The Summer I Fell (The Six Series) (29 page)

Paige’s mouth dropped open, and she glared at Jared when Oliver shook his head and walked away. “Are you serious? All of that could have been eliminated if you’d stop being so damn stubborn!”

“I don’t need a shadow babysitting my every move!” Jared roared back at her.

“No, you fucking idiot. You’re right. You don’t need a babysitter. You need a fucking savior!” Her arms fell beside her into clenched fists. “Riley, I’m done here. Can we go?”

Before I could step in and calm the situation down, Paige stormed off. I took off after her. When I caught up with her, I was almost at a jog to keep pace. “Paige, wait!”

She never broke stride. “No, Riley. I won’t wait. And you shouldn’t either. This is no place for us. We need to go home.”

“But, we just got here… We haven’t even had a chance to see Jared.”

“You can stay as long as you like today. I’m heading back to the hotel. We’re leaving tomorrow, even if I have to knock you out and stuff you in my car.”

I let her go. She was beyond hearing anything I had to say.

Jared jogged up to me. “Is she okay?”

My eyes filled with tears. I’d just wanted today to be a good day. I hadn’t seen Jared in weeks. Hadn’t seen any of the Six in weeks, and I missed them. When he saw the first tear fall, he pulled me into a hug.

“I’m sorry, Riley. Maybe being here wasn’t a smart idea. You should go back to the hotel with Paige.”

I pulled back from him, wiping the wetness from my cheeks. “And then what, Jared? Forget I know you? Forget we’re friends?”

He grabbed my hands and held them tight. “No, Riles. Never that. I couldn’t live with myself if you weren’t my friend. I just think that concerts aren’t a good idea. We’ll see each other in between my concerts. I can fly you and Paige out when I have a few days between gigs. We can hang out in a safe place where you don’t get shoved to the ground, and I don’t get attacked.”

“I’m not ready to say good-bye. I just barely got to say hello,” I said, kicking my foot against the grass.

“Hey,” he said, lifting my chin, “it’s okay. Besides, the bands packing up and heading out in like thirty minutes.”

A sigh slipped past my lips. I braced myself to argue with him, as he lifted his hand and waved at someone behind me. “Jared…”

A golf cart rolled up beside us. When I turned, Oliver patted the seat beside him. “Come on; let’s go find your friend so she doesn’t have to walk back to the hotel alone.”

Jared hugged me tight and then ushered me into the golf cart. “I’ll call you!” he shouted as he turned and jogged away.

“What the hell?” Jared had handed me off without even looking back.

“Where to?” Oliver asked as he turned the golf cart around.

WHEN WE PULLED INTO MY
driveway the next day, things were tense between Paige and me. She’d been furious over what happened at Jared’s concert, and I really didn’t blame her, but there was nothing we could do about it. How was Jared to know that would happen? I couldn’t stay mad at him for things that were out of his control. Paige, on the other hand, was ready to beat the shit out of him the next time she saw him. I don’t know how many times she repeated the fact that I could have died, been trampled to death in the crowd, all because of his need to be some sort of rock-n-roll god. It didn’t do any good to fight back with her. She needed time to process it and then get over it. I’d wait it out, and things would be fine. Besides, it was highly unlikely Jared would invite us back to one of his concerts anyway. It would probably be months before I saw him again.

The silver lining in all of it was the fact that Ace’s graduation was fast approaching, and I’d get to see him again. Hold him again. My fingers came into contact with the pendant they’d given me. Each one of them had a little piece of my heart. Each one of them was a link to who I was. Each one was living their lives while I stood in a sort of stasis of my own making. I picked up the phone and called Dr. Anderson. I wasn’t going to sit around and feel sorry for myself. I had a life too, damn it, and I needed to start living it.

As I pulled up Dr. Anderson’s number, my phone rang. The unknown number flashed on my screen, making me curious as to who it could be. There weren’t that many people I talked to, and those I did were programmed in my phone. Instead of answering it, I let it go to voice mail and called Dr. Anderson. If it were important, they’d leave me a message.

DR. ANDERSON PUT ME RIGHT TO
work and, over the next couple of days, I got up with the sun and worked until well after it set. There had been a higher rate of emergencies than normal for the vet’s office, and I tagged along with Dr. Anderson to gain as much experience as I could. Once Ace graduated, I planned to go back to school. I just wasn’t sure which one yet. His graduation was in just a couple of days, and my stomach danced nervously as the hours passed by. I’d checked in with his mom, and we were all set to leave the day before he graduated. We were staying at a hotel close to Fort Benning.

My phone had rang a couple of times while I’d been armpit deep in a cow while helping Dr. Anderson, and I wasn’t able to answer it. By midday, I’d missed four calls from the same unknown number that had called me a few days before. When we got back to the clinic, I scrubbed my hands again with antimicrobial soap and changed my cow shit-stained shirt with a
T-shirt Dr. Anderson gave me. When I stepped out of the bathroom, my phone went off again.

“Riley?” Dr. Anderson called to me from the back where he kept all his overnight patients. “I need your help.”

I dismissed the phone call and ran towards the sound of his concerned voice.

We were a flurry of activity over the next hour, trying to save the twelve-year-old Australian Shepard that belonged to a little boy named Sam. Nothing we did worked. It was as if the dog was ready. It was his time. We had to let him go with a little peace and a whole lot of tears.

I swiped at my face and bit my lip to keep from sounding like a blubbering baby.

“I wish I could say it gets easier, Riley. But it really doesn’t. We just have to comfort ourselves in knowing that we did everything we could. It was just his time. Why don’t you head on home and get some rest while I talk to the family? You’ve worked your ass off these last few days with me. Now I need you to rest. Okay?”

I nodded and backed out of the room. Could I really handle a job where no matter what I did, I could never save them all?

I left out the back door, more like escaped, and drove home, not remembering even getting in my truck, let alone starting it. Letting myself into the house, I made my way to the stairs, and my phone rang. It was that unknown number again, and whoever it was—they were persistent. I slid my finger across the screen and answered.

“Ms. Clifton?” I’d never heard the person on the other end of the line before.

“Yes, this is Riley Clifton.” My mind raced as I waited for what he said next.

“This is Dr. Steiner. I’m the head Cardiologist at Houston General. I’m calling because your father was a patient of mine for the last couple of weeks.”

I lowered myself to sit on the stairs. My hand gripped the phone, as dread settled into my stomach.

“Miss, are you still there?” The soft-spoken voice he used made me break into a cold sweat.

“Is everything okay with my dad?” I gripped the phone in my hands until I heard the plastic crack.

“I’m very sorry to have to do this over the phone, Ms. Clifton, but it was your dad’s last instructions.”

“Last instructions?” There had to be some sort of mistake.

“Your father was admitted into Houston General after coming in with the compliant of having chest pains. Upon his admittance, he had a mild heart attack. He underwent surgery to clear the blockage we’d found in an MRI. Unfortunately, his heart became weakened, and we were unable to save him on the operating table.”

My hand clamped over my mouth, as my keening cries ripped from my throat. How could my dad have not told me? Why would he keep it from me? I could have been there. I could have…

“Ms. Clifton? Once again, I’m very sorry to have to tell you like this. However, I need to inform you of the rest before we hang up.” He never paused, probably knowing he’d shocked me and wrecked me all at the same time. “Your father insisted on a Living Will before he underwent surgery. In his will, it asked us to only contact you in the chance he did not survive the surgery. All of the medical costs have been covered by his insurance provider. If you receive any bills, please contact the insurance company and they can help you sort it out. I know this is a lot to take in. Please understand he only wanted to make this process as easy as possible for you. I just need you to know that before I tell you what his last and final instructions were.”

I swallowed the acid crawling up my throat and pushed myself to say something in reply. “I under—I understand.”

“Thank you, Ms. Clifton. In his last instructions, he has listed the following. I am to remind you of the locked box in his closet. In it will be all the paperwork you’ll need for the house and his life insurance policies. Your father chose to be cremated. His remains have been sent off, and I’m waiting for the cremains to be shipped back here to the hospital, or to you if you prefer.”

I bit my cheek until I tasted blood. “Me… I want him sent to me.”

“Of course. I’ll get the paperwork submitted and have your father’s cremains sent to you. Please know that I personally wish you the best. I had the honor of speaking with your father before his surgery. He was a very nice man who loved you very much.”

That angered me a little. How dare he tell me how my father felt? How dare he be the one that spent my father’s final days with him? It should have been me. Not him. “Don’t act like you knew anything about him. Don’t tell me how good he was when he couldn’t even bother telling me what was going on. He kept himself from me. He kept me from being able to tell him I loved him… from being able to say goodbye!”

I hurled my phone across the room and it hit the wall, flying apart in pieces.

I shot off the stairs. Oh God… Oh God… I shouldn’t have done that! Why did I do that? I slammed my hands against my head as I buckled to the floor, rocking my body as I let go and wrapped my arms around my legs. How was I supposed to know when they’d ship what was left of my dad? How would I get back in touch with the doctor? My phone was shattered. Would they be able to retrieve the number he’d called from? I had to get to the store I’d bought my phone from. I needed a new phone. I needed the doctor’s number. I needed to get up off the floor and stand up. I just couldn’t. My arms wouldn’t unlock from my legs, because if they did, and I stood up and grabbed my keys, it meant I had to buy a new phone because I’d smashed my old one. I’d smashed it because the doctor on the other end of the phone had said my dad was dead. My dad couldn’t be dead. He was all I had left of my family.

My sobs strangled me. I couldn’t breathe past them. It had to be a bad dream. I’d just fallen asleep. I’d wake up, and it would all have just been a nightmare brought on from losing a patient. A beautiful Australian Sheppard that belonged to a little boy named Sam.