Finish What We Started

by Amylynn Bright

  Thanks to Black Sam Ale and good genetics, she’d been able to scrape up the last of the money, along with what her parents would give her, a savings bond from her grandmother, and several obscure scholarships, to get her there. Her dedication and good grades had gotten her one of the coveted one hundred and twenty international student admissions granted each year. It was going to be tight financially, but she’d figure it out.

  She’d be leaving in a matter of days. All that was left was packing her apartment and moving everything to storage.

  And there was the complication of Lee.

  Who’d have ever expected that she’d fall in love now, of all times? It was absurd. She’d always been so driven, so determined to succeed, that she’d never really had time for men. There had been one or two boyfriends in high school for the usual dances and homecoming and a short-term relationship by its barest definition in college, but once she’d entered veterinary school, she’d had laser focus.

  Lee had wormed his way into her life with his playful sense of humor and unfailingly good character. And great sex. The man had an amazing body and he found all the places on hers that proved she did as well.

  He also took excellent care of her. He made sure she ate, which she had a tendency to forget when she was working hard. It was such a little thing, but it meant a lot.

  They had a lot in common. He may not have as many siblings as she did—just a younger brother and sister—but he was a devoted family man. When his father had died unexpectedly several years before when he was only twenty, Lee had assumed the role of the head of the family. There had been no life insurance, so he’d left school and went to work. It was more important to him that his mother didn’t lose the house and that his brother and sister were able to finish their own schooling with as little disruption as possible. Well, as much as could be expected with the gaping hole in their lives. He’d sent his brother to culinary school in Paris and when his sister married her high school sweetheart, he’d been there to walk her down the aisle.

  One night early in their relationship, as they’d lain in bed, Candace had told him all about the school in Scotland. She knew so much about the place, it was almost like she’d already been there. There had been pictures of the university hanging in her childhood bedroom the way other girls had pictures of Zac Efron.

  He had hugged her and told her how excited he was for her. “I can’t wait to hear all about it when you get there.”

  Then he’d shown her exactly how much he was going to miss her.

  Afterward, she’d confessed that she was nervous.

  “Of course you are.” He’d stroked her hair, spreading it across his chest like a thick blonde blanket. “It’s a long way from home. But we’ll video chat.”

  “And you’re coming for the spring break, right?”

  “I’ve already sent in my passport application.”

  They said the L word that night for real. They talked of marriage, but it was always after she finished school. Lee hadn’t officially proposed because he knew she wanted to wait, and he was wholly supportive of her. His talk of the future always included a big family. That was the only thing about their relationship that worried Candace. She wanted kids—of course she did—but they seemed as far away as marriage did. A distant thought, to be considered after her other goals had been met. Knowing that Lee and everything he represented was there waiting for her was a powerful incentive. So as she read every single word of the welcome packet, it was Lee she couldn’t wait to share her excitement with.

  Later, she was packing her kitchen and wondering where Lee was when her cell rang. His grinning face showed on the screen. “Hi.” There was only silence on the other end. “Are you there?” She pulled the phone away from her face to see if she’d lost the connection when he finally spoke.

  “Sarah and Pete and Sidney were in an accident.”

  “Oh my God.” She put down the cups she was wrapping so she could give him all her attention. “Are they all right?”

  “No.” His voice sounded like it was filtered through gravel. “We’re at the hospital now.”

  She grabbed her purse and fished around for her keys. “Which one? I’m coming.”

  When she entered Regional Hospital through the emergency exit, she was directed to the fifth-floor surgical waiting room. Lee and Mark were sitting in a small grouping of uncomfortable chairs with four other shell-shocked people. Lee stood as soon as he saw her exit the elevator. He took her by the hand and pulled her into a little alcove away from the others.

  “Sidney’s in surgery,” he blurted out. His expression was tight and his normally charmingly disheveled hair had a manic quality about it.

  She placed her hands on his face, one on each cheek. “What happened?”

  He swallowed, hard. “A kid in a pickup ran a red light and T-boned the car going about seventy. It rolled a couple of times.” He looked away and composed himself before continuing. “Took the fire department forty-five minutes to get them out. Pete died at the scene.”

  Tears stung her eyes. “Oh no. What about Sarah?”

  “She hasn’t regained consciousness yet. Mom’s still with her. They’re doing CAT scans and I don’t even know what else.”

  She wrapped her arms around his body and held him tight. He resisted, maybe in an effort to hold himself together, but eventually he relented and curled around her. She kissed his cheek where he pressed it against her neck, stroked his hair and murmured senseless words. It wouldn’t be all right. For Sarah and the rest of them, nothing would ever be the same again, but that’s what people said at times like this.

  Eventually they made their way back to the seating area where she hugged Mark and met the devastated parents and siblings of Sarah’s husband, Peter Grant. They sat there for hours, numb and waiting. Candy fetched coffee, then sandwiches, and more coffee.

  About three hours in the vigil, Sarah regained consciousness. The plan had been not to tell Sarah that her husband had died and that her two-year-old son was in surgery, not yet, but she’d demanded to know. Candace clutched at Lee’s hand, offering as much support as she could.

  Sidney came out of surgery, and the waiting game began. The doctors couldn’t say how much damage his spinal cord had sustained. Candace towed Lee and Mark home by force with the promise that they’d be much better able to support their sister and nephew after some sleep and food. She tucked her devastated boyfriend into bed and held him tight and worried all night about how she was going to leave him in two days.

  * * *

  Lee dragged himself out of bed the next morning and his new reality hit him like a tractor trailer. Pete was gone and Sidney was a crumpled mess. Unbelievably, his sister had come out of their mangled car without much more than a scratch. Pete’s funeral would be arranged for some time at the end of the week.

  He stared out the window over the kitchen sink in the crappy apartment he shared with Mark, drinking black coffee and contemplating how he was going to pick up the pieces of Sarah’s life for her. That was his self-appointed role in the family. He took care of his people. That’s what he’d done when his father shocked him into adulthood by having a massive heart attack on the job. At least this time he wouldn’t be doing it alone.

  He fished out a pencil from a pile of work stuff and ripped out a sheet of notebook paper. First thing was always to make a list.

  Contact the car insurance company.

  Find/pay Sarah’s mortgage payment.

  * * *

  He was numbering down the page when Candy padded into the kitchen in bare feet. She slipped between him and the counter and wrapped her arms around his waist.

  “How are you this morning?” she asked, her head pressed against his chest.

  He shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

  She glanced back at his list. “What are you doing?�
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  He exhaled a heavy breath. “Trying to think of all the things we need to take care of for Sarah.”

  She shook her head. “I still can’t believe it. It’s all just so...awful.”

  “I know.” He squeezed her back, holding on to her tight. “Sarah’s going to be numb for a while, which is probably a good thing.”

  “Put down to get her some changes of clothes. She’ll probably be at the hospital twenty-four hours a day for a while, at least until she knows what’s going to happen with Sidney.”

  “Oh, yeah.” He leaned over and wrote that one down next to the number seventeen.

  “I can do that after everything is delivered to storage today.”

  He pulled back and looked at her with a creased forehead. “What?”

  “Remember today’s the day that Calvin and Cary are coming to take all my boxes to the storage place, but that will be in the morning. I can get her some fresh clothes by lunch time. I can bring sandwiches or something, too. I’ll text you when I’m on my way and see what you guys want.”

  She squeezed him, but he reached behind him and pulled her hands away. She couldn’t possibly be saying what he thought she was saying. “You’re leaving? After what happened, you’re still going to let your brothers take your stuff, and you’re going to go?”

  The look she gave him was a twisted combination of guilt and determination. “I have to.”

  “I can’t fucking believe this.” He backed away from her until his ass hit the dinette. “You can’t go now. I need you. My family needs you.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “I know. It’s really crappy timing.”

  “Crappy timing?” He shoved an ancient metal dining chair out of his way. “Crappy timing? My family is falling apart and you’re leaving me for fucking school and all you can say is crappy timing?” He stormed out of the kitchen space and into the tiny living room.

  “Baby, I’m sorry about what happened, but—”

  “No, the only thing I want to hear out of your mouth is that you’re not leaving.”

  She wiped her cheek with a quick swipe of her hand. “This is my whole life. I have to go. You have to see that this isn’t easy for me. I spent all night trying to come up with a plan to make it work. How I can stay with you and not lose my chance. There isn’t any way I can think of. I’m so, so sorry. This is killing me.”

  “I thought you loved me.” He sounded like a teenager. Everything was falling apart. The family that he’d held together once before with Goddamned determination and duct tape was falling apart again and now the woman he loved was leaving him to deal with it all alone.

  Her hand was shaking when she laid it on his forearm. “I do love you. So much. If you had a clear mind right now, you’d know that I have to go, but that I’m not leaving you.” She continued gamely on, even while he clamped his jaw and glared at her with open hostility. “I’ve been working to get into that school for as long as I can remember. This is not an unlimited opportunity.” She paused and looked up at him with pleading eyes. “This is everything I’ve worked for. But I’ll do everything I can to help you and your family.”

  He stepped around her, ignoring his brother, who stood by the doorway eavesdropping, and grabbed his keys from his dresser. “From four thousand miles away? You have to be fucking kidding me. You’re a selfish, spoiled princess. The world does not revolve around you because of how you look. Did you think you could bat your eyes and the whole world would forgive you for being self-absorbed?”

  She recoiled, almost as if he’d slapped her. He wasn’t going to apologize. It didn’t matter what arguments she spewed. The fact was, she was leaving him when he needed her most, and he hated her for it.

  The words kept coming and he couldn’t stop them. He wanted someone else to hurt as badly as he was. “Now you’re going to cry? Just go. You were a decent fuck—” he paused, then told the biggest lie of them all, “—but I never loved you.”

  “Don’t do this. Please.”

  He moved past her and spoke to his brother. “I’m going to the hospital.”

  Mark looked from him to Candy and back to him. “Um, okay.”

  “Lee—”

  He didn’t wait to hear what she had to say. He didn’t care anymore. The only important people in his life needed him now. It was painfully obvious she didn’t care enough about him to make him a priority. He could force himself not to care about her either.

  * * *

  Candace went through the next two days numb, unable to feel anything, emotionally battered. She went through the motions of finishing her packing and saying goodbye to her family. She never said anything about the breakup to her mother or father, and she begged off her family’s farewell dinner for her. She claimed to be too far behind in packing. Her oldest brother took her to the airport because he was less likely than her parents to get mushy and she was way too emotional on her own without adding any parental hysteria from her mother.

  Still, she almost didn’t get on the plane. It was Clay who brought her to her senses during that momentary attack of guilt and damning self-reproach.

  “Get on the plane,” Clay told her, and squeezed her in a supportive hug. “This is where you need to be. You’ve worked way too hard for some guy you barely know to ruin everything you’ve worked for.”

  She sniffed her runny nose and nodded, clutching her big brother, until last call for her flight.

  For seven hours over the Atlantic, she sought to justify Lee’s words. She couldn’t believe he meant those horrible things. He was hurting. His family was falling apart. She could come up with a hundred logical reasons to let him off the hook.

  When she landed she called him before she even left the airport.

  “Hi, it’s me,” she said, luggage piled around her. “Are you okay?”

  “Where are you?” His voice was hard, wary, and oh so far away.

  “I’m in the airport. In Scotland.”

  “Then I have nothing to say to you.”

  “Wait. Don’t hang up.”

  “You did this. Remember that.” His words were as clipped as his tone.

  She was not going to cry. He just had to be made to listen to reason. “I know you’re upset because everything is a mess right now. I want to help you.”

  He snorted dismissively. “Right. Unless you’re calling to tell me you’re getting back on that plane and coming home, then this conversation is over.”

  “Can you just listen to me for a minute? I love you.”

  “Well, I don’t know what to tell you about that. I don’t abandon the people I love. I’m not that selfish.” And then he hung up on her.

  Candace wiped her eyes. There were things to do. Pick up the luggage. Make it to her new room. Remember to eat. Start classes and bury herself in lab work. She had a plan for her life, and she would never deviate from it again.

  Chapter Eleven

  Present day

  Candace thought they were going to find Jose, but when Lee turned the truck into the driveway of a magnificent home she assumed they were at a job site. Giant stone columns rose up, supporting three stories of walls full of windows looking out over an enormous front lawn. From the driveway, she was able to discern a stained glass dome over the entry.

  “Wow,” she said, gazing out the window.

  They continued around the side of the house where she was able to take in the sweeping back yard complete with an enormous swimming pool and pool house. Lee slowed the truck as the garage door opened and he pulled the big vehicle inside. He waited for the garage door to completely close before he gestured her to follow him.

  Sunbeams bounced off granite countertops and stainless steel appliances in an immaculate kitchen. He tossed his keys by the sink. She gazed over the room in amazement. He didn’t pause, though, and
she stayed on his heels as he continued on through a great room furnished with large leather furniture and a gigantic flat screen. Oddly, the next part of the house was unfurnished. She peeked into a dining room with no table and a formal living room with only a massive stone fireplace to fill it.

  She gasped, then paused under the stained glass dome she’d seen from the outside. Fiery red swirls blended into oranges and yellows and blues. The entry was bathed in muted light.

  “Wow,” she repeated. This place was amazing.

  He didn’t reply and she took a few steps at a trot to catch up to him as he led the way up a giant curved staircase. Wood beneath her feet was polished to a high gleam. The entire second and third floors opened to the giant, circular entry and the banister and railing that circled each level was intricately styled wrought iron.

  “This place is amazing,” she told Lee when she caught up to him on the second floor landing. “Who lives here?”

  He tossed her a perplexed look over his shoulder. “I do.”

  Her jaw dropped. “You do?” When she looked over the balcony to the open area below she saw the hardwood floor had been laid out in a subtle yet intricate design she hadn’t noticed from ground level. Amazing. “You live here?”

  “Yeah. I told you I was taking you home to help me find the cat.”

  She couldn’t believe this place. It was astounding. Magnificent. Lee made kissing noises as he paused at each door along the way and glanced in the rooms. She stuck her head in each one after he did, only to discover that each was bare except for the second one, which contained a cat carrier, litter box, and food and water bowls. There were so many questions, she didn’t even know where to start.

  Not true. She fired off the first one that occurred to her. “Who else lives here?”

  “Me and the cat.” He paused and peered into a bathroom. Made more kissing noises.

  She blinked into the room. The walls were tiled with pebbles. She ran her fingers along the surface. Cool. “By yourselves? It seems a bit roomy just for you and one part-time feline.”