Reckless

by Lori Bell

  “What the fuck?” the man, who now looked shady to Edie, exclaimed. “We had an agreement for me to run your sister off the road. What happened after that was out of my control! You owe me, bitch!”

  “Half,” Sydney spoke up, and little did she know that Edie was right there, close by and towering over her. Edie had wide eyes, an open mouth, and she was listening so intently in a state of sheer shock. “You will get half now, and the rest when my sister dies.”

  Chapter 5

  Tate dozed off at Edie’s bedside. He was not awake when her eyes twitched and her facial expression tensed. What Edie was experiencing while she was under had been affecting her as she lied there in that hospital bed. Her physical being was now in a frantic hurry to wake up. But it wasn’t time yet.

  He was unsure how long he had been sitting there with his eyes closed in the chair near Edie’s hospital bedside, but Tate was startled awake when he felt someone gently touch his shoulder.

  “Syd, hi,” Tate said, shifting his body weight in the uncomfortable chair.

  “I can’t believe this is happening,” Sydney said, looking at her sister lying there, unconscious, and banged up. “What did the doctor say? I mean, when will she wake up?”

  “Soon,” Tate said, trying to sound positive. He had not expected this reaction from Edie’s little sister. She was prone to fall apart. Sydney stood closer to the bedside and Tate noticed she was still wearing her burgundy Ry’s Market smock. She had suddenly turned into a workaholic – just like her sister. If Edie had not been so hell-bent on working late hours, the accident never would have happened. She would not be lying in that hospital bed now.

  “I’m just expecting her to wake up and talk snarky to me, you know?” Sydney said, looking over at Tate and then back at Edie. “It feels strange to see her like this. So helpless.”

  “I know what you mean,” Tate said, as he focused his worried eyes on Edie. “She’s just always so together. So beautiful. This isn’t her.”

  Sydney tensed, but hid her emotions well. You are the one who needs to wake up, Tate Ryman. Can’t you see? She is not the woman for you. And she never will be. You’re going to realize that sooner or later. I’ll help you come to your senses.

  “Thanks for coming here,” Tate added.

  “Of course,” Sydney told him. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else. My sister needs me.” Tate reached for Sydney’s hand and he held it. Her face didn’t flush this time. She didn’t feel like a nervous school girl around him. He was touching her. It was happening already.

  Just weeks ago, Sydney had found herself staring at the laptop computer screen in that cramped office at Ry’s Market. She had access to the books. The numbers were right in front of her eyes. Years of profit at the only market in the City of Camden. Sydney’s paycheck was comfortable. For her. For how she was used to living. She rented a decent apartment, owned a compact hybrid, and had a little money left over to spend or save. She would never come close to seeing a six-figure salary like her sister, but for Sydney that had not been important. Even knowing that Ry’s Market consistently profited around two million dollars annually for at least the last decade didn’t make Sydney feel envious or greedy. She didn’t want their money. She needed it to carry out her plan. Her dream to be happy.

  But, how could she steal from the family who had taken care of her for so many years? They were the Rymans. It was Tate, for God’s sake. Her hatred for her sister, and obsession with Tate had consumed her, and blinded her. She lost her sense of right from wrong. Sydney had spent years never getting what she wanted. Always feeling like she was lost in her sister’s shadow. She wanted that to change. She wanted her sister gone. With Edie out of the picture, Sydney believed Tate would be hers.

  Sydney heard of a man who lived in Dover. He had a reputation. He would do anything for a little money. After following him one night, she waited in her car outside of Lantern Inn. When he left the bar and was walking through the back ally, Sydney had approached him. It was pitch dark and her heart was about to beat through her chest. She was not that kind of girl. She steered clear of danger. But, her emotions had taken over. She now had the money, so she wanted the job done. And after transferring fifty thousand dollars to her personal account from the Ry’s Market account, Sydney suddenly felt powerful.

  Sydney told the hitman what she wanted done. He never flinched at the idea of committing a crime. He only demanded more money than he ever asked of anyone before. Considering this was murder, he expected to make some real money. His price tag was one hundred thousand dollars. Sydney was flabbergasted, and she balked, and then told him she didn’t have that kind of money. He opted to settle for half. And then the two of them made a deal.

  Sydney was looking at her sister in that hospital bed now. It alarmed her to think that the truth could come out. She could go to jail. She would lose Tate. There was no possible way that she would allow Edie to ruin her life. Not anymore than Sydney already believed she had.

  *

  Mr. Ryman stood in the parking lot while Edie nearly ran circles around him. Her heels were hitting hard on the concrete surface as she tried to escape and then paced to no avail. “Why are you just standing there? And how come we cannot follow her? She tried to have me killed! My own sister! This has to be a nightmare that I am going to wake up from any minute…”

  “Edie,” Mr. Ryman calmly spoke in the cold dark winter air, but neither one of them were affected by it, as they both were without coats. “You are here to fill in the blanks yourself. Come, it’s time to see more.”

  Moments later, Edie and Mr. Ryman were inside of the home Edie remembered from her childhood. The Kleins were a blue collar family. Their father worked as an auto mechanic and their mother was a waitress at a diner in downtown Camden. They were a happy family of four, Edie remembered. The house was quiet now as Edie walked through it, her heels pressing into the shag carpet. It was as if she knew exactly where she was headed. And Mr. Ryman followed her.

  In one of the back bedrooms of the house, Edie stood in the doorway watching herself at fourteen years old and Sydney was eleven. Edie’s hair was long and blonde then, too. Sydney’s auburn wavy locks were shoulder length then and now. Edie saw her little sister watching her apply makeup in front of a mirror attached to a dresser. She tipped a bottle of liquid foundation heavily onto her fingertips. She smeared it all over her face. It was too thick and uneven in spots.

  “That looks like too much,” Edie heard her little sister say to her, and before she heard herself reply, Edie already knew what she had said. She remembered those words all too clearly.

  “It is too much,” the fourteen-year-old Edie replied. “It’s a way to cover up the pain. You should do the same.”

  “But, I’m too young for makeup. Mama said–”

  “There’s no mama anymore. It’s just us, kid. And we can do whatever we want to do. Aunt Janet couldn’t care less. She’s only here because her name was in mama and daddy’s will.” Sydney listened intently to her big sister. “So, as I was saying, cover up your pain any which way. Just don’t speak of it to me. I am going to be happy.”

  Edie stood in the doorway watching herself. She looked at Mr. Ryman as he was beside her, observing the scene from the past as well. Edie was confused about why they were there and what that meant.

  “What about me?” the eleven-year-old Sydney had spoken with an innocence that should have captured Edie’s attention then.

  “You’re on your own if you don’t want to follow my lead,” Edie had told her then. “No tears. No talk of our old life with them. They are gone.”

  “I hate makeup,” Sydney responded, with tears welling up in her eyes, “and I hate you!”

  Edie took a step back from the doorway, and Mr. Ryman followed.

  “So you two have never been close?” he asked her, and Edie should not have been taken aback by his observation, but she was.

  “Before the accident we were, I suppose, but that was a long time ago,” Ed
ie responded. “Can you at least tell me why I had to watch that just now? Is this some higher power’s way of telling me it’s my fault that my sister tried to kill me tonight because I wasn’t there for her when our parents died?”

  Edie and Sydney had been in the backseat of their family’s Ford Mercury when their car was struck by another vehicle which had run a red light at an intersection. The girls walked away with only scratches, and no parents. Mr. and Mrs. Klein were killed on impact. Neither wore seatbelts, and both were thrown from the front bench seat of the car.

  From that tragic day forward, Edie made a choice. Love meant pain. She would choose superficial beauty, money, prestige, and success over risking her heart pain ever again.

  “These are your answers, Edie,” Mr. Ryman told her. “I don’t know if it will be enough, but you have to go back and try.” Edie was unsure of what he meant by try.

  Chapter 6

  Edie was hurt and angry, and still engulfed in disbelief about all of this. She wanted to confront her sister. But, first, she had to wake up. She was now back inside of her body, lying in a sterile hospital bed where she was hooked up to an IV that was dripping fluids into her body, and a beeping machine was monitoring her heart rate. She had been asleep for forty-eight hours.

  Tate watched her eyelids flutter. He had seen this more than a few times the past two days. He learned not to call for the nurse after the first two times. It could be involuntary, he was told. But, each time, Tate wanted to believe Edie was coming back to him. Each time he saw her eyelids move, he prayed that she would wake up. He had not left her side for more than hour each day to go home, take a shower, and change his clothes. During that time, he had asked Sydney to sit beside Edie so she would not be alone.

  He rolled up the sleeves on his blue flannel shirt, and pushed his chair closer to her bed. He held her hand in both of his and he continued to talk to her. “E, come on. You can do it today. Open your eyes. Open them. I’m here. I’m right here. And I think you know by now that I’m not going anywhere. Not without you. Open. Your. Eyes.”

  Her head hurt. It was still so dark where she was. Edie could only think to describe this experience as being in limbo. Just lying in that bed, stuck in an unconscious state, as she could hear the voices speaking to her, and feel Tate’s hands holding hers. But she could not open her eyes, or respond in any way. She had tried to force her eyes open, time and again, but getting no results became exhausting. So she had slept some more.

  This time, the light in the room was bright. When she lifted her eyelids, the brightness felt as if it would blind her. She closed her eyes again and she could feel them watering. She tried again to open her eyes. This time she managed to lift her eyelids open a little farther. She saw Tate. His face looked blurred. She closed her eyes again.

  “That’s it, that’s it, E. Come on…” His voice was so soothing and encouraging, but there was fear in it, too. Edie knew she had worried him.

  She was able to hold her eyes completely open now, and her blurred vision began to improve. Tate no longer looked like he had two heads with oblong foreheads. He was as perfect as she remembered now.

  “How… long…” Edie began to speak, but her mouth was too dry. She tried to clear her throat and then swallow but that was so uncomfortable.

  “Shh…don’t try to talk. I’ll call for the nurse!” Tate pushed a call button near the bed, and told the responding nurse that Edie was awake.

  “Wa…t…er”

  “Oh okay,” Tate reached for the pitcher near her bed that he had been drinking out of. He poured the iced water into a cup with a straw. He poured it so fast that a few ice cubes bounced out of the cup and onto the floor. He moved to place the straw between her lips, and Edie felt so helpless. She took a slow slip and finally was able to swallow without her throat hurting.

  A heavyset middle-aged nurse entered the room just as Tate continued to help Edie take a drink. “Looks like our sleeping beauty is ready to get back to the land of the living…”

  Edie tried to smile. She hardly felt like a beauty right now. No makeup. Her hair must be a mess. And her head was throbbing.

  “The doctor was paged and will be here shortly,” the nurse told Tate and then looked over at Edie. “Is there anything we can get you? I see this good man here got you some water.”

  “My head hurts,” Edie said, reaching up to touch her forehead and immediately felt alarmed when her hand pressed against a thick squared bandage. “What is that?”

  “It’s okay, Edie. You hit your head in the accident. It’s bandaged, but the doctor said it will heal. No worries,” Tate tried to reassure her..

  “Oh my God, do I have stitches? Am I going to scar?” The old Edie was back and Tate could not help but smile at her.

  “It’s fine. Just a bump. Let it heal and you will be as good as new. E, with or without a bump and bandage, you are beautiful, but more importantly you are here – you are alive.”

  “What happened to me?” Edie asked Tate as the nurse checked her vitals.

  “You ran off the road in the fog, you hit the ditch pretty hard, and that’s when your head met the steering wheel. Do you remember that?” Tate felt so grateful at this moment to have her back. All he wanted to do was look at her, touch her, and talk to her.

  “Yes, I think so. I remember a truck in my lane, coming right toward me. There was nothing else I could do, I had to swerve out of the way and get off the road.”

  “Really?” Tate asked. “You must be a little confused. There was a truck, but the driver of it was behind you. He said he saw you run off the road so he stopped and called for emergency.”

  “That’s not how it happened. Not at all…no!” Edie became agitated and the nurse looked at Tate and slowly shook her head.

  “I’m sure it’s all a little fuzzy in your mind right now. Just try not to think too much about it. It’ll come back clearly after a little time,” the nurse told her. “And, sometimes, honey, it doesn’t matter if those details remain unclear. You went through a traumatic event. The important thing is you are okay, you know who you are, and you recognize your man here.”

  “She’s right,” Tate told Edie, reaching for her hand again. “This is all that matters. You came back. And you’re going to be okay.”

  Okay wasn’t exactly how Edie felt when the doctor was examining her and she noticed Tate had been on his cell phone. Edie was told by the doctor that she had to remain in the hospital for a twenty-four observation before being released to go home. Once they were alone in the room again, Edie spoke first.

  “Who were you texting a few minutes ago?” she asked him, and he liked the fact that she was interested in what he was doing. The two of them had gotten so comfortable sharing life together that those little things had often gone overlooked. He had done his thing and Edie was wrapped up in hers. Tate was hoping something good would now come out of this accident. Their eyes were opened to how fleeting life can be. Every moment defies time. And it was time for them to hold onto to their lives a little tighter. Be a little wiser to their blessings. And appreciate each other more. That is the way Tate felt about his life now. Losing his father and now experiencing this scare with Edie had greatly affected him.

  “I let Syd know you are going to be okay…” Tate smiled. And Edie felt her own heartbeat quicken, and she knew her face flushed.

  “Is she coming here?” Edie asked, feeling and sounding defensive.

  “Maybe, if she can step away from the market,” Tate replied. “Look, Edie, I know the two of you aren’t super close, but maybe you both should work on that a bit now. Second chances can change things. Syd has been here so much, as worried about you as I was.”

  “I’ll bet,” Edie replied. She had a fire inside of her now. She laid back on the stiff pillow that had a molded spot right in the center where her head had been pressed against for days. She thought about her experience while she was unconscious. She had seen and was with Tate’s father. He led her on a journey. The p
resent. The past. Was any of that real? Did her sister really try to have her killed? Edie wondered who would believe it. She wasn’t even sure at this point if she believed it herself.

  Chapter 7

  By that evening, Edie was having a difficult time keeping her eyes open. She and Tate had been sharing conversation, meaningful words that neither of them had offered in a very long time. They wanted a future together, both of them were certain of that. Tate had told her he loved her, and Edie smiled, touched his hand and then held it for the longest time. She never could say it back. If she had said those words before to him, she didn’t remember when.

  “You need to get some rest,” Tate told her, as he watched her heavy eyes close and then open again.

  “Only if you promise to go home tonight and get some real sleep in a bed.” Edie knew he had not left her side in days.

  “Not without you,” Tate told her. “We’ll do that tomorrow night after you are released from this joint.”

  “Nonsense. I will rest better knowing you are not trying to curl up on that hardback chair for another night,” Edie told him. “Please, just go, but come back for me first thing in the morning and take me home.”

  Tate stood up from the chair beside her bed. He stretched his body, arms in the air, and twisted his torso a few times. Those tight jeans and fitted flannel shirt formed his body. Edie was looking at him, almost as if it was the first time. He was a beautiful man. His sandy brown hair needed a trim, but those loose curls on his forehead, around his ears, and down his neckline were so him. A little unkempt and quite sexy.

  “What are you staring at?” he asked her with a grin on his face.

  “The sexiest man in the world, and I’m smiling because he’s mine…” Tate leaned in and kissed her full on the mouth. It’s the first real kiss they shared today since she woke up. And Edie quickly pulled away.

  “You cannot want to kiss me now. I am a freaking mess.” Edie had a meltdown when she looked in the bathroom mirror just hours earlier. Tate had not been in the room with her at the time. Only a nurse. The nurse didn’t understand. She possibly assumed Edie was just vain. It was more than that. Edie had not felt that helpless and scared since the day her parents died. That feeling had come rushing back. And she pushed it away as fast as she possibly could.