My Kind of Town
>> Queen's Medical Center Who was that slut?
Lily Ah Sun was exactly where she'd longed to be, surrounded by her cousin Quinn's strong arms. Exactly how that happened, she couldn't say. But no sooner had she arrived back here than the doubts began to shout above her bliss. He's a liar. He's a cheater. He's playing the ultimate hand of deny-deny-deny. Sure he was knocked out from the painkillers and didn't know that woman was kissing and touching him. Sure he was.
Lily pulled away, punched his arm harder than is really necessary to emphasize a point with someone who is hooked up to an IV drip and whose right thigh is being held together by stitches. "But then dammit, Quinn, who was that slut in here with you?!"
"What're you talking about?" There she went again, coming totally out of left field.
"She was kissing you, Quinn! And she was touching you ... down there!"
"Trust me, I'd know if anybody was doing that." He remembered Lily's light, passing touch in the moonlight at Maunalua Bay.
"She came by yesterday too and introduced herself before I kicked her out. Name's Gwen."
"Not Roselovich?!"
"Exactly. Her picture's in the dictionary next to hoochie mama."
Quinn had to laugh at that. Which made Lily smile.
Quinn's fingers brushed her's, reaching to take her hand in his. But she was not ready to give in all the way just yet and pulled her hand away. Stepping back from the bed, she leveled a piercing eye and a pointed finger at him.
"Do not bull---- me on this, Quinn Ah Sun. Do you understand? I swear I'll never forgive you if you are. We're talking lifetime trust factor here, mister!"
"I was kinda getting that feeling. Lily, remember that first night I told you there's a dispatcher who's had the hots for me for a while. That's Gwen. But I promise, she's not my type, doesn't turn me on at all. Hell, I feel kind of sorry for her."
Lily gave him a look. "How sorry?"
"Not sorry enough to do, you know, like a mercy thing. Lily, swear to God, I was still knocked out from the painkillers when she was here. I have no memory of her being here. Or you."
"So where did all the photocopies go when I threw them at you?"
They heard a knock on the door. His door got knocked so often around here, Quinn was starting to think he lived inside a drum. "Come in."
Gwen Roselovich, wearing more makeup than a block of Kuhio Avenue hookers, poked her head in, saw Lily. "Oops ..."
"Gwen, just the person I wanted to see," Quinn said. "Come in. I understand you've met my cousin Lily."
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin
with weekly summaries on Sunday.
He can be emailed at dchapman@midweek.com