by Lauren Dane
“I’ll miss you too. Call me when you get there and give Jules my love.”
Gideon headed off to her.
He hated that she was alone facing her family. He hated that she hadn’t woken them up, though he did understand it. He’d seen her like this back with the situation with her brother. She’d turned off her pain and had sunk into just getting through. But he wanted to be first in her mind when she had a problem. He wanted her to turn to him and Cal as an instinct.
He knew she was scared. He knew she’d been left behind and disappointed by a lot of people she should have been able to trust. But he wasn’t any of those people. He’d do anything for her and it was high time they moved to the next step. She needed him and unlike those others, he was coming to her.
• • •
Jules was able to do a half-assed job on her makeup in the bathroom at Sea-Tac so when she arrived at John Wayne she was ready to hit the rental car counter and get on her way to Mission Viejo where her father’s in-laws—did that make them her step-grandparents?—Donna’s parents, both younger than her father, had built them a home just a mile from their place. Jules had been there once and though they had seven bedrooms, she’d stayed in a hotel.
Ugh. Not the time to think about that. Donna had called and asked for help. Jules would give it to her because it was her father after all. She wanted to hope things could get better. Coming down here and helping, hell, being asked to help could be something that would bring them all closer together.
She hooked her phone into the car’s sound system and checked her voice mail.
Messages from Gideon and Cal wanting to know how she was. Messages from Mary, Erin and Daisy as well.
And one last one from Gideon.
“Juliet Lamprey, I’m on my way. My plane should arrive shortly after yours. I’m coming for you and you won’t be alone. Remember that. Cal is coming tomorrow night. I love you.”
Tears burst forth as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Her chest hurt. She needed them so much and they were coming for her. The ice in her belly thawed a little. She wasn’t going to be alone.
Truth was, she hadn’t allowed herself to really think about it. She’d just gone into that place where she could bury all her emotions in planning and taking care of the details. But now she could admit to herself she’d needed to hear they were with her.
Once she’d gotten herself back under control, Jules called Cal, who answered right away.
“Hey, gorgeous, what’s the status?”
“I’m just about at the hospital now. I don’t know anything more than what I did before I left. I’m guessing Donna’s phone is off because she’s in the hospital.”
“You should have woken us, Jules.” His voice was gentle, but she heard the hurt there and it cut her deep.
“I’m sorry. I really am. I just went into planning mode. I had so much to do and I know you had work this week and Gideon has Patrick to keep an eye on. I just wanted to be doing something and I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Wake me? Do you think I’d prefer to be well rested or to fucking help when you get scary news? Don’t be a pretty dumbass.”
She sniffed back her tears and kept her eyes on the road. “I know it was wrong.”
“Good. I accept your apology. I’ll see you tomorrow night. I wish it could be earlier but I can’t get out of this appearance.”
“I understand. I really do. I promise. I just . . . thank you. I need you.” She swallowed her emotion back.
“Thank the gods you finally fucking admit it.”
She smiled. God, she loved Calvin Whaley. “You’re full of bad words today. Are you hungover?”
“Smartass.”
“I have to go. The exit is coming up. I’ll talk with you soon. Calvin? I love you.”
“I love you too. Take care of yourself. And Jules . . . don’t let any of that bullshit get to you. Okay? You don’t have to take any abuse. No one gets to hurt you or they’ll have to deal with me.”
“You’re going to make me cry.”
“All right. Remember what I said.”
“I’ll try,” she said and hung up.
She managed to find the right building and lot. Once parked, she smoothed her hair back and touched up her makeup. And while she did that, she pulled herself together.
Donna was sitting in a waiting room near ICU when Jules came around the corner. “Donna?”
Her dad’s wife sat up at the sound of her name. Jules recognized Donna’s father, who was at her side, and she nodded to him.
They didn’t hug. They didn’t even really know one another. She was younger than Jules and had fucked Jules’s father behind her mother’s back. They weren’t friends, but they both cared about her father and that was enough. “Any news?”
Donna didn’t seem overly excited to see her, but Jules chalked it up to having her husband in intensive care. “He’s in recovery. He had another stroke right before they got him into surgery. There’s damage but they don’t know how much yet. They’re waiting for him to regain consciousness to do some more testing.”
“All right. So tell me, what else?” She pulled out a notebook, needing to plan, needing to list and bullet point so she didn’t have to think about the fact that even though the man recovering just a few doors down had walked out on her, he was still her father.
Donna’s father took over the telling. Her dad had been complaining of a stomachache for a few days. He’d been at his in-laws, swimming with her brothers at their pool when he’d stood and then collapsed.
He’d had a small stroke six months before but they hadn’t connected it to the stomachache.
“He had a stroke six months ago?” Jules had spoken to him once during that time and he’d never bothered to mention that. She shoved it away with the years of other such events.
“Yes. After the blood pressure problems we changed his diet and he went on medication. You know. He lost the weight and his blood pressure had come way down.”
She sat there listening to this woman talk about her father and their life. His health problems he’d never shared with her, though she always did ask. She wasn’t sure if he didn’t feel like she cared or if it was he who didn’t care.
“Can you call your brother to fill him in? I need to go call my mom. She’s got the boys at home. We didn’t want to upset them.”
Jules was numb as she nodded and headed out to where she could use her phone.
She really, really didn’t want to call Ethan, but he needed to know and what could she tell Donna anyway? Hopefully they could be adults and get past this silliness for their dad’s sake.
Jules steeled herself and dialed her brother’s number. It was Marci who answered. “Jules, I’m sorry. Maybe in a few months . . .”
“I’m not calling about that. I’m here at the hospital so if you’d like an update you’ll continue to listen.” Even to her own ears, Jules sounded like a stranger. She’d always really liked Marci, but all she felt was numb that this situation with her brother was even happening.
It was stupid and a waste of time and really, none of Ethan’s goddamned business. And then the numb began to heat into anger.
“Oh! Of course. How is he?”
Jules filled Marci in briefly and succinctly. She missed the boys. Wanted to ask about them. Wanted to hear them shouting her name in the background.
“Donna may be calling with more information, or it might be me. It’s going to depend on whoever can do it. Unless Ethan wants me to let her know why he can’t bear the thought of me calling his home to hear about his father, who is in ICU.”
“It is stupid. I’m sorry. If it were up to me . . . but it’s not. Give him time.”
“No, I think I’m done doing that. I’ve been there for Ethan whenever he needed me. I had an active and loving relationship with your children. Those boys love me. I’m good for them. My brother had me as a guest in his home and he called me a whore and kicked me out at eleven at night after I’d driven thre
e hours and three dozen cupcakes and a dinosaur cake down for his son. Because I’m there for those boys just like I have been for him. I’ve had it, Marci. I’m tired of being crapped on and taken for granted. It breaks my heart that I won’t be able to watch your sons grow up. I love them very much. But I don’t plan to take any more shit from anyone. I’m turning over a new leaf. Have a good day.” She hung up and took a deep breath.
It wasn’t that she’d never told anyone off before. But never her family. And it wasn’t Marci’s fault, she knew.
She wondered if she should call back to apologize but then decided not to. She was done with that.
25
The knot of tension in Gideon’s stomach finally loosened when he pulled his rental into the hospital parking lot. Jules had left him a voice mail and had sounded so fragile it had taken all his control to not race to get there.
He found her by herself in a corner of the ICU waiting area. She’d been sitting sideways, her sweater balled up so she could rest her head on it. And she looked lost.
“Jules.”
She looked up and when she saw it was him her bottom lip quavered and she got up, nearly tripping over her things to get to him. He hugged her tight, swallowing past the well of emotion at the way she’d greeted him.
“I’m here, baby. I’m here.” He stroked a hand over her hair until she relaxed and stepped back to look up at him.
“He’s conscious. Donna went in to see him a bit ago.”
He guided her back to where she’d been sitting and joined her. “Now you can rest your head on my shoulder instead of the wall.”
“That’s the best offer I’ve had. Ever. Thank you. Thank you for coming.”
“Are you all right? Is he going to be okay?” She worried him. He wasn’t used to seeing her this way. She was normally spunky and vivacious. This Jules made him want to pull her into his lap and pet her.
“They are cautiously hopeful. That’s what the surgeon said. Apparently there’ve been a series of strokes and a few years’ history with dangerously high blood pressure.”
He tried not to gape at her. “You didn’t know?”
“Not until today, no. I yelled at Ethan’s wife.”
“You did?” He raised a brow, impressed.
“Well, not yelled. But I told Ethan off through her. I shouldn’t have. It’s not her fault. But I’m sick of being crapped on by people. I need to stay home where everyone loves me.”
He hugged her to his side. “They do. We do. But I’m here now and I love you.”
Her father’s wife came out a few minutes later with a guy about ten years older than Gideon was. That they’d gone in and hadn’t bothered to invite Jules burned in his gut, but she took it calmly so he let it go.
“There’s nothing else to do for now. I’m coming back in the morning. I need to get home to the boys. Do you need a ride to the hotel?”
Jules whipped her head, just a little. “I’d like to see him before I leave.”
The father-in-law shook his head. “He’s already tired and needs his rest.”
Jules pushed back. “I’m not going to play tennis with him. I just want him to know I’m here. I want to see him with my own eyes and know he’s all right.”
“You’re going to make him worse. Is that really what you want? I thought you came down here for him, not for you.”
Jules blinked at the father-in-law. “Excuse me? I’ve been here all day. I came down here because I was asked to. I resent your implication that I’d make him worse for kicks.”
The new wife stepped in after tapping her father’s arm. “Of course he didn’t say that. Your father is tired. You can see him tomorrow. He’s probably asleep by now anyway.”
Gideon didn’t hide his distaste. She’d rushed down here because this woman had begged her to and they hadn’t bothered to even courtesy invite her to stay with them. Christ.
“I’ll make sure she gets to the hotel.”
Jules squeezed the hand he’d been holding. “Donna, Bart, this is my boyfriend, Gideon. Gideon, this is my dad’s wife Donna and his father-in-law, Bart.”
He nodded his head, not bothering to offer a hand.
“We’ll see you in the morning.” Bart guided Donna out.
“I’m going to stay a while.” She looked to him. “It’s okay if you want to go get settled at the hotel.”
“Do you think I came all the way down here to leave you here on your own and go to a hotel?” He took her hand. “I’m here. Not going anywhere.”
They got settled again.
“I’m glad you’re here.” She put her head on his shoulder and he put an arm around her.
“I’m glad too. I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances though.”
“I hate hospitals.”
“Why?”
“When I was seven, I was in one for several days. And then afterward I had to come back for a lot of appointments. I hate the smell. I hate the carpet. I hate the muted and yet omnipresent noise.” She shivered.
“What were you in the hospital for?”
She sat up a little. “I thought you knew.” Her laugh was humorless. “I almost drowned. If the water hadn’t been so cold I might have. Anyway, I had water in my lungs. When he threw me in the water, he missed the deepest part. I struck my head on a submerged log. Blah, blah, blah.”
He hoped his horror didn’t show on his face.
“He?”
“My dad. He’s one of those believers in the ‘throw the kid in deep water and they have to swim or else’ school. Not so much.”
He blew out a breath. “Your aversion to the ferry makes a hell of a lot more sense now. I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago. But it did leave me with an intense dislike of hospitals and deep water. I still like to run through sprinklers though.”
His parents hadn’t been perfect, but he’d been loved. He tried to imagine this scene if his father had been in the hospital and he couldn’t. They’d have all united instead of this nonsense.
He hoped anyway.
So he settled in with her, holding her close as the next hours ticked by.
It was getting into late evening when he finally stood up. “We’re going to the hotel now.”
“What if he wakes up?”
“You can’t see him anyway. Visiting hours are over. You can’t do anything. They know you’re here. They’ve got your cell number at the nurse’s station. Come on. You need a bath and to sleep for a while.”
She allowed him to pull her to stand.
“I don’t want you driving tonight. You’re beat. You can get your car tomorrow.”
• • •
The hotel wasn’t far and thankfully it was out of the way and quiet. He took their bags up and pushed her into the bathroom to shower while he ordered up some food.
And then he called Cal.
“How is she?” Cal answered unceremoniously.
“So tired she’s got circles under her eyes. She’s alone down here. The wife didn’t even invite her to stay at their house. Couldn’t be bothered to have her talk with the surgeon and when they went in to see John they didn’t even so much as look back to her much less ask if she wanted to see him too. Then they guilted her when she asked to see him before the new wife left. It’s a wonder no one got punched. She’s in the shower right now. I ordered some food and then I’m making her sleep.”
“Why are you still there? If it’s that screwed, bring her home. It sucks, but you can’t pick your family. You can choose walking away when they shit on you so much though. We can’t let this happen.”
“I can’t make her leave, Cal. I wish I could. I wish I could sweep her up and get her the hell away from these people. But she’s scared for her dad. She needs to make the choice to leave if that’s what she wants.”
Cal huffed a breath. “I wish I was there right now.”
“Me too. She does as well. But we’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Can’t get here fast enough.
”
She came out of the bathroom, hair wrapped in a towel. He turned, smiling. “I’m on with Cal; you want to talk to him?”
She nodded and took the phone.
“Hey.”
He let Cal work on her while he pulled the blankets on the bed back and fluffed the pillows.
He really did want to grab her and run for the hills. He didn’t like these people at all. Didn’t like the way they’d summoned her and she’d come and then been pretty much ignored.
She’d just finished the call by the time he’d finished washing up.
“Get in bed. Food should be here soon.”
She nodded. “I don’t have any big shirts or anything. I just packed day clothes.”
He pulled the shirt he’d been wearing off and handed it her way. “Here. All warmed up.”
She put it on and it swallowed her to her knees.
“Much better. Though I do like it when you sleep naked.”
The food arrived and once they’d eaten, she’d snuggled down in the bed and he’d put his arms around her, holding her tight, and things felt better.
“Why are you staying?” he asked after they’d turned the lights off.
“What do you mean?”
Gideon weighed just exactly how to put it and decided she deserved blunt. “Here. Why are you staying here when clearly they don’t give a crap? I’m sorry to say it. Mainly because it hurts you and I don’t want that. Let’s sleep and then tomorrow morning stop by the hospital, pick your car up and get the hell out of this place. Go home where people love you.”
“She called me for help. I didn’t think of saying ‘oh hey, keep me updated.’ I guess that’s what Ethan did. I just got on a plane to get here because he’s my father. I don’t know why she’d have called and asked me to come if she hadn’t wanted me to. I’m chalking her behavior today up to shock. If one of you guys was in the hospital I’d be a mess too.”
“You make excuses for people’s shitty manners too much.”
“I know.”
He hadn’t expected that. “You’d never take this from me or Cal, or any of our friends. Why would you take it from your family?”
“Practice maybe. I don’t know. I’m done with it though. Today when I was talking to Marci I just got mad. Like really, truly mad and I was short with her. It’s not her, though. I needed to say it to Ethan. He should be here.”