Blindside

Episode SIX

Roni

As if she weren't already feeling slightly tense, Roni froze when she saw the name on her phone after it rang. Mateo. What could he possibly be calling her for? Jack's appointment with him was in less than an hour. Had he remembered where he knew her from and had to call immediately to tell her? The now-familiar knot in her stomach was back. She'd have to tell Noah if that were the case because she was already feeling rotten about having kept anything from him.

Reminding herself that, despite everything she and Nellie had discussed yesterday and what she knew Noah was thinking, they'd all very likely made too much of this already. Despite the conclusions they'd all so hastily jumped to, the man hadn't so much as said anything inappropriate to her.

So, she took a deep breath and answered. "Hello?"

There were muffled sounds, and she heard him say something but couldn't make anything out. Then the line clicked, and he hung up. Roni stared at the screen for a second and waited, wondering if he'd be calling back. She set the phone down, relieved when it didn't immediately ring and finished straightening her hair.

By the time she was done getting ready, he still hadn't called back. At that point, Roni assumed he'd simply dialed her by mistake, and she felt silly now. She gathered her things and Jack and got in the car, ready to get this over with once and for all.

When she got to his office, the receptionist informed her that the doctor was running a little late but was on his way. Unbelievably, after all the paperwork she'd filled out the first day they still had more for her. But it served to keep her busy while she waited.

Midway through her paperwork, her phone buzzed. She'd made a point to set it to vibrate because there were signs all over asking people to stay off their phones while in the office. It was Nellie calling, so she sent it to voicemail but sent a text saying she was sitting in the waiting room and couldn't answer the phone. Nellie responded almost immediately with a text.

I remembered something kind of important about Mat!

Curious and feeling her insides knot up all over again, Roni responded, asking what that was and waited. A part of her regretted telling her friend about this in the first place. Nellie was wonderful and all, and Roni loved brainstorming with and venting to her. But if Roni had kept her big mouth shut about this in the first place, her anxiety might've ended when Noah apologized the day Mat called her. Their prattling on about this had only made things worse. Her phone buzzed again. The much longer text explained why it'd taken Nellie longer to respond this time and Roni braced herself. The very first sentence made her smile.

I wasn't TRYING to remember anything more to rattle you. It just came to me and it's something that might actually lessen your angst about this. I think Mat's married. I remembered, you telling me he didn't wear a ring but it was rumored that he might be. This might all just be a product of our overactive and suspicious minds. =)

The relief Roni began to feel was fleeting because this gave way to another reminder and her heart sped up. She could hardly believe now that she'd forgotten something so significant. But then this all had happened just before her mother's cancer diagnosis. Everything else that happened around that time was now a blur.

"Mrs. Quintanilla?" Roni looked up at the girl at the open doorway. "You can come back now."

For a moment, Roni hesitated to move but then stood up and called out for Jack. They were walked back to the doctor's empty office. "He's not here yet, but he just called to say he's close, so you can have a seat in his office until he arrives." The girl walked out, closing the door behind her.