Her cellphone buzzed from inside her purse. Reaching lazily for it, she then thumbed the screen.
Hey, Lain. Are you home yet?
It was Thad.
Yeah, just got in.
Jilly home?
No. Talent show night.
Are you going?
I should.
I’m sorry, Lain, 4 everything. I love u. But don’t let what I did 2 u stop u from being happy. U deserve 2 B.
Lainey had no idea how to respond. And wondered why he was saying these things in a text. Why hadn’t he been able to say them to her face? When she could have read sincerity or more underhandedness from his expression.
These were my mistakes. I hope this guy u r seeing is the 1 that can make u happy 4ever.
Lain, u still there?
Yes, Thad, still here. Not sure what 2 say. Wish u could have said this when I was at the hospital.
I’m a coward, Lain. U know that by now. Will he b there 2night? At the show?
Yes.
Go, Lainey. Stop wasting time. I’m beginning 2 realize life’s 2 short.
Wow, what kind of rehab center did they put u in? They’ve worked miracles already.
Ya think? Enough that you’ll come back?
There was another pause.
You can’t blame a guy for trying.
I love u, Lainey. I always will.
Lainey swallowed hard
Get well, Thadeus.
Been a long time since u called me that. :(
I’ll always miss my Thadeus. He’s gone 4 me. It’s like he died. It hurt so much I thought I was going 2 die 2.
I’m so sorry. You’ll never know how much. But u didn’t, ‘cause you’re the strong one. U always have been. Go live, Lainey.
A few minutes passed while Lainey sat in a fog of misery and loss. Her phone buzzed one last time.
Goodbye.
She set it down and away from her.
“Goodbye, Thadeus,” she whispered.
After dragging herself to the bathroom she then jumped in the shower. But it wasn’t Thad’s words running through her thoughts anymore. They were Jason’s. He was right. What had really changed? Essentially he had revealed the truth about the band, just not the scope.
That’s what I gave up to be a teacher
, she remembered he’d said the day of the forgotten hike. She must have been in denial, with the cars and the fancy house. On some level she had to have known.
And there was the declaration that was in her every other thought—‘
I love you, Lainey, and that’s God’s honest truth.’
As Lainey drove toward the school, her cellphone chimed again.
Lainey hit the hands free button on the dash. “Hello?”
“Mama, you
are
home.”
“Hey, Jilly, I’m almost at the school now…”
“No, wait, listen, you have to hear this.”
“Jill? Jill…I…”
“Shut up, Mom and listen, he’s singing to you.”
What
?
Who
?
Jason
?
Tuning in, she heard the low tones of an acoustic guitar and that beautiful raspy voice that made her stomach cartwheel.
Straining, she tried to hear the words. She could only decipher every other one, for the noise of the crowd and Jilly holding the phone gave it a muffled, distorted sound. But all the same, the sentiment came through. He was singing Doug Stone’s
I Never Knew Love
. Jason knew that it was one of her favorite country love songs.
Lainey covered her mouth, trying to hold back the tears that blinded her.
* * * *
A bunch of students and parent volunteers spent an hour or so cleaning up and stacking chairs.
“Hey, West,” one of the other teachers called in passing. “Awesome song. You still got it.”
Grinning, he nodded his thanks.
Approaching the main doors, Jason found Henry and Jill waiting there.
“Maybe she just stopped to get something,” Henry said, running his hand up and down Jill’s back.
“I talked to her on the phone, like, two hours ago and she was in the car and on the way here. What if something happened?”
Jason’s stomach tightened.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to overhear, but I did. Are you sure your mom was on the way, Jill? Perhaps she changed her mind and didn’t want to be here because of me?”
“No, she wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t allow you to stop her from being here to see me. I phoned her when you were singing so she could hear that it was about her. She was on the way. I don’t feel right. Something is wrong.” Jill stared up at him as if she wanted him to make it all right.
“Why don’t you guys stay here and I’ll drive from here to your house, Jill. Maybe she got a flat on the way?” Jason said, trying to think up harmless situations that might have detained her mother.
“She would have texted me.”
“Maybe her cell battery died,” Henry suggested.
“You two give me a call if she shows up here and I’ll do the same if I find her between here and home,” Jason instructed. “You got my number, right, Henry?”
Henry nodded, giving him a worried look.
Jason was just about to walk out when the principal approached. “Jill, can I speak to you for a moment?” Jase knew the man enough to know that he had a serious topic to discuss and if that wasn’t a tip-off the two state troopers flanking him were.
Jase’s stomach knotted more tightly. Jill’s frightened gaze widened.
The principal took her into a more private alcove. Jase and Henry followed.
“Miss Markham, these policemen were called to a traffic accident. Your mother was in a fender bender.”
“Oh my God! How is she? Can I see her?”
“She’s been taken to Memorial. We can take you there now.”
“But how is she?” Jill cried, tears rolling down her cheeks.
“She was quite disoriented, Miss, but the prognosis is good. We’ll take you to her.”
Jill turned, exchanging a look with Henry.
“We’ll follow in my car, Jill,” Jason reassured.
“Thank you, Mr Westlake.”
All the way to the hospital Jason was on edge, cursing the cop leading for not going fast enough.
“Calm down, J-Dub, it sounds like it’s not that bad. I’m sure she’s fine.”
“Yeah, we’ll see how you react when someone you love is hurt, kid.”
“Is that so?”
“Is what so?” he snapped.
“Someone you love, huh?”
He didn’t deny it.
“Yeah, fat lotta good it’ll do me,” Jase said, wheeling into the hospital parking lot. “Look how I fouled things up. And worst of all is you tried to tell me in the beginning to fess up. Be an adult and just be honest.”
* * * *
Jase and Henry remained out in the hall while Jill visited with Lainey. He so badly wanted to go in and see and feel for himself that she was all right but wondered if it would just upset Lainey more to see him. She had been incredibly hurt and angry the last time he’d attempted to talk to her.
Jill walked out into the hallway and right into Henry’s arms.
“How is she?”
“They say she’s going to be fine, but they have her so drugged she can’t rouse herself enough to talk to me. Her poor nose is broken and already under her eyes is turning black.”
“Sounds more like she got beat up,” Henry responded.
“The nurse said the airbag went off. She said that’s normal and she’s lucky that her wrist is only sprained because usually in car accidents when the bag goes off, the driver ends up punching themselves in the face at a high rate of speed, from the force and velocity.”
“Huh, I never really thought about that. Seems to me that those things can be worse than some minor accidents.”
“Come on, you two, I’ll take you home,” Jason said to them.
“Don’t you want to go in and see her?” Jill looked up at him, her eyes glassy and accusatory.
“You said she’s not even coherent, and I’m probably the last person she wants to see right now. She’s had enough upset the last few days. Let’s go.”
As they were going down in the elevator, Henry spoke, “Well, look at it this way, J-Dub—as I see it Jill’s dad would be the last person in the world Ms C might want to see, you’re just second last.”
Tucking his tongue into the corner of his cheek so that he wouldn’t lash the kid with it, Jason then took a deep breath.
Jason barely listened to the two teenagers yapping in the back seat. Pulling up outside Lainey’s house, Jase popped the car in park. Jill and Henry got out.
“Thanks for the ride home, Mr Westlake.”
“Yeah, thanks, J-Dub.”
Henry slammed the car door.
“Wait, wait, whoa, whoa,” Jason said jumping out of the car. “And where do you think you’re going, hot shot?”
“I’m going to stay with Jill. She doesn’t want to stay here by herself.”
Jill blushed to the roots of her hair.
“Yeah, try again. Get in.” Jason opened the door for Henry to get back in.
Henry neared Jason and said in hushed tones, “Come on, J-Dub. What the hell are ya doin’?”
Jason grabbed the kid by the collar and sat him forcefully in the passenger’s seat then turned to Jill. “Go in the house. Goodnight, Jill,” Jason said.
Sitting back in the car, Jason waited until Jill was safely inside before he pulled away.
“That was uncalled for, J-Dub.”
“Uncalled for? Do you think I was born yesterday?”
“No, but I know your lifestyle. You can’t act like an outraged parent when I’ve seen the women you’ve fu—”
“Stop. Right there. That was my life before. And there was no way I was gonna let you stay there alone with her. You two can do that stuff on your own time, but I’ll be damned if you’re going to do it on my watch. Lainey would kill me. And frankly, I don’t want to know.”
“Geez, Dub, ya act like we’ve never do—”
“Shut up, kid! Just shut your damn mouth.”
Henry doubled up in hysterics, holding his stomach.
“I’m just shittin’ ya, Dub. We haven’t yet.”
“Jesus, what does ‘shut the fuck up’ mean to you, kid?” Jason cautioned wearily.
“I’m sorry, I’ll be good. But we were just gonna cuddle—”
Jason raised his hand having every intention of backhanding the kid in the chest, but then his teacher senses kicked in and he aborted.
Hands off the students
. Jason knew exactly what cuddling at their age led to, especially when one of the participants was upset.
He pulled up out front of Henry’s place and stopped.
“Just get out. Don’t say another word.”
Henry did as he was told.
“And don’t bother going back to the school to get your truck so that you can go back over to Jill’s. Go in your own house and go to bed, Henry. You got me?”
Henry nodded, waved and jogged up the path to his house. Again, Jason waited until he went inside before he drove away.
Making a big loop around the block, he then parked just down the street from Lainey and Jill’s and waited. It wasn’t that long ago that he was a teenage boy too and he wouldn’t have listened.
About half an hour later Henry, in his mom’s car, drove into Jill’s driveway.
Jason watched him from a deckchair in the corner of the darkened porch. Henry rang the bell then cupped his hand and blew into it, checking his breath.
“Ya want a breath mint, kid?”
Henry jumped about a foot in the air, just as the door opened.
“Fuck! You scared the shit out of me!”
Jason moved into the light the open door created. Jill’s eyes were huge as she stared at the two of them. She rushed to hold her robe closed and for the second time that night, her face turned bright red.
Jason didn’t speak another word, but clamped his hand around the back of Henry’s neck and turned him around, resisting the urge to kick him in the ass all the way back to his mommy’s car.
After opening the car door, Jason sat him down then closed the door, and promptly followed him home, driving straight on past when Henry parked.
Jason didn’t even bother to go to stake out Jill’s again. Both kids would think that he was there. Instead he drove back to the hospital.
It was long past visiting hours. He made it all the way up to the floor Lainey was on before he was stopped by one of the nurses.
“Please, I just want to sit with her. So she’s not alone. I won’t bother her or disturb her.”
“Are you her husband?”
Jase hesitated for a moment, ready to go with the lie if it would get him in there.
“No. I’m not. But I hope to be one day. Whoa!” He exhaled, as his own admission sank in. “Wow!”
“Now you look like you need to sit down, sir.”
“Then can I go in?”
“No, I’m sorry, we have rules and reg—” Suddenly she narrowed her gaze. Jase knew that look. “Hey, are you Jase West?”
“Yeah, I used to be.”
“Well, maybe you can sneak in there for a little bit.”
Plastering an obligatory smile on his face, he thanked her.
Jase sat down beside the bed. Lainey did look like she’d been in a fight—eyes puffy and purplish, her entire face seemed somewhat swollen from the deployment of the airbag.
Jase stroked a comforting finger over the back of her bound hand.
Out of the blue, mumbling nonsense, she stirred.
“Jilly…?” she murmured. The anguish in her voice hit him square in the chest.
Jason reached up and stroked her dark hair, crooning softly. “Jilly’s fine, my Lainey love. I took her home myself and made sure she was safely in the house. Even put the run on the determined horny little coyote stalking her,” he said, the last more to himself.
“Jason?”
“Yeah, babe, I’m here.”
It seemed to calm her. He took some solace in that at least. She didn’t curse him out or demand that he leave her room and she hadn’t called for Thad.
“Ahh, Lainey, you don’t know how scared I was when I found out you were hurt. You mean so much to me. I don’t want to waste any more time. I know we just met and that you hate what I did, but I want to be with you.” Discouraged, he shook his head.