A Five-Minute Life

I wanted to save the dress for the ceremony, so I changed back into shorts and a tank. Jimmy held my hand, our fingers entwined, as we got in the elevator.

“I love you, baby,” he said.

“I love you, too,” I said and leaned my cheek on his arm. The elevator doors closed and then opened again immediately to reveal the hotel lobby. Like a magic trick.

I froze.

“You okay?” Jimmy asked.

My head nodded faintly. “Fine.”

We crossed the lobby and into sunshine that seemed too bright. The heat wrapped around me too, and I broke out in a sweat. Jimmy let go of my hand to hail a taxi. I glanced around at the bustling corner; the cars driving past and the pedestrians striding toward their destinations. So much noise and color and searing sunlight. I put on my sunglasses, then reached for Jimmy’s hand when he came back.

“It’s so busy today—oh, God!”

My heart crashed in my chest; Jimmy’s face had rearranged itself into blue eyes, a bigger nose, smaller chin… I dropped the stranger’s hand and stepped back. “I’m so sorry. I thought you were someone else.”

“No problem, lady.”

My heart pounded as I turned a slow circle. I wasn’t on the corner anymore but down the sidewalk, in the middle of the block.

“Thea!” I spun and Jimmy was hurrying toward me. “What the hell happened?”

“N-Nothing,” I said. “I got confused. I’m okay now.”

Jimmy rubbed his hand over his mouth, thinking. “I think we should go back.”

“No, I’m fine. I’m okay, I promise.”

“You’re not fine.”

“I am. It’s really hot out today, that’s all. And if we go back to Virginia without being married, Delia will keep you from me.”

“Maybe not,” he said. “We can talk to her. But I don’t think—”

“That I’m of sound mind?” My hands made fists in frustration; my fingernails bit into my palms. “I can do this, Jimmy. Let’s not waste any more time.”

He hesitated and I could see the conflict warring behind his eyes. He finally nodded and we returned to the corner to grab the cab he’d flagged down. He kept his hand clasped tight to mine and didn’t let go. I concentrated on keeping myself present, focusing on the city outside the windows, until the cab pulled over to the corner of Worth and Centre.

“Twenty-two fifty,” the cabbie said.

I dug in my backpack. “Here, I’ve got cash.”

“I got it,” Jimmy said.

Suddenly I was standing on the sidewalk and he was reaching for my hand again.

“Oh God,” I whispered.

“What is it? Fuck, another one?”

I sucked in a shaking breath. “Jimmy, I—”

My phone rang, and I hurried to fish it out of my bag so I wouldn’t have to look at his anguished face.

It was Delia.

“What do you mean, you’re staying one more day?” she demanded. “You can’t stay in New York if you stopped taking the Hazarin. Dr. Chen said Milton’s patients who stopped taking it started to regress almost immediately.”