by Sarah Turtle
Walking away from Brynn was a painstakingly difficult decision, but she had not, in any way, prepared herself to confront Griffin. To take on both of them at once would have been detrimental to her psychological state. Her hand was still shaking from the mere thought of what Griffin might have to say to her. The trembling made it nearly impossible to retrieve her cell phone from her purse and type out the three digits of the room number that she was in.
Within the span of just a couple of minutes, Shannon and Megan entered the classroom, their eyes darting suspiciously at their surroundings. Willa tapped her hand over her heart. She wanted them to know that she was alone and they didn’t have to worry about fending off anyone else.
If it weren’t for the stark contrast of her blonde hair and the shimmering blue of her dress, it might have been difficult to see Willa huddled against the height of the black leather chair. She felt quite small compared to the immense desk and chair she was sitting at. She wished that the large pieces of furniture could just consume her. Anything would be better than having to face a single one of her other former classmates, besides the two that were currently in her presence.
Shannon was by Willa’s side in a matter of a few strides, while Megan made herself look busy by checking out a textbook left on a desk on the opposite side of the classroom. Shannon took one of Willa’s hands in hers while the other one wrapped around her wrist. If anyone else were doing this, it might seem as though it was a comforting gesture by a concerned friend, but Willa could tell by the slight pressure on her wrist, and the calculating look on Shannon’s face, that she was checking her pulse.
“What are my chances of survival, Doc?”
Shannon released Willa’s wrist and grinned. “You’ll be fine, but I think you should refrain from any more stressful social interactions tonight.”
Willa let out an exaggerated sigh. “Ha, you don’t have to do much to convince me of that.”
When Shannon appeared satisfied that Willa wasn’t on the verge of a panic attack, she backed away from the desk that she had been leaning against. “I guess we know what Laurel Cove is spending our tax money on, don’t we?” She ran her fingers over the intricate designs carved into the wood.
A shy look swept over Willa’s face; she didn’t want anyone to know, but she couldn’t allow the school budget to be blamed. “Actually, I had the desk and chair delivered to the school as a gift. Without the teachers in the English department, I doubt that I would have ever narrowed down my academic interests to creative writing. I often wonder where I might have ended up if it weren’t for the stories that I first began to create in this very room.”
“I would say this was a pretty nice way to say thank you,” Megan said, finally joining in on the conversation now that it had shifted from health to talking about the school.
“It’s a great idea, actually. I should do something to show my appreciation to the science department,” Shannon added.
“I don’t suppose the detention hall needs sprucing up,” Megan teasingly mentioned.
Willa smirked at Megan’s remark, but then returned to Shannon’s comment. “Do you honestly think you would have chosen to enter any field other than medical, with your father being who he is?”
“I considered other options, and I’d like to believe that he would have supported me no matter what, but in the end, I felt a calling to help people as much as he did.”
Willa’s face softened at the memory of Shannon helping her. “I always wanted to thank you for being there for me the night of the graduation party.”
“While my father was busy attending to Brynn until they could airlift her off the island, I just did what I could to stop the bleeding to your head. It’s still a mystery what caused the injury to your head, isn’t it?”
“Yes; all I remember is waking up and you were holding a cold towel to my head.”
“It was a bad concussion. You were unconscious for a little while. Everyone was concerned about Brynn, but you had a serious injury too.”
Willa was quiet for a moment while she absorbed Shannon’s recollection of that night. “There were quite a few times when I wished I hadn’t woken up,” she said in a voice so soft, it was barely a whisper.
Megan and Shannon locked eyes in a frantic exchange. It was something that Willa had never shared before, not even in therapy sessions.
Megan made her way around the desk and situated herself onto one corner of the chair, balancing an arm around Willa’s neck to keep from sliding off. She planted a light kiss on Willa’s forehead. “Oh, sweetie, your daddy’s heart would have broken long before it did, if anything had happened to you back then.”
“I don’t even have him anymore.”
“You have us now.” Megan held her hand out to Shannon to join them even closer than she already was. Shannon took Megan’s hand and rested her other one on Willa’s shoulder. “We can be your Laurel Cove family,” Megan vowed.
“Yes, please don’t hesitate to call us if you feel that way ever again.” Shannon’s proclamation of support came across as sounding a tad more like an official medical statement, but Willa sympathized with the fact that friendships were a new concept to Shannon as well.
“I promise I will.” Willa let the corners of her mouth turn up into a slight smile despite the turmoil swelling in her chest. She had allowed too many years to pass without letting people into her private life. If there could possibly be a chance for her to open herself up to that again, these two women surrounding her in a circle of protection would be the ones that she would choose. For the time being, though, she just wanted the hectic night to be over with. “Can we get out of here now? This place smells atrocious.”
Chapter Nine
Willa woke up early enough to drive to the mainland to pick up an array of fresh vegetables from the farmer’s market. Her contribution to the barbecue at Shannon’s house was going to be a salad and vegetable skewers, but she also couldn’t help but to pick up a bouquet of daisies and a couple of bottles of wine for some added fun to the evening.
It was still quite early by the time she got back to the island, so she decided to get in a run before the afternoon sun got too intense. She slipped into a pair of skintight jogging pants as well as a tank top and stepped out into the driveway. She did a few easy stretches, feeling the tenderness in her ankles from wearing high heels the previous night. After a slight adjustment to her earbuds and choosing the right song to accompany the level of energy that she wanted to attain on her jog, she took off down the road.
Her head rose instinctively to inhale the fresh, salty air that blew in directly off the ocean. In New York, she was so used to putting the miles in every day on a treadmill, just to avoid the smog of the city from entering into her system. Multiple song changes later, she found herself venturing down obscure roads that she didn’t recall ever going down before. Many of the smaller ones, the farther out she went, were lacking sidewalks and she was forced to run on the gravel that lined the edges of the pavement. On one particularly sharp intersection, Willa turned the corner and the next thing she knew, she was knocked off her feet. Her arms flung out wildly to grasp at anything to keep herself from falling, but the inevitable thud as her body hit the ground occurred when nothing was available in reach.
A combination of things led to the accident, including taking the turn too fast, the blinding sun concealing her vision, and the headphones blocking out any possible warning sounds. Before she could realize what was happening, Willa found herself rolling down into the ditch on the side of the road, in a fury of gravel spraying up into the air around her. She waved a hand in front of her face and swiped at the settling particles of dirt that clung to the layer of sweat coating her body. The gritty feeling in her mouth when she licked her lips made her sit up and spit out what she could from between her teeth.
A panicked voice from above her yelled out. “Shit! Willa, are you okay?”
Willa pushed aside the strands that had come loose from her hair
tie, so that she could focus on the source of the voice. Someone on an odd-looking three-wheeled bicycle was leaning over the edge of it and trying to reach out to her. Willa looked from the rider to the bike, and tried to shake the confusion from her mind as she rubbed at her forehead with the palm of her hand. How could she have collided with such a strange contraption and feel as though a bus hit her?
It wasn’t until the rider pulled off her helmet and sunglasses that Willa found herself staring up at Brynn. She didn’t know what to say in the moment, sitting on the side of the road, covered in dirt and feeling at her lowest, so she started rambling. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you right in front of me. I shouldn’t have had my music on so loud. It was stupid of me really. Did I hurt you?”
“Willa, I’m fine.” Brynn motioned to her custom-made bike. “This thing is built with sturdy metal – it’s made to withstand heavy-duty trail riding – so it probably did much more damage to you than the impact I took. Can you stand?”
Willa pushed up off the ground with one hand and slowly stood up. She brushed more gravel off herself and nodded to Brynn that everything seemed to be in working order. She was still a few feet below street level in the ditch, though, so she took a step forward to climb out of it. It was at that point, when she tried to put weight on one leg, that a searing pain shot up from her right knee. Willa yelped out in pain and had to readjust her weight off that leg to stay in an upright position. She bent down to search the area of her leg where the pain was coming from, and found a hole torn into the fabric of her jogging pants. The area surrounding the hole was wet and slowly increasing in size with added moisture. Subconsciously, Willa already knew what it was, but she couldn’t help but place her fingertips on the saturated material. When she pulled them away, they shimmered with a bright crimson liquid in the sunlight.
The sight of blood smeared on her fingers made Willa’s head spin. The only thing that grounded her back from nearly passing out was the sound of Brynn’s voice. “Take my hand,” Brynn instructed. Willa fought through her spinning vision to see Brynn reaching out to her as far as she could over the side of her bike.
Willa shook herself out of her trance and tried to make getting up to the road her focal point, even if internally she was freaking out. She grasped onto Brynn’s hand for support, but gave her a questioning look, not wanting to pull her down with her. Brynn reassured her by tapping at the strap around her waist, which kept her tied securely onto the seat of the bike. Willa pushed through the pain and half climbed, but mostly let the power in Brynn’s arm drag her up.
When she finally reached the solid ground of the pavement again, Willa tried to examine the site of the injury, but she winced every time she came close to touching it and flailed her hands up in dismay. When she looked up, she caught Brynn watching her every move with an amused grin on her face. “Why is this so funny to you?”
“You were always afraid of the tiniest bit of blood. Remember that time you passed out when I got a bloody nose playing basketball?”
Willa put a hand up to stop Brynn from talking. “Ugh, don’t remind me of that right now.”
“Sorry.” Brynn released the strap around her waist so that she could sit up straighter, and patted the soft pad of her bike where her chest rested when she pedaled with her hands. “Come sit here so we can check out your injury.”
She limped over to the bike but paused when she got close to where Brynn wanted her to sit. It was one thing for her to be thrust into an unexpected encounter with Brynn due to an accident, but to purposefully sit within inches of her so early on in their juncture intimidated her. Brynn must have picked up on Willa’s apprehension, because she guided her along with a gentle hand on her forearm and a convincing smile. Willa figured that if Brynn had any ill intent towards her, she could have easily left her behind in the ditch.
She balanced her bottom onto the cushioned pad and stretched her good leg up and onto one of the metal bars along the side of Brynn’s seat for support. Brynn reached down and slowly raised Willa’s hurt leg with easy movements, careful not to bend her knee too far, until her foot was planted directly in Brynn’s lap.
Brynn pulled her thin biking gloves off, and shoved them into a small pouch attached to her seat. She then went to work at trying to lift the bottom of Willa’s jogging pants up, but they were skintight and wouldn’t roll up past her ankle. She transferred her focus up to where the wound was located, but the hole didn’t offer enough space to get a good look at what they were dealing with. Brynn gingerly stuck one finger from each hand into the opening and pulled the fabric up and away from Willa’s skin.
A devious look swept over Brynn’s face as she held Willa’s gaze in hers. “You don’t have any special attachment to this particular pair of pants, do you?”
“No, they’re already ruined anyway. Why?”
“Because I’m about to tear them off of you.”
Willa narrowed her eyes until she was playfully glaring at Brynn. “Oh, just do it.” She waved an approving hand towards her knee. “I’m sure you’ve been fantasizing about this for years.”
Brynn shrugged her shoulders, not revealing whether she cared either way, yet the slight blush creeping up in her cheeks gave away her true feelings about it. With a quick, strong tug, she ripped from the knee all the way down to the cuff of the pants. The open flap allowed her to fold the excess fabric up under Willa’s thigh. With the entire lower half of Willa’s leg exposed, Brynn was able to get a view of the wound. Due to the angle that Willa was sitting, though, she couldn’t see a thing, but the way that Brynn was scrunching up her face didn’t give her a positive inclination about it. Willa leaned over so that she could check out the injury herself.
A firm palm to her chest prevented Willa from going as far as she could, but Brynn was just a little too late, because Willa had gotten close enough to catch sight of how much blood was running down her leg. Her face paled over and she swayed significantly from side to side. It was a tossup which sensation was worse: the images of bright stars flashing across her vision, or the bile that was beginning to rise up in her throat.
Brynn kept her hand on Willa’s chest and tried to steady her because she was dangerously close to falling off the tiny platform that she was balancing on. “Close your eyes and take deep breaths.”
Willa did as she was told, and opened her eyes when the risk of her passing out or vomiting had gone by. The comforting eyes of Brynn met her, who knew just how intolerant of the sight of blood she was. “I’m good now,” she tried to reassure Brynn.
Brynn observed Willa with her sweat covered brow and gasping breaths. “Sure you are.” Brynn reached for her water bottle and handed it over to Willa, knowing that she needed to hydrate.
Willa let out a grin at Brynn’s teasing remark and then motioned down at her knee, afraid to even glance in that direction. “Can you cover it up so that I can make it back home?”
Brynn nodded and took the water bottle back from Willa’s hand. She felt a gentle stream of water being squirted on the surrounding area, but not directly onto the actual site of the cut. Tiny rivers of water, blood, and dirt flowed down Willa’s calf and soaked up into her sock. She did her best to hold back the gagging reflex at the base of her throat. Then Brynn handed the water bottle back to her. “Drink more,” Brynn insisted.
Willa tipped the bottle back and swallowed down quite a few large gulps of water. It was just as she lowered her head back down, when a shot of pain ripped through her leg. “Ah, fuck,” she yelled out.
When the wave of intense agony passed, she was able to assess what had taken place while she was busy hydrating. Brynn’s T-shirt was off, which left her wearing only a sports bra. The missing shirt was now wrapped tightly around her knee and absorbing the blood that had been gushing out of the wound. Willa realized that Brynn had distracted her with the water just long enough to fix her up with the only thing she had available.
Brynn waved her hand back and forth in front of Willa’s fac
e. “It’s safe for you to look now. The gash is covered up as well as most of the blood.”
She snapped back in a state of embarrassment when she became conscious of the fact that she had been absentmindedly staring at the perfectly shaped abs on Brynn’s stomach. “Uh, thanks for your help,” she said as she started to pull her leg out of Brynn’s lap.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Brynn insisted, holding her foot firmly in place.
Before she could protest, Brynn was removing Willa’s cell phone out of the armband holder around her bicep. She tugged the headphones out of the audio port and dropped the tangled mess into Willa’s lap. As a rule, Willa would never let anyone have access to her phone and most certainly not search through it, but she watched now in silent fascination as Brynn chose one of her contacts and made a call.
“Hey, it’s Brynn. Can you come to the corner of Forest and Shore Road? Willa’s going to need stitches.” Brynn listened while the person on the other line spoke. “Thanks, we’ll see you in a few minutes.”
When Brynn returned her phone, she looked down at the screen and saw that she called Shannon. “I could have gone to the clinic.”
“It’s Sunday; the clinic is closed and you can hardly stand, let alone walk there or home, for that matter. Shannon won’t mind coming to get you. I heard that she stuck close by your side last night.”
“She wouldn’t have needed to if your friends hadn’t been verbally attacking me all evening.”
Brynn raised her hand up in defense. “Whoa, I had no idea they were being rude to you. I reamed out Cass already for what she said to you at the gym.” Brynn tapped the side of Willa’s good leg. “Speaking of the gym, you should be using the treadmills there instead of risking your life on these narrow roads.”