by Sarah Hegger
With a deep breath, Elizabeth stepped into the dining room to the right of the entrance hall and then went through the door to the kitchen.
“Hi.” Chris looked up from a plate of cookies. “Maddy said you were coming around.”
Now that she was there, she couldn’t think of much to say. They’d been best friends since kindergarten, and it made no sense that she couldn’t speak. “Hi.”
She stood on the far side of the island from Chris.
Chris motioned. “Sit. Please.”
“Thanks.” The stool scraped over the tiles and Elizabeth jumped. “Sorry.”
“No, that’s fine.” Chris waved a dismissive hand. “I need to replace those felt pads on the bottom of the legs.”
Elizabeth perched and sat. She peered at the cookies and her heart melted. “Are those Dares?”
“Yup.” Chris pushed the plate toward her. “They’re my favorite.”
“I know.”
“Of course you do.” Chris cleared her throat. “I always have them in the house. In case, you know, I want one.”
“Yup.” Elizabeth nodded, feeling like a dumb puppet. “It’s best to keep some here. Because you like them so much.”
Dear God, she couldn’t keep this up for much longer before one of them started screaming.
“Coffee?” Chris turned and got the coffee going.
“That would be great.” One of them had to push through the ice crust. “Chris?”
She turned with an overbright smile. “Yes?”
“I miss you. So much. And I’m so sorry we fought.”
“Oh, Elizabeth.” Chris dropped her spoon and coffee grounds fell all over the counter and floor. “I miss you too, and I’m so sorry for what I said.”
Elizabeth rounded the island, banging her hip in the process. “I’m sorry I got so angry and didn’t stay and talk it out.”
“Maddy is lovely, and I’m happy with her.” Chris pulled her into a tight hug. “But she doesn’t replace you in my life. It’s different and I need you both.”
“I know.” Elizabeth returned the hug as hard as she received. “I’ve wanted to pick up the phone a hundred times and tell you something, and then stopped myself.”
“I promise I won’t tell Maddy stuff you don’t want me to.” Chris pushed back from the hug.
Elizabeth needed a tissue, or the snot and tears situation would get out of hand. She dug one out of her purse and handed another to Chris. “It’s not that so much. I know Maddy wouldn’t betray me or anything. I think I don’t like the idea of sharing you with someone. I’ve had you all to myself for years.”
“It’s the same for me.” Chris blew her nose. “I mean, you’ve had boyfriends before but nobody like Sam. I know how important he is to you, and I get resentful too.”
“Let’s not fight again.” Elizabeth held out her hand.
Chris took it and shook it. “I’m not sure we can agree not to fight, but I think we should agree not to freeze each other out if we do.”
“Done.”
The handshake ended in another hug before Elizabeth sat down again. “How about that coffee?”
“Coming up.” Chris cleared the coffee grounds away and started again.
Elizabeth helped herself to a Dare Maple Leaf cookie. “How are things with Maddy? She can come back now.”
“She’s shopping.” Chris grimaced and took a cookie. She bit into it and sighed. “I love these things.”
“I know.”
She laughed. “I got them specially for you. When Maddy said you were coming, I ran out and got them.”
“Chris.” If this kept up, Elizabeth would start crying again. “All I wanted was to see you.”
“Me too.” Chris smiled. “As to Maddy. Things are great, better than great actually, but you know how I feel about shopping, so she’s more than happy to take this time without me whining at her about going home.”
Elizabeth sensed something Chris wasn’t saying. “Better than great.”
“Yeah.” Chris flushed. “I’m thinking of asking her to move in with me.”
They knew each other too well for bullshit. “Really? Thinking about asking her, or it’s a done deal.” She pointed to a wooden tree of brightly colored coffee mugs. “Because that’s new.”
“Okay.” Chris rolled her eyes and blushed deeper. “I asked and she said yes.”
“That’s great,” Elizabeth said and meant it. Chris had been waiting for a Maddy for so long. She deserved all the happiness she could get. “We’ll have to have a housewarming party.”
Chris put a mug of coffee in front of her. Exactly the way she liked it. “So what’s new with you?”
“Well.” Elizabeth bit into another cookie. Damn these things were moreish. “The big news is I got a new job.”
“Get out.” Chris gaped at her. “So soon.”
“I start Monday.” Elizabeth told her the story.
Chris was thrilled for her. She said all the right things to reassure Elizabeth. This was what their friendship was about.
“And how are things with Sam?” Chris sipped her coffee. “Is he still rocking your world?”
Elizabeth’s face heated and she rolled her eyes. “I never said he rocked my world.”
“Yeah, but we can all see that he does.” Chris chuckled. “Things still good with you guys?”
“Great. Perfect.” And she didn’t sound nearly as convincing as she was going for, because up came one of Chris’s eyebrows. “What’s going on?”
She battled to put it into words because it was more a feeling than something she could enunciate. “That thing you said to me about swapping one dominant male for another—”
“I was wrong about that,” Chris said. “Sam is nothing like your dad and he makes you happy. He tries to put your needs first.”
“I know that.” Elizabeth didn’t know how not to sound like a brat. “And he really does try.”
“But?”
“You know, with my dad, I get pushed into the background because he has to be the center of attention. He has to have everything. Jane is the same.” A characteristic people like Leonard also shared. “And I put up with them, and people like them, because I know how.”
“And?” Chris crunched a cookie, her gaze intent on Elizabeth.
Buying time, Elizabeth sipped her coffee. “My mom once said something to me that’s stuck with me. She said that just because we can manage difficult people, it doesn’t mean we have to.”
“But Sam isn’t difficult,” Chris said. “I think he may be feeling the L word.”
“He does.” Elizabeth got a smug glow as she said that. “He told me he did.”
Chris whooped. “Way to go, Sam.” Then she stared at Elizabeth. “So why aren’t you farting sunshine and roses?”
“Do you think part of why I’m with Sam is because all I know is difficult?” She couldn’t maintain the eye contact with Chris, and she fiddled with her mug. “Sam isn’t difficult, but the situation is. With my dad and Jane, I take second place because of who they are. With Sam I take second place because of what he is, his career and his lifestyle.”
“That’s a tough one.” Chris blew out a breath. “And I’m not really sure I have an answer for you.”
“Me neither.” Elizabeth felt a dull weight settle in the center of her chest. “I love Sam, I really do, but I’m not sure I can be second best for the rest of my life. And I really don’t like how needy and whiny this is making me.”
Chapter 34
Elizabeth took the call from Chris at six a.m. This couldn’t be good news. “Chris.”
“Elizabeth.” The seriousness of Chris’s tone would have gotten her attention if the earliness of the call hadn’t. “Sweetie, I’ve got some bad news.”
Words that got anyone’s heart going. “What? Did Sam get hurt? Dad?”
“Lizzie, it’s Jane,” Chris said. “The news came over the police dispatch about ten minutes ago. I made sure first before I called.”
“There was a car accident on the four seventeen. Five teen girls involved. They’ve taken them to Ottawa Hospital.”
The world tilted around her, and she couldn’t make her stupid brain work. “Are you sure it’s Jane? Where was she going? What?”
“Elizabeth.” Chris’s voice was calm and clear. “I checked, and it’s Jane. Your dad is being notified now, and I’ve sent Maddy to get you.”
Some part of her knew she should do something, but she couldn’t think what. “Is she okay? Jane. She’s okay though, right.”
“Sweetie,” Chris said, and Elizabeth really didn’t like that tone. “It’s not good. You need to get dressed, and Maddy will take you to the hospital.”
She stood. “I’ll get dressed.”
“That’s right,” Chris said. “Maddy won’t be long.”
Elizabeth stumbled into some clothes, vaguely making sure they looked reasonable. She dragged her hair into a ponytail and brushed her teeth.
The doorbell rang as she was pulling her shoes on.
Maddy stood there, her face stricken. She wrapped her arms around Elizabeth. “Let’s get you to the hospital.”
“Sure.” Elizabeth looked around not sure what to take. Suddenly her brain refused to cooperate.
Maddy brushed past her and picked up her phone, her purse and her house keys. “Come on. Your dad will need you.”
“Right.” Elizabeth scoffed. Chris said they were informing her dad, and he hadn’t called her. Not one missed call from him. “Then you don’t know my dad.”
On the drive to the hospital, she tried to get her head together.
Maddy dropped her off at triage and went to park.
Walking through the automatic doors, the first face Elizabeth saw was Chris’s. In her uniform Chris looked so official, and the reality of the situation body slammed Elizabeth.
She went straight to Chris. “Tell me.”
Chris led her past reception and into the hospital. “From what we know so far, the girls were all packed up like they were on a road trip. The car was full of baggage, and they had their passports with them.”
The trip she’d told Jane not to go on. She’d gone anyway. Wasn’t that so fucking Jane, and suddenly she wanted to shake her sister. God, let that be a possibility.
Forcing the panic down, she concentrated on what Chris was telling her.
“According to witnesses and the trucker they hit, they changed lanes. He swerved but he couldn’t avoid them. He hit them and spun them into oncoming traffic.”
“Oh, God.” Her legs refused to move.
Chris came back for her and put her arm around her. “The driver is the best off and is conscious. I have to go and talk to her. The three girls in the back took the worst of it.”
Elizabeth didn’t need Chris to tell her. “And Jane was in the back.”
“Yes.”
Chris caught the attention of a passing nurse. “Jane Rogers. Do you have an update on her condition?”
The nurse glanced at Elizabeth. “Family?”
“Sister.”
Pointing down a short corridor, the nurse said, “Your father is waiting in there. He got here a couple of minutes go. The doctor will be out as soon as she can.”
“Thanks.” Chris fell into step with Elizabeth.
Elizabeth stopped her. “Let me talk to him alone. You go and do what you have to do.”
“You sure?” Chris hugged her tight. “I’ll be right back. You hang in there, Elizabeth. I’ve seen people walk away from much worse. She’s young, and she’s strong.”
It was ridiculous how she could draw comfort from such trite words, but she did.
Dad sat in the waiting room, his gaze fixed on the silent television in the corner. The morning news was playing.
“Dad?”
He glanced at her and then went back to the television. “They called you.”
“Yes.” She sat on the chair to his left. “Have you heard anything?”
“Just that she was unconscious when they brought her in. Nonresponsive they say. They’re working on her.”
Hundreds of questions crowded her brain, but now wasn’t the time. “I’ll call Mom.” She got her phone out.
Dad scowled at her. “Why?”
Elizabeth didn’t even bother to answer but stood and walked to the far side of the waiting room. She left a message for her mother to call her urgently.
Then she called Sam. Voicemail. She couldn’t remember what she said, but she didn’t go into much detail. Just that Jane was in hospital and he should call her. Or something close to that.
“Any news?” Maddy walked into the waiting room.
Elizabeth shook her head. “We’re waiting for the doctor.”
“I’ll get some coffee,” she said. “Are you hungry?”
Elizabeth shook her head. “But Dad might be.”
“I’ll get something anyway.” Maddy kissed her cheek and then hurried away.
Not able to sit still, Elizabeth paced the length of the waiting room. Surely someone knew something by now. She was on the verge of finding a person when a young doctor entered the waiting room and approached Dad. “Mr. Rogers?”
Dad stood and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Is she—”
“Jane suffered considerably injuries,” the doctor said, her brown eyes full of empathy. “Mostly concentrated on the left side of her body. The side of impact.”
“What injuries?” Elizabeth didn’t recognize that voice as her own.
“She’s broken her left tibia and fibula. Her leg bones,” she said. “She also suffered broken ribs down that side of her body. Fortunately none of the ribs punctured her lungs, but her left lung did collapse from the impact.”
Elizabeth dropped into a seat. How could anyone take this kind of damage?’
“We have the lung re-inflated, but for now we have her on a respirator. There was also a minor brain hemorrhage, but we believe that has stopped.”
Dad rocked from his toes to his heels. “Anything else?”
“Not now.” The doctor shook her head. “But the next twenty-four hours are critical, and we’ll be keeping a very close watch on her. Once she’s stabilized, we’ll move her to ICU, and you’ll be able to see her.”
After the doctor left, Dad went back to staring at the silent television. She knew he had to be feeling it, but outwardly nothing showed.
Imagine being her mother and living with his coldness for thirty years, living with a man who not only refused to acknowledge his own feelings, but dismissed everyone else’s as well. Elizabeth couldn’t do it.
God, she wished Sam was there.
Maddy reappeared with coffee and sandwiches.
“Thank you.” Dad unwrapped a sandwich and bit into it. He ate it still watching his silent television. She told herself it was a coping mechanism, but it didn’t piss her off any less.
He hadn’t even called her to let her know about Jane. “Were you planning to call me and let me know about Jane?”
“You’re here aren’t you?” Dad scowled at her. “I didn’t need to call you.”
“Yes, but were you going to, if Chris hadn’t?” It hadn’t occurred to him that she might need a father, or that they could lean on each other.
The only surprise was that it still had the power to affect her. “Listen.” She turned to Maddy. “This might take a while, so I don’t expect you to wait.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Maddy stirred sweetener into her coffee. She glanced at Dad. “And maybe you need someone. I’m sure Sam will be here when he can.”
When he could. While her sister was fighting for her life, Sam was chasing a disc of vulcanized rubber around the ice, and all for the amusement of the masses.
None of it was fair.
“Sam?” Dad turned to her. “What has Sam got to do with it?”
“I called him and told him.” Elizabeth stared
at the sandwich Maddy had given her. She couldn’t bring herself to even unwrap it.
Dad gaped at her. “Why would you call him?”
“He’s her boyfriend.” Maddy looked at Dad in shock. “Why wouldn’t she call him?”
“Boyfriend.” Dad snorted. “Sam doesn’t have time for women and them needing stuff from him.”
“Plenty of players are married,” Maddy said.
Elizabeth touched her arm and shook her head. She appreciated Maddy’s effort, but it would fall on fallow ground.
“Some are, yes.” Dad puffed up, as always hating to be contradicted. “But they are jobbing players, not the Sams of this world.”
“Gretzky was married.” Maddy didn’t give up easily.
Dad waved his hand and went back to his television. Then he turned again. “Sam is going through a critical point in his career. He doesn’t need distractions. He needs to concentrate on his game.”
“I think that’s up to Sam to decide.” Maddy crossed her arms. “And so far, it looks like Elizabeth has been a real asset to his career.”
Dad scowled at her. “Who are you again?”
“I’m with Chris,” Maddy said. “I’m her girlfriend.”
“Right.” Dad nodded. “But what you’re not is family and I’d like you to leave. My daughter has been in a car accident, and I don’t need to be arguing with you about what’s best for Sam.”
Maddy looked contrite. “I’m sorry. You’re right. That was insensitive of me.”
“Why don’t you see if you can find Chris?” Elizabeth looked at Maddy. Her trigger to soothe troubled waters went core deep. She leaped into action before she could think about it.
“If you’re sure that’s best.” Maddy glanced at Dad.
Elizabeth managed a smile. “This is nothing new.”
“Okay.” Maddy got to her feet and adjusted her miniskirt. “I’m sorry about Jane, Mr. Rogers. We’re all hoping and praying she makes a full recovery.
Dad grunted and picked up the third coffee Maddy had brought.
Shortly after that, Mom rang back, and Elizabeth had to tell her as much as she knew. She left Mom planning to fly back immediately.
Time went by, and the news gave way to cartoons on the television.
Dad didn’t seem to care but kept his gaze locked on the screen.