No Return

54

Wes finally reached the Desert Rose Motel at nearly 2 a.m., a sorry mix of pain and exhaustion. He carefully opened the door to his room so as to not wake Anna, but he needn’t have been so cautious. She wasn’t there. She’d apparently gotten tired of waiting for him and gone back to her own room. He thought about letting her know he was back, but he was just too exhausted. She’d be mad at him in the morning, but he convinced himself it was better to just let her sleep.

He took four Advils, then forced himself into the shower and washed out his wound. The gash was as unattractive as it was painful, but his initial instincts had been correct-he wasn’t going to need any stitches.

Once he was finished with the shower, he found a couple of Band-Aids in his shaving kit and slapped them over the wound-inadequate at best, but better than nothing-then stretched out on the bed with the papers Lars had shoved in his hand. The last thing he remembered was looking at the top sheet and trying to make sense of the words. Sleep had other ideas.