The Reckless Oath We Made

“My lady, ’tis.” He stood up and opened the passenger door for me. Even though he offered his hand for me to get up in the cab, he looked shocked when I put my hand on his shoulder for leverage. Once I was in the cab, he tucked my crutches behind the seat and closed the door.

When he went around and got into the driver’s seat, I snuck a picture of him and sent it to LaReigne. If I get murdered, this is the guy who gave me a ride.

“What’s your name?” I said.

“I am called Gentry Frank.” He glanced over at me for about half a second.

“I’m Zhorzha. Rhymes with Borgia,” I said, like always. “You can call me Zee.”

“Lady Zhorzha, whither goest thou?”

“Okay, you’re cracking me up with that. I need to go past Twenty-ninth and Rock, if that’s not too far.”

I guessed it wasn’t because he took me all the way home. I would have had him drop me off at the front gate of the complex, but I was so tired I didn’t care. I told him the gate code and had him drive me up to the building. He pulled in and parked next to LaReigne’s car. Either she’d lied to me about Loudon taking the car or the dickhead had just come home.

While I was trying to get myself out of the truck, Gentry came around and got my crutches out. He held out his arm for me to take, but I used the doorframe instead, because he’d seemed so freaked out about me touching him.

“My lady, shall I help thee?”

“No, my good sir,” I said, trying to get into it, to be nice. “Thank you, though. I appreciate it.”

“If thou needest aught.” He’d bowed and held something out to me: an appointment card from the PT clinic with his phone number written on the back. I turned it over and looked at his appointment time. Half an hour before mine. So he’d waited all that time for me to walk out of the clinic. Waiting to give me that card? The corners were damp and worn down like he’d been worrying it in his hand.

“Um, thank you,” I said, but I’d put the card in my back pocket, thinking like hell was I ever going to call him.

In the condo, LaReigne and Loudon were having a shouting match while Marcus hid in the bedroom. As soon as I walked in, the fight turned into Your fucking sister here all the time and she doesn’t even pay rent! Which was pretty goddamn rich coming from Loudon, who didn’t pay rent, either. His parents paid for everything.

“Don’t you talk that way about my sister!” LaReigne always said, and I’d end up offering to leave, even though there was no place for me to go. Sometimes I’d spend a night at my cousin Emma’s, and sometimes with my high school buddy Shelton, but he was homeless about half the time, too. I always ended up back with LaReigne and Loudon.

The next week, I’d seen Gentry at PT again. Waiting for me. I didn’t waste any energy pretending I didn’t need a ride. After all, that’s why he was hanging around, and it saved me the trouble of getting LaReigne to pick me up. The week after that, Gentry had started taking me to my appointments, waiting while I did PT, and then taking me home. By then he wasn’t even doing PT anymore, and I felt like a mooch. Not that I wasn’t used to feeling like a mooch, but I was always trying to start over being a better person. So I offered to buy him lunch before he took me home. I thought he’d relax, and I’d feel better about the whole situation. Except we didn’t talk much and he ended up paying for lunch.

Next week, same thing. Him sitting in the waiting room with his head down over a book, then lunch again. I forced myself to make small talk.

“Are you in school?”

“Nay, my lady.”

“Where do you work?”

“I am a vassal of the Duke of Bombardier,” he said.

“Wait. Bombardier?” I got the giggles, and even though it was probably wrong, I said, “Verily, thou doth build flying machines?”

Some little light went on in him. He smiled and looked at me. Just for a second.

“Yea, my lady. ’Tis my duty to rivet wings upon Learjets.”

“So how did you hurt your shoulder?”

“I was wounded in a joust,” he said.

“Really? Well, obviously, really.” He said so little, and I only understood part of it, so right then I’d decided to take whatever he said at face value.

 

* * *

 

—

THE DAY I was officially crutch free and brace free, I did a happy dance in the PT clinic parking lot. Gentry stood next to his truck, smiling, watching my little celebration. I didn’t even think about what I was doing. I was so happy to be walking again that I kissed him. Well, I tried to kiss him. He was so surprised that he pulled back from me like I’d tried to bite him. Maybe surprised was the wrong word. Horrified? I got into the truck cab and slammed the door, feeling totally embarrassed. For half a minute he stood there, with a blank look on his face, and then he walked around to the back of the truck.

I watched him in the side-view mirror having a whole conversation with himself. Talking, nodding, shaking his head, gesturing with his left hand, while he rested the right one on top of his head. After a few minutes of that, he came around and got in the truck. He cleared his throat, started the truck, cleared his throat again.

“Look,” I said. “I’m sorry about that. Just a misunderstanding. No big deal.”

“Nay, my lady. Thy kiss offendeth me not.”

I’d only tried to kiss him because it seemed like the next step to whatever was going on. I never understood romance, but I knew what it looked like from the outside well enough to fake it when I needed to. I’d faked almost my whole relationship with Nicholas, because I couldn’t get ahead by myself on minimum wage.

Gentry, though, he was . . . I guess the word is chivalrous, but he wasn’t romantic. That whole my lady, thy servant wasn’t going to turn into my lady, thy boyfriend.

We drove to the condo without talking, and, when we got there, I figured that was the end of things. He came around to open the door for me, even though I didn’t need help with my crutches anymore.

“When cometh again thy physic?” he said. My next appointment, he meant.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to keep taking me. It’s only a few more weeks, and I can walk to the bus now.”

“Nay. ’Tis my honor—”

“I know. It’s your honor to help me. But for how long? One of these days I’ll be all healed up.” I hoped that was true. I was counting on being able to get a job and get the hell out of Loudon’s house.

“For always, my lady,” Gentry said. When I didn’t respond to that, he asked me again about my next appointment, so I told him.