Keeping the Beat

by Marie Powell

  “Is she okay?” Harper demanded.

  “Yeah, she will be,” Lucy said. To her surprise, Harper responded by throwing herself into Lucy’s arms and clinging tightly to her.

  Lucy patted her back awkwardly. Was this just more Harper dramatics?

  No; Harper was shaking.

  “Are you okay?” Lucy asked quietly, so only the two of them could hear. “Where’s Rafe?”

  For a moment, Harper looked as though she might burst into tears, but instead she squared her shoulders and pasted a fake smile onto her face.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said. “Rafe decided to just drop me off and head back. He hates hospitals.”

  Harper was a good liar, but Lucy knew her too well to be fooled. Something was wrong. This wasn’t just about Robyn.

  “How is Robyn?” Harper continued. “That’s the only thing that matters.”

  “She’s dehydrated and malnourished,” Toni said. “Whatever Tomas gave her nearly did her in.”

  “Stupid cow,” Harper said, wiping at her eyes. “I knew she was messed up. But I got …” Her lower lip quivered again as though she was only moments away from tears. “I got distracted. This is my fault.”

  “There wasn’t anything you could have done,” Skye broke in. “Not today. We all should have said something a long time ago.”

  “Yeah,” Iza said. “It’s no one’s fault. We just have to help her now.”

  “It is someone’s fault,” Toni said, shaking her head. “It’s Tomas Angerman’s fault.”

  Before Lucy could reply, a pair of paramedics raced into the emergency unit, wheeling a stretcher at a dead run.

  “Get the paddles!” one of the medics yelled. “He’s already crashed once. We got him back, but he’s still in bad shape.”

  “There’s significant internal bleeding,” the other medic told Dr. Rashid, who had come out of the ER to meet them. “Head trauma. Probable organ damage.”

  “Get me a neuro consult,” Dr. Rashid called to a nurse, falling in beside the stretcher as they disappeared down the hall into the ER.

  Skye’s phone clattered from her fingers. She was chalk white. She’d clearly recognized the battered form on the stretcher, just as Lucy had.

  It was Cesar.

  “Was that …” Toni said, staring after the stretcher.

  “Yeah,” Iza said. “That’s your gardener, isn’t it, Skye? I wonder what happened to him?”

  “Hit and run.” One of the paramedics who’d brought Cesar in pushed back through the doors, looking exhausted. “A brutal one. Mowed him down right in the driveway of the house where the poor kid works. I hope we got there in time, but it’s not good. If you know his next of kin, miss, you need to talk to the nurse right away.”

  “Oh my God.” Harper’s words were barely a whisper.

  “That’s awful,” Toni said.

  Skye was frozen, as though she’d been turned to stone at the sight of Cesar’s prone body.

  “Skye?” Lucy said, moving to the dark-haired girl’s side. “Are you all right?”

  Skye just shook her head.

  No. She wasn’t all right. Of course she wasn’t. Lucy couldn’t imagine how Skye felt; the boy she loved was hurt — and badly so. But to the world, he was only her gardener. Could proud, image-conscious Skye really admit to the world that Cesar Delgado was more than just her employee?

  Skye turned to look at Lucy with eyes that brimmed with tears.

  “He … he looked dead, Lucy.”

  “But he’s not,” Lucy said, hoping that it was true. “They’re trying to help him. And I think …” Someone had to say it to her, Lucy thought. “I think he needs you with him, don’t you?”

  Skye drew in a breath and then forced it out again, then another, as though each contraction of her lungs required intense concentration. Finally, she nodded. “I’m going to … I’m going in there. Please, just …” She clearly couldn’t finish the thought.

  “We’ll be fine, Skye,” Lucy said. “You have to go now. You’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t.”

  Skye nodded, scooped up her phone and walked into the emergency ward without a backward glance.

  Harper was glad she had the bathroom to herself — she was a mess. She shook out the chignon she was trying to tie her hair up into and started again. Her locks were harsh and sticky with salt water and sand and her hands were shaking so hard that she could barely keep a grip on the strands.

  She clenched her fingers into fists for a moment, then shook them out. That was a little better.

  She started again. Focus, she thought. She just needed to focus.

  Who was she kidding? She didn’t need to focus. She needed to call the police and tell them what Rafe had done. What she and Rafe had done. It was just an accident. They’d understand that.

  Or at least they would have, if she hadn’t let Rafe drive away.

  He must have been terrified, Harper thought, to do what he did. She’d felt like her brain had crumbled into dust when that horrible, smashing sound filled her ears, and she’d just been in the passenger seat. She couldn’t imagine how Rafe felt.

  But that didn’t mean that running away was the answer.

  What the hell was she going to do?

  Her cell phone punctured the silence with a tinny refrain of “I’ll Cross the World.” She looked down at the screen. Unknown number. What if it was the police?

  She thought about not answering. She thought about smashing the damn thing to bits.

  Instead, she swiped the call to life.

  “YOU BITCH.”

  The snarling voice was loud enough that she didn’t even have to bring the phone to her ear.

  “This is not the time, Tomas,” she said.

  “Oh, it’s the time,” he snarled back. “It’s the last time I’m going to ask you to hand over what’s mine.”

  “I told you exactly what I was going to do if you came near Robyn again,” Harper said, letting all of the pain and confusion and horror of her day burn into clean, righteous fury. “She’s in the hospital, thanks to you. You’re not going to turn a profit from nearly killing her. No. Way.”

  “I’m not the one you have to worry about, you stupid, stupid girl,” he spat back. “Where do you think I get my product? The tooth fairy? You have no idea what you’ve put yourself in the middle of, Harper McKenzie. You don’t mess with these people.”

  “And you don’t mess with me,” Harper said. And then she hung up.

  She slid out of the bathroom and walked up the corridor, feeling as though she was slowly turning to stone. Tomas was right. She had no idea how big a mess she’d been letting herself in for when she signed up for Project Next. Maybe she should have just given up on Rafe and stayed at home.

  No. Crush would never have happened if she’d stayed at home. And none of this trouble actually had anything to do with Project Next. This disaster was one hundred percent Harper-made, from start to finish. She just hoped she could fix everything she’d broken.

  He’s going to die. He’s going to die. He’s going to die. He’s going —

  “Stop that,” Skye ordered the frantic little voice in the back of her head that was stuck in a loop of doom. Cesar wasn’t going to die. Skye wasn’t going to let him.

  “He’s not going to die,” she insisted again. “He’s not going to die.”

  She took a firmer grip on the horribly limp hand that she was holding and reached up to smooth his sweaty black hair away from the butterfly stitches that held a gash on his forehead together.

  She willed herself to remember what it felt like when his big, callused hand closed around hers, folding her fingers inside his and engulfing her hand with his own. Cesar liked to tease her for being cold in seventy-degree weather, but he was always ready to warm her icy hands in his own. He would do it again, s
he thought. Then she could forget the awful feeling of lifelessness in the hand she’d been gripping ever since they’d brought him back from six hours in surgery.

  “Come on, C,” she whispered. “You have to wake up. The doctor said you could. Now you just have to do it. I know you can. I know you. You don’t give up.”

  The big hand didn’t move. Skye shifted her fingers, searching for the light and rapid pulse at its base.

  “Besides, if you don’t wake up you’ll never get to see the colors my mother turns when I tell her I’m leaving the heir to the Catch-22 empire and moving in with the gardener.”

  She squeezed his hand again, silently begging the pulse under her fingers to get stronger.

  “That’s right, I said moved in with. If I’m going to do this, I’m going to need somewhere to live, at least until my dad gets back from shooting. Because Mother is going to disown me. This is all your fault, you know. You’re the one who made me want to be more than what she wants for me. You’re just going to have to live with me taking over your bathroom.” Skye scrubbed at the tears that burned at her eyes. “And don’t go thinking you can get injured every time we have an argument,” she said, forcing her voice to be cheerful. Hopeful. He had to hear her. He had to. “I’d already decided to leave Rafe this morning, before you got into this mess. I’m not doing this just because you went and got run over. But, C, oh C, you have to wake up.”

  “I know my daughter is here.” A familiar, brittle voice floated through the half-open door. “She sent me a text message telling me she was here with Cesar Delgado, though God knows why she’d be here with the gardener, really, but I know she’s here and you need to tell me where to find her. Right. Now.”

  No way. Jennifer Owen had actually bothered to get in the car and come looking for her daughter? Skye had just assumed her mother would have something more important to do than to bother coming here.

  “Ma’am.” Another voice that had to belong to the duty nurse said, “You’ll have to check in with admitting.”

  “Do you know who I am?” Jennifer Owen’s voice shrieked.

  “No,” the nurse said calmly. “I don’t. I’m sure if you inform the front desk, however, they can use that information to help you track down your daughter.”

  Skye almost laughed out loud. Jennifer was going to have a heart attack if she kept this up. Or possibly kill someone. As much fun as it would be to watch, it was time to put a stop to this.

  Skye stood and walked to the door.

  “Mother,” Skye said, keeping her voice low. “There are a lot of sick people here who need their rest. Please keep your voice down.”

  Jennifer Owen stormed up the corridor hissing, “Skye, what are you doing here? Did you know I’ve been dealing with the police all afternoon … myself? How could you?!”

  “I’ve been a little busy, Mother,” Skye said. “Cesar was badly hurt and he needed me here. You can go home. Cesar’s parents are on their way from San Diego, and one of his family will give me a ride home when I’m ready.”

  “Cesar?” Jennifer Owen whined. “Why would Cesar need you? And why would the gardener be more important to you than your own family?”

  “The gardener is not more important to me than my own family,” Skye said, shocked at how little she cared about the sour expression on Jennifer’s face. “But my boyfriend matters a great deal. He’s badly hurt and he needs me.”

  “You aren’t serious, Skye,” Jennifer Owen sputtered. “I know you’ve had your … dalliances, but your boyfriend is Rafe Jackson — not the boy who mows the lawn.”

  “No,” Skye said firmly, standing a little taller as she repeated herself. “My boyfriend’s name is Cesar Delgado. He happens to work for you, doing landscaping. Unlike Rafe Jackson, he loves me, and I love him. I’m not going to hide that from you anymore, so you’re just going to have to get used to it.”

  Jennifer Owen stepped closer, driving an icy glare into Skye that would have left her shaking even a week earlier. “You listen to me, young lady,” she began, but then a lower voice cut off her brewing diatribe with a word that was almost a groan.

  “Skye?”

  It was Cesar. Cesar was awake.

  Skye didn’t spare her mother another glance as she dashed back into Cesar’s room, back into her chair beside his bed. She reached for Cesar’s hand. The feeling of his fingers closing around her own was so perfect that she swore her heart actually skipped a beat. His grip was weak, but it was there. He was alive.

  “Skye?” he said again, blinking blearily.

  “I’m here, C,” she said. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

  It was hours before Dr. Rashid brought Lucy, Toni and Iza back to Robyn’s room. Robyn was sitting up in bed. She still looked frighteningly pale and thin, but there was more life in her eyes than Lucy had seen for weeks.

  “You’re feeling better,” Lucy said.

  “Much,” Robyn said. “Now I only want to die of embarrassment.”

  “Don’t say things like that,” Iza said. “You gave us a fright today, Robs.”

  “I know. I’m so, so sorry. I can’t imagine how you aren’t laying into me,” Robyn said, sniffing back tears. “I deserve it.”

  “Yep, you do,” Toni said, grabbing a box of tissues and holding it out to Robyn. “But you’re not the only one.”

  “She’s right,” Lucy said. “We all knew something was wrong. We shouldn’t have let things get this far.”

  “You tried, Luce,” Robyn sniffed. “I lied to you. I lied to all of you. And I would have kept it up, too, if this hadn’t happened.”

  She blew her nose a few times on the tissue, sounding a lot like a mating duck. Iza giggled a little and Robyn looked embarrassed but then Toni pointedly took another tissue and blew her own nose even harder. Soon all four girls were laughing so hard that Lucy was finding it difficult to breathe.

  “Where’s Harper?” Toni said, when she’d finally recovered enough to speak.

  “I don’t know,” Lucy admitted. “She was with us in the waiting room, but then she just took off and now she’s not answering her phone. She drove back from the beach with Rafe and she seemed … I don’t know. I think something dreadful might have happened between them on the way over.”

  “Hopefully she dumped the loser,” Toni said. “He’s no good for her.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t think she’s realized that yet.” Lucy looked down at her phone again. It was almost half past eleven. Harper had been missing in action for nearly three hours. “Maybe I should head back to the house, you know? Check and see if she’s there?”

  “Don’t go,” Robyn said. “Knowing Harper she’s just having a good sulk somewhere. She’ll be back soon.”

  “I guess so,” Lucy said, checking her phone again. She knew Robyn was right. But still, the hard knot of worry in the pit of Lucy’s stomach refused to unwind.

  “It’ll be fine,” Toni said. “We’re all going to be okay now. Robs is getting help, and I’m —”

  “Not going to get off with our married manager anymore?” Iza finished for her.

  Toni stared at Iza, jaw dropped. Iza flushed a bit, but she didn’t look away.

  Finally Toni burst out laughing. “God, I was being such a massive idiot, wasn’t I?” she said.

  “That’s one way of putting it,” Robyn said dryly and then suddenly they were all off, a pile of giggles on the hospital bed.

  “We’ll be okay,” Iza said firmly, grabbing Robyn’s hand. “We’ll be better than okay.”

  “I’ll say,” Toni said, looking past Lucy to the door of the room with a huge grin on her face. “Some of us better than others.”

  “Huh?” Lucy twisted to follow Toni’s gaze and saw Luke standing in the doorway.

  “Um, hi, ladies,” Luke said. “I hope, I mean … Robyn, I hope you’re doing okay?”

&nbs
p; “Oh, yeah,” Robyn said, smiling at him. “I’m much better, thanks, and I’m going to be fine. But I don’t think you’re here to check on me, are you, Luke?”

  “I … uh … no, I … I mean, I wanted to make sure you were okay. I mean, I saw the bit on the news and I was …”

  “And you wanted to talk to Iza?” Toni suggested helpfully, visibly biting back a smile.

  “Yes,” he gulped, shooting her a grateful look. “Iz, can I talk to you for a second?”

  Iza didn’t say a word. She just kept staring at him. Perhaps Iza didn’t actually want to talk to Luke. But then she jumped off the bed.

  “Yes,” she said in a clear, even voice that was distinctly un-Iza-like, given the circumstances. “Let’s just go out in the hall a bit, shall we?”

  Then she marched up to Luke, grabbed his hand and hauled him out of the room.

  Lucy turned back to Toni and Robyn, amazed.

  “I know, right?” Toni said, correctly reading the look on Lucy’s face.

  “Who is that girl, and what has she done with Iza?” Robyn added, leaning forward. But she was grinning from ear to ear, and Lucy couldn’t help joining her.

  “You’d better take it easy and lie back down,” Toni told Robyn. “I can’t spy on them properly with you in the way.”

  Of course, that set them off all over again.

  Iza could hardly believe it. Rather than simply collapsing in a puddle of nerves when Luke asked to speak to her, she’d got up and dragged him out into the hall. Just as though she was the sort of girl who pushed boys around all the time and always got what she wanted. And in the same afternoon that she’d put Ash in his place, as well. It was as though Harper McKenzie had suddenly possessed her body.

  No, she thought. She wasn’t becoming Harper at all. She was only realizing that Iza Mazurczak had a voice of her own. She didn’t need a piano to be heard.

  But now came the tricky part — using that voice to convince Luke that she deserved another chance.

  “Luke —” she began.

  “Iz,” he cut in. “I’m so glad you’re okay. The piece that hit TMZ didn’t say which of you was in the ambulance and I thought …”