Page 1 of Crashing Into Me
1
the long day
The bagel bite Lana Mckenzie just put in her mouth was like ambrosia from Greek mythology. She had just gotten off work and, having not eaten all day, couldn’t pass up the crispy, cheesy morsel being passed out by the sample lady in the store. Mentally, she added them to her grocery list and pushed her rattling shopping cart away, as she eyed the remaining samples, concerned she might devour the entire tray. Her legs felt like lead, and her feet were sore after having stood on them for the previous fourteen hours at the hospital. Thankfully, she decided to change out of her sneakers and into flip flops in the parking lot, giving her throbbing feet some relief.
Usually, she’d make a beeline straight home and soak her feet. It helped to stave off any blisters before work the next day, but that wouldn’t be the case tonight. The four-week vacation she’d been dreaming of started the next day, and she couldn’t wait to “Netflix and chill” on the couch and do absolutely nothing. The thought gave her a small jolt of excited energy as she continued to push the cart towards the frozen food section in search of her evening dinner. It wasn’t late yet, just after eight in the evening, but the store was packed with people, and onlythree registers were open at the moment. She yawned at the thought of waiting in the checkout line and wished she’d gone home instead, but there was nothing to eat in her apartment other than microwaveable popcorn, and she was absolutely ravenous.
Her pale blue scrubs were wrinkled, and her thin frame was engulfed in the oversized cotton mess. She looked like she’d just rolled out of bed, instead of spending twelve hours saving lives as an E.R. nurse at Broward General. Lana’s curly black hair was piled in a messy bun, and any traces of makeup on her face were long gone. As she stopped in front of the ice cream freezer and eyeballed a tub of Ben and Jerry’s, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the glass door. She ran her hand through her hair in a sad attempt to fix it. No dice.This should be a crime,she thought before deciding it was time to make a quick exit. She opened the freezer and grabbed the tub of Chunky Monkey ice cream, threw it in the cart, and pushed around the corner.
Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks. Across the aisle, less than ten feet away from her, there he stood. Her ex, Samuel, was withher. Joanna, one of the hospital administrators, whom they all worked for, and a notorious snake in the grass, bitch. Lana was convinced she had her eye on Sam the entire time they dated. Lots of the female staff had a thing for him, and that was the price she paid for dating in the workplace.
She watched them as they laughed and held hands, picking through the fruit produce as if their lives depended on it. It didn’t help that Lana’s ego that Joanna looked like a model either—tall, toned, and tanned with her perfect nose and botox lips, wearing this season Manolos and a clingy Chanel dress. She had long red hair that reached her waistline and couldn't weigh more than a hundred and five pounds wet. Sammy, as Lana used to call him, was as handsome as she remembered, but it had onlybeen a year since he abandoned her at the altar. Hard to forget a face like that.
They had met at a Christmas party the hospital was throwing a few years prior, and the chemistry was palpable right away, locking eyes at the eggnog bowl. They both reached for the ladle at the same time, and she was smitten with him instantly. He was six foot one, slim and muscular, chocolate-skinned, and had the brightest, whitest smile she’d ever seen in real life. Lana never stood a chance, according to her mother, because she always fell in love way too fast. Sam had the type of charm that could make any woman with a heartbeat hold her breath and take notice.
After exchanging numbers at the party, they’d only dated for three years when he popped the question at the annual Christmas party. He had a way of making grand gestures, and after recruiting several of their co-workers to help him sing “their song,” he dropped to his knee, holding a diamond ring box, and changed her life forever. Six months later, on the day of the wedding, he was “running late”, the church was packed, and no one could reach him on his cell. Only after one of the guests read a Facebook message he posted did anyone realize he wasn’t coming. Facebook! Later on, she learned the message stated a simple,
“I’m sorry, I can’t do this.”
Most of the guests in the church were family and coworkers, so it only took one person to see the post before it spread like a California wildfire during Santa Ana winds. The memory of standing in that dressing room, ready to spend her life with him, then having the wind knocked from her body, still felt like yesterday for her. Lana’s heart fell from her chest and shattered into a million shards that day, and she’d been trying to pick up the pieces ever since. She never got an explanation as to whyhe did what he did, the way that he did, but she had a feeling Joanna had something to do with that. After the fiasco, Lana spent a great deal of effort avoiding him as much as possible. She switched departments, specialties, and recently decided it may be time to switch hospital systems in general, since she never shook the gossip and drama that still lingered in the halls.
Reliving those memories brought tears to her eyes. Lana was still standing in the middle of the store aisle, as the two of them melted into a watery blob. She turned away quickly before either of them saw her and wiped her face with the back of her hand. She was angry at herself that he still had that effect on her. She wasn’t in love with him anymore, but the wounds of what had happened still hadn’t healed.I will not let him see me cry,she thought, straightening her posture and running a shaky hand down her scrub top.
I’ll be fine. I can walk up to them and say hello. No biggie.Then it hit her.I look like road kill!Quickly, she turned away from them and pushed her noisy cart away, and headed toward the front of the store to make her great escape. As Lana got to the middle of the aisle, without warning, her left leg extended in front of her, and before she knew what was happening, she slid on something wet in her flip-flops and landed hard on the floor. She was staring up at the ceiling now as the pain in her back sent shockwaves down her sciatic nerve, causing her to cry out. Her shopping cart careened ahead of her and crashed into a flower display, sending vases and flowers airborne, creating even more commotion. The pain in her back was no contest to the mortification she was feeling as she lay on the ice-cold tile, looking like a wrinkled pile of laundry.
She started to peel herself up off the floor when the familiar cologne Sammy wore surrounded her—and then there he was, bending over, his face inches from hers, his outstretched hand reaching for her.
“Lana?” Sam asked, his eyebrows arched in surprise, “Are you OK?”
He still wore the linked gold chain necklace she bought him for Christmas a few years ago, she noticed as it dangled over her face. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, and then all the air was gone from her lungs. The room seemed to be spinning, and for a moment, she thought she might pass out.I’d rather be wheeled out of here on a gurney than have him see me like this,she thought in the moment. Still having not answered him, she ignored his hand and pushed herself up slowly as other shoppers ran up to her and stared.
Before she knew it, a large group of people was crowded around her, some whispering, some looking concerned. A store clerk, wearing a lime green vest with a Sure-Mart logo embossed across the front, ran to her side, his face twisted in a panic. He reached down and helped her the rest of the way up.
“Miss, are you OK?” he exclaimed.
“Yes,” she managed to squeeze out. It was a lie, and all she could think of was rewinding the last five minutes of her life. Her big red-rimmed eyes wanted to regurgitate tears, but she swallowed the urge. All she wanted was to get the hell out of there as fast as possible, but she felt like a trapped animal. It seemed as if everyone in the store had come over to see what had happened. She could barely remove the grip the store clerk had on her arm as she tried to walk away, when Sam took a step towards her, his face laden with pity.
“Lana,” he repeated.
She glanced up at him, unsure of what her response should be, and decided a simple, “I’m fine” would suffice. Before she could speak the thought, the clicks of high heels grew louder and louder through the murmur of the crowd. As Joanna stepped from behind him and linked her arm into Sam’s, Lana couldn’t help but see the huge diamond ring on her finger. Sam openedhis mouth to speak, but was interrupted when Lana’s cell phone rang. She instinctively reached into her scrub pocket and pulled it out—saved by the bell.
Glancing at the screen, her best friend’s name, “Paula,” pulsated across the long rectangular device. She began to limp away now, using the call as a get out of jail free card. The crowd parted like the Red Sea as she made her way toward the exit as fast as she could. Slowly, everyone began to disperse, taking their cue from her, as several store clerks began to clean up the mess created. Lana eyed the melting Chunky Monkey ice cream on the floor, now mixed with flower petals as she passed by. She wanted to get the manager's contact information, but wouldn’t dare turn back. That’s something I’ll have to deal with another day. As she limped forward, she wondered what Sam had opened his mouth to say before her phone interrupted him.
What could he say, really?“Sorry, you made a fool of your- self ?” “Sorry, I keep witnessing your humiliation.” At least he wasn’t entirely the cause of it this time. The hospital staff would have a field day with this once Joanna spilled her guts.How am I going to enjoy my vacation once those texts and calls start pouring in?Lana continued to fight the urge to cry as she wove in and out of aisles and headed for the store’s exit. Her back was on fire, so her swift departure was more of a slow hobble and hop combination, then finally she pressed “answer” on the phone.
“Let me call you when I get home,” she choked out, afraid she might burst into tears if she had to tell Paula what had just happened. Lana didn’t wait for a response before pressing “end”, as she finally made it through the automatic doors. As the warm evening breeze hit her, it felt like a welcome hug her mom always gave when she visited home and couldn’t help the river of tears that were lying in wait a few minutes prior. She cried all the way to her truck, no longer caring who saw her.
LANA WAS JOLTEDout of her sleep by the sound of her ringing phone. She reached over to her bedside table in the pitch-black room, as turning on a light was out of the question. Her back was still hurting despite the naproxen she took earlier, so whoever was calling had better have an emergency. Her hand felt around on the bedside table, first hitting the alarm clock, then her tablet, before feeling the familiar cube of her smartphone. Easing her eyes open, she saw “Paula” was flashing across the screen again, and she hit “answer” as she sighed.
“Hello,” she grumbled, wishing almost instantly she had just ignored the call.
Lana slowly lay back down and let the phone rest on her ear. She’d forgotten to return Paula’s call once she got home and went straight to sleep. She wasn’t exactly in a rush to share what had happened at the store anyway, and needed the nightmarish day to end. Before she could decide whether or not to spill her guts, Paula was talking a mile a minute about the new adventures she and her husband, Garret, had been on that month.
They’d been married for six years but were jet-setting like it was still their honeymoon. One month they’d be in Bali and the next in Morocco. Paula never did know how to stay still. She was the same as she was back in college, always in search of adventure. Lana envied her free spirit sometimes. Paula’s family was very wealthy, and her husband was a Hollywood producer, so she didn’t have to work. Some people had all the luck, but even with all she had, she was the most generous, down-to-earth person Lana had ever met. Never once had she ever caught Paula mistreating anyone or looking down her nose at them.
She could barely keep up with Paula’s diatribe until she heard what sounded like music to her ears. Her best friend wanted her to house sit while she and Garret extended their vacation due to a family emergency. Lana didn’t acknowledge Paula’s made-up lie; she, as well as everyone, was aware that it had been a year since the wedding fiasco. This was Paula’s attempt to distract her from the awful anniversary and one of the reasons why she loved her friend so much. No matter where she was or what she was doing, Paula always thought about others. She owned a beautiful house in a small, sleepy town outside of Atlanta, and Lana had spent time there on many occasions, housesitting. This could be the solution she needed to clear her mind. Lana sat up in bed, the throbbing in her back a distant memory now.
“I’d love to!” she exclaimed.
