now, anyway. It would never happen."
Tej was silent the rest of the way home, and Sunny worried she wasn't satisfied with his answer.
Thanks for reading this far! If you liked what you read so far, hit "Vote" to send this title up the ranks. If anything doesn't ring true about anything I wrote in this chapter, leave a comment and let me know; I strive for authenticity.
To see what Joe's thoughts are about the arrival of Al's ex, click on "Continue reading."