Page 38 of The Lucky Heart (Jamison Valley 3)
“Oh, no! Follow me,” Gigi said, leading the way to another private ER room.
Khloe followed and I trailed them both. Within a minute, Gigi had Khloe resting comfortably in bed with her arm propped up on a pillow.
After Gigi left to fetch Dr. Faraday, I moved to Khloe’s bedside. “Can I call Derrick for you?”
“No. Please don’t.” She talked but avoided my eyes. “He’s working and I don’t want to bother him. This was just a stupid accident.”
What woman wouldn’t want her husband with her when she was in the hospital? I eyed her suspiciously. Maybe they were having marriage troubles and she didn’t want to divulge her secrets to the woman who had tormented her in high school.
“Okay. I’d be happy to sit with you while you get fixed up. Would you mind if I stayed?” I couldn’t leave Khloe alone, not in good conscience. Not when I knew what she had in store. Some of Mom’s most painful injuries had been broken bones.
“You don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine on my own.”
“I’m sure you would be but I can at least keep you company. My mom’s down the hall anyway. I was going to stick around while she rested,” I lied.
She shrugged and I took it as my invitation to pull up the metal guest chair and sit at her side.
Three hours later, Khloe was in a cast and leaving the emergency room.
“Can I drive you home?” I asked.
“I can make it. Thank you, though. And thank you for sitting with me.”
“You’re welcome.” I faked a smile and waved before walking outside with my foul and angry mood.
Khloe had been nearly silent as Dr. Faraday set and casted her arm. No screaming or crying. She hadn’t even winced. Either she was the toughest person on the planet or she was no stranger to pain.
The longer I’d sat by her side, the angrier I had become. Both the doctor and Gigi had offered to call her husband but she’d adamantly refused. Every time Derrick’s name had been mentioned, Khloe had shrunk further and further into the hospital bed.
And it hadn’t just been me that noticed either. Gigi’s eyes had found mine a couple of times and we’d shared a knowing look.
Something was going on in the Olson house and I was going to find out what. Khloe needed a friend and I was volunteering for the job. I’d prove to her that I wasn’t the mean girl from our childhood. It wouldn’t be easy, but the best friendships in my life had always been the ones that I’d worked hard to build.
And to keep.
“Thanks for meeting me,” I told Silas after handing my menu to our waitress at the café.
“Sure,” he said.
My fingers laced together on my lap so I couldn’t drum them on the table. For the last two days, since our encounter at the hospital, I had been mentally practicing my apology, but being prepared was doing nothing to settle my nerves.
“So, um, I’ve been thinking a lot about everything that’s happened. About us. We haven’t ever talked about it and I guess I thought maybe we should.”
He shook his head. “It’s in the past. Let’s leave it there. I see no reason to open old wounds.”
“Not even if it helps them heal?”
“Is that what you need?” he asked. “To hash it all out?”
“No, I guess not. But I want to apologize. I’m so sorry that I hurt you.”
He stared at me for a long moment before looking to the table and fidgeting with his napkin-wrapped silverware. “It took me a while to get over it, but I understand why you left.”
“You do?”
“You were eighteen and gearing up to start your life. Your boyfriend was a junkie. Stuff between us got real complicated, real fast. You got spooked. I think most people in your position would have done the same thing.”
No one had ever understood me as well as Silas. I shouldn’t have been shocked that he’d guessed at how I had been feeling back then.
