by Claire Adams
I had what felt like the worst headache I could ever recall having. I opened my eyes slowly, and my vision blurred for several seconds before finally coming into focus. There seemed to be dozens of eyes staring down at me, faces of people I didn’t know. No, wait—I did know them. Some of them, anyway. There was Cole, the closest to me, and then Amy, Becca, and then some of the parents from the school.
I was lying on my back in the sand, on the beach.
“What happened?” I said, trying to sit up.
Cole rested his hand gently on my shoulder. “Don’t try to move yet,” he said. “You’re fine, but you should stay lying down for now. Lily collided with you on the jet ski. She’s okay, too, but you hit your head and got knocked out.”
I groaned inwardly. “I’m okay,” I said, wanting the crowd to disperse, wishing more than anything that this hadn’t happened. And then Lily was there, soaking wet, looking close to hysterics.
“Allie, are you all right?” she kept asking. “Oh my God, is she okay?”
“I think she’s okay,” someone murmured.
I lay there for another moment, and then I slowly eased myself up to a sitting position. Lily kneeled down next to Cole.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I don’t even know what happened, I thought I had better control of that thing.” I didn’t know if her face was wet because she hadn’t dried off completely or if she’d been crying. Either way, I had a feeling she looked worse than I did.
“It was an accident,” I said. “And I’m fine. Just... a little sore, that’s all. I’ll be fine, though, really.” I tried to give her a smile but felt a wave of nausea roll through me.
“You’ve probably got a mild concussion,” Cole said. “Which means we definitely want to get you home and into bed. You’re not going to drive; I’ll drive you back, and we can figure out how to get your car later.”
He stood up and then leaned down and scooped me up. Amy and the other teachers were there, looking on with worried expressions, as were the rest of the parents, but it was the children that I felt bad about; they looked terrified, and I wished that they hadn’t seen that happen.
“You don’t have to carry me,” I said.
“I know, but I’m going to.”
And he carried me up the beach to the parking lot, a few of the kids trailing after, Declan right there, looking on anxiously. Cole set me down when we got to his car, and I got in slowly, my head still throbbing. Declan climbed into the backseat, and then Cole went back down to the beach to talk to Becca and Kris. Amy had gone over to my car and retrieved my keys and my purse, which she set on the floor by my feet.
“You sure you’re all right?” she said.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I think it was probably a lot worse than it looked. I just need to go home and rest a little bit, and I bet I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”
She looked as though she wanted to believe me but didn’t quite. “And Cole’s a doctor, remember?” I said. “If there’s any issue, he’ll be right there.”
“That’s true,” she said. “You’re in good hands. Okay, well, I’ll check in with you later, okay?”
“That sounds good.”
Cole came back to the car. He climbed in and we drove off. I leaned my head back against the headrest and closed my eyes.
“I’m wondering if we should go to the hospital,” Cole said under his breath, almost more to himself.
“I don’t think we need to do that.”
“You got knocked out, though.”
“I know, but... I don’t feel like I need to go to the hospital. I don’t want to make a bigger deal out of this than it already is.”
“I’d like you to stay at my place tonight, then,” Cole said after a minute. “If you don’t want to go into the hospital, then the least you can do is that. We’ve got a guest room with a comfortable bed, and that will give me peace of mind, okay? Is that a deal?”
“Sure,” I said, even though I knew I would be fine if I went home.
“Good.” He smiled. “Thank you for not making me resort to saying ‘doctor’s orders.’ Because that was my next move.”
I didn’t feel any worse by the time we got to Cole’s house, but I certainly wasn’t feeling great. I managed to get out of the car on my own, though, and walk inside, where I followed Cole to the guest bedroom. He pulled the sheets back on the double bed, and I climbed in. Declan followed us into the room and stood at the foot of the bed.
“Are you okay, Miss Allie?” Declan asked, his eyes wide.
“I’m okay,” I said. “I promise. Accidents happen sometimes, and that’s why we need to use caution around water.”
“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said. He looked at his dad. “You promise you’ll check on her?”
“I promise,” Cole said. Declan nodded and then left, but not before giving me another worried look.
“Poor thing,” I said. “I feel awful about them having to see that.”
“Don’t worry about that. Everyone’s just glad that you’re okay.”
“I really wish that whole thing never even happened, though.”
“Lily should not have been allowed anywhere near that jet ski.”
“Probably not. She’s all right?”
“She’s fine. You should rest. I’ll check on you in a little bit. Can I get you anything?”
“No, I’m good for now. Thank you.”
He reached over and gave my hand a gentle squeeze. I laid back against the pillow and let my eyes close.
Chapter 12
Cole
My gut instinct told me that Allie would be fine, that she had a mild concussion at most, but I still couldn’t help but wake up several times that night and go down to check on her. Each time I did, she was asleep, lying on her back, her hair spread out against the white pillow, her face turned slightly to the side. Her breathing was soft, even. She looked entirely peaceful.
I finally fell asleep, just a few hours before the sun would begin to rise. When Declan came in to wake me up, I felt groggy, but then I got up, and I called Danielle and asked her to reschedule the patients that I had for the day.
“Are you sick?” she asked.
“No,” I said. “Just... something came up. A personal matter. I can’t really get into it right now. But I’ll be in tomorrow, so just do your best to reschedule everyone from today.”
“All right,” she said, sounding a bit skeptical.
Allie woke up a little after 9. I went in with a glass of water she took a tentative sip from.
“How are you feeling?”
“Well, I made it through the night.” She smiled. “I feel better,” she said. “I think it was good we skipped the hospital trip.”
“Do you think you can eat anything? I could make you some toast.”
“I could go for some toast,” she said. “Maybe just one piece.”
When I went out to make the toast, Declan tiptoed in with a stack of board books that he read to Allie.
I made sure she took it easy for the rest of the day. I did a few things around the house, but I kept going back to the living room where they were set up, and we’d all hang out. We played several games of Go Fish, and Declan read us some more stories, making up the words as he went along. I liked having Allie there, I liked the new dynamic, and when, later that afternoon, she told me that she felt much better and would be able to go home, I couldn’t help but feel a swell of disappointment. Not that I let that show on my face.
“My headache’s almost gone,” she said. “I think I am going to be A-okay.”
“Do you have to leave?” Declan asked.
Allie smiled. “Don’t worry, Declan. I’ll see you soon. Actually, do you want to drive me down to get my car?”
“Oh, that’s right. Your car is still there. Sure, why don’t we do that. And we can stop and get an ice cream on the way back, Declan,” I said, knowing that the promise of an ice cream cone would distract him from the fact that Allie was going back to her
own house.
That Sunday, my parents showed up early afternoon and took Declan to the playground. I went for a ride, though it was very humid, and I was drenched in sweat before I’d even gone a few miles. I rode for maybe an hour, but then cut the ride short, went home, and took a cold shower.
I was just getting out when I heard my parents and Declan come back. I could tell the heat had tired Declan out, too, so I brought him up to his room and put him down for a nap, the fan pointed straight on him. When I went back downstairs, my parents were sitting out on the deck, under the umbrella, drinking glasses of lemonade.
“He’s tuckered out,” I said, sitting down with them. There was a slight breeze, which, while not entirely refreshing, at least moved the warm air around a little.
“He had a good time. We made sure he stayed hydrated,” my mother said. She set her glass down. “Declan said his teacher stayed over here the other night?”
“His teacher, our neighbor,” I said. I nodded in the direction of Allie’s house. “There was a bit of an incident at the fundraiser, and I thought she should stay over, just to be on the safe side.”
“Is everything all right?”
“They let someone ride one of the jet skis who shouldn’t have been on it, and she ended up colliding with Allie, and she hit her head. But she’s fine.”
“Oh, my.” My mother shook her head. “Those things can be very dangerous.”
“Not if you know how to use them properly, which this person didn’t. Everyone is lucky that nothing more serious happened.”
“That was nice of you to let her stay here like that.” My mother sighed and rubbed her eyes.
“Everything okay?” I asked. “You’ve seemed kind of... I don’t know, like something’s been bothering you.”
My mother pursed her lips and frowned, a sure sign that something was not actually okay.
“We saw Sam today,” she said softly. “At the grocery store. He works there now. The one over in Wakeby. We had just stopped on our way over to get some of those cookies that Declan likes.”
I nodded. “How’s he doing?”
“I didn’t talk to him,” she said, shaking her head. “No, we didn’t talk to him. He was bagging groceries in another line, and I happened to see him so we just went and did the self-checkout. I think your father wanted to talk to him, but I didn’t. Couldn’t.” She shook her head again. “I didn’t think he’d be able to work. Even something like bagging groceries. That surprised me.”
Sam Powell had been my little sister Marissa’s boyfriend, a kid from the wrong side of the tracks if there ever was one. He’d gotten the shit kicked out of him not long before my sister got sent away, effectively ending their relationship. The beating he took had caused him permanent brain damage, though I had a feeling that if she were alive today, none of that would have mattered to Marissa, and she’d still be with him.
“Do you think I should have talked with him?”
“Only if you wanted to,” I said.
She gave a short, strangled-sounding laugh. “Wanted to? What would I have said to him? That’s what I said to your father when we were finally out in the car—what exactly was it that he was planning to say?”
“I don’t know, Mom,” I said. I rubbed a hand over my eyes. This wasn’t the conversation I wanted to be having right now. Or ever, really.
I was saved, though, when my father asked me how the practice was going, and we started to talk about that, instead. The conversation then moved on to the weather, to sports, to how Declan was doing in school. And then Declan was up from his nap, a little bleary-eyed at first, his hair sticking up on one side of his head.
“What do you feel like doing for the rest of the day, buddy?” I asked.
“Can we get ice cream?”
“I did promise him we could get ice cream,” my mother said. “We were going to stop on the way home, but I could tell that he was too tired.”
“Too tired for ice cream?” I raised my eyebrows.
“I’m not too tired anymore! Look how much energy I have!”
And Declan shot off my father’s lap and started racing around the backyard like a pinball.
“Must be nice to have all that energy,” my dad said, laughing.
I was about to tell Declan that we could go get ice cream then, but then he must’ve spied Allie, because he shot across the yard and into her backyard, yelling her name.
“Where’s he going?” my mother asked. I stood up.
“Why don’t you come meet Declan’s teacher,” I said.
My mother brightened. “The woman you saved?”
“Yes, Mom, though we don’t need to refer to her as that, okay? Her name’s Allie.”
Allie must’ve been working in the garden, because that’s where we found the two of them when we got over there. She stood up and brushed her hands off when she saw that my parents were with me.
“Nice to meet you,” she said after they introduced themselves.
“We’re going to get ice cream!” Declan said.
Allie wiped at her forehead. “Are you?” she asked. “It’s certainly a good day for it.”
“Why don’t you join us?” my mother asked. “We were just going to go into town and get this boy here an ice cream—it’d be lovely if you joined us. That is, if you feel up to it, of course—I heard about what happened at the fundraiser. I hope you’re all right.”
“I’m fine,” Allie said. “Just a little banged up, but luckily, Cole was there. And I feel much better now.”
“We’re so glad to hear that,” my mother said.
We all packed into the Range Rover, my mother insisting that I sit in the front and she, Allie, and Declan in the back. It felt a little bit awkward at first, like I was on a date with my parents with my son in tow, but I could tell that it was definitely helping my mother’s mood to be around Allie, which was good. I didn’t want my mother to think about running into Sam because I knew all the guilt that would bring up for her.
Chapter 13
Allie
After we got back from getting ice cream, I said goodbye to Cole’s parents and did a few errands. Amy had texted and asked if I wanted to do dinner and said she would come by with takeout food.
“My mother would be very impressed,” I said. We were sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by containers of Chinese food.
“What do you mean?”
“She’s just under the impression that a place like this wouldn’t have something like takeout.”
“I did have to drive into Gardner for this,” Amy admitted. “I haven’t had Chinese food in forever, but every once in a while, I get a wicked bad craving for it, and this place has the best crab rangoons.”
“They are very good.”
“So you’re feeling fine? I still can’t believe that happened at the fundraiser.”
“Yeah, I feel fine. No aftereffects.”
“I know I keep talking about it, but it was so romantic,” Amy gushed. “Well, it was actually really scary when it was happening, but now that it’s over with and we know that you’re okay, it seemed very romantic!” She grinned. “He just jumped into the water after you with all his clothes on, and he swam out to you so fast. It was incredible. And Lily was in the water, too, thrashing around, but he completely went right by her. Maybe he could tell that she was okay, I don’t know, but it’s like he didn’t even see her.”
“He probably knew she was fine,” I said.
“Who knows? You were his main concern. And he got you out and carried you out of the water—”
“Okay, that’s enough,” I said, cringing, hating to think of me being carried, unconscious, onto the beach in front of all the students and their parents. “Shit, I hope it wasn’t completely traumatizing for the kids.”
“It was really scary,” she said. “I was scared for you. But Cole was so calm the whole time, and I think it made everyone else feel really calm, too, like he had it under control. Which makes sense, conside
ring he’s a doctor and all, but still. One of the other dads helped Lily out of the water—her husband wasn’t even there when it happened; he was up at the parking lot on some business call or something.”
I shook my head. “I really wish the whole thing hadn’t happened. I was having a perfectly good time before that.”
“We’re glad you’re okay.”
“I met Cole’s parents today,” I said. “We went out for ice cream.”
Amy made a face. “I met them once.”
“You did?”
“Well, they came to orientation, before Declan was officially enrolled here. I only talked to them a little bit. They seemed okay and everything, but sort of... I don’t know...pretentious? I know they’re really well-off, but it felt like they were looking down on everyone else. Like they were trying really hard not to be that way, but they just couldn’t help it.”
“Oh,” I said. “Huh. I didn’t really get that impression.”
“Maybe they’ve changed, I don’t know.”
“If anything, his mother seemed kind of...melancholy.”
“I guess rich people can get sad, too.” She shook her head. “That was mean, I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sure they’re very nice; it’s just hard sometimes to shake someone’s first impression, you know?”
“Yeah,” I said. “There was definitely something going on there, but I’m not sure what.”
After we pretty much finished all of the food, Amy hung out for a while longer. When she was ready to leave, I walked her out to her car. As I was walking back in, I saw that Cole’s garage door was open, the light on. I went over, thinking I’d say goodnight and tell him that I’d had a good time earlier with his parents.
“Knock knock,” I said.
He had a work bench set up at the back of the garage, and his bike was in the stand. He was standing at the work bench, his back to me, but he turned when he heard me.