Kelsey smiled a bit as she looked down at her fingers, tugging at Harley’s heart.
“So, Harley, what happened to you yesterday?” Regina presented the question as she adjusted Kelsey’s pillow behind her. “How did you wind up here?”
Giving a guilty, conspiratorial grin to the teenager, Harley giggled for a second. “Can I be perfectly honest?”
“I like honest,” Kelsey told her.
Harley began to lean forward, but thought better of it when a draft hit her backside. “I came upon this fire at a warehouse, and my cameraman and I were trying to get the exclusive first look. The fireman had just told me I couldn’t go closer, but I was watching where they had taken this man they pulled out of the building. He was sitting on the curb with the paramedics. As I’m looking, I notice that one of the paramedics looks familiar. He looks just like this guy I know, in fact. I started moving closer, not even realizing what I was doing.” She raised her eyebrows at Kelsey, who had a small grin on her face.
“So, if anyone ever tells you that looking for cute boys can be hazardous to your health, Kelsey, I am proof that it’s the truth. I was looking for a guy, and I got caught in an explosion. Luckily for me, the metal just sliced into my skin and muscles and not into anything else.”
“It seems kind of funny, you looking for a guy,” Kelsey piped up, not bothering to stifle her laugh. “I would have thought guys would be looking for you.”
“We are in total agreement.” Harley attempted to appear serious. “Where was a friend like you in high school when I needed her? I could have used the morale boost.”
“For Brent Dillard?” Kelsey wanted to know.
“I’m sure now he’s totally kicking himself,” Harley stated with a wink. “Actually, he probably has no idea I’m alive anymore. Not that he realized it then, either.”
“Did you grow up here, Harley?” Regina piped up, eyeing Kelsey to make sure she wasn’t overexerting herself.
“A couple hours away in a really small town. I went to the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and then worked in Little Rock for a year before I came to Louisville.” Glancing guiltily at Kelsey, Harley mentally told herself to stop being so self-centered. “What do you want to do after high school, Kelsey?”
“Oh,” Kelsey muttered, glancing at her mother. “I don’t know…”
“We just try to focus on the short-term and keeping her healthy,” Regina said quietly.
“But you have dreams, I can see it in your eyes.” Harley noticed the quick snap of Regina’s head in her direction, but she continued to focus on Kelsey. “Sometimes it’s nice to dream, even if you don’t know if your dreams will come true. I like to dream that one day I’ll be in New York on the morning news programs, even though my boss seems to enjoy sending me out to chase chickens and report on world record attempts.” Harley made certain she smiled at Kelsey after her little joke, who responded by giving a slight grin of her own.
“You promise not to laugh?” Kelsey asked, leaning back against her pillow as she drew in a ragged breath. Harley nodded her head solemnly as she waited for the younger woman to speak. “I really want to be a missionary—to help in places where people don’t have basic medical care.”
Harley was rather surprised by the answer…enough so that she hesitated to speak for a moment. Kelsey mistook her silence for judgment, and she allowed the corner of her mouth to tilt up just a bit as she looked down at her hands.
“You think that’s crazy,” Kelsey assumed, continuing to stare at her fingers.
“No,” Harley insisted. “No, I don’t think that’s crazy at all. In fact, I think that’s pretty amazing.”
“Harley?” she heard from behind her. Turning slightly, she saw Annie in the doorway. “Oh, hey. I’ve been looking for you. Everything okay?”
“Just making some new friends,” Harley stated as she rose, taking care to hold tightly to her gown. “Annie’s here to take me home, but would it be okay if I came back to visit you sometime?”
Kelsey nodded slowly as Regina rose and told her goodbye, after which Harley backed into the hallway, protective of her posterior.
The phone rang four times, and Harley was about to hit the end button and drop it against her bed when there was finally a sound on the other end.
“Yeah,” was the one-word greeting.
“Ryan?” she asked hesitantly. “And if this isn’t Ryan, when were you in my room and how did you manage access to my arm?”
“Wait, I think I need to sit down.” She heard a rustling on the other end of the phone, and she smiled to herself as she rested her fingers on the bedspread beneath her. “If I didn’t know better, I might be tempted to think that the lovely miss Harley Laine lowered herself from her pedestal long enough to dial my number. Surely I’m mistaken.”
“You’re right. What was I thinking? I’m sorry, but I have to go.”
“No, no,” he pleaded, suddenly serious. “How are you feeling?”
“Fairly good, all things considered. A little sore, but otherwise on top of the world.”
“On top of the world, huh?” She heard him chuckle on the other end of the line as the rustling returned again, and she imagined him settling onto his own bed and lying there the same way she was. “Why is that exactly?”
“Oh, no reason. In spite of being stabbed and stitched and bleeding all over myself, and traipsing about in the hallway this morning with my backside hanging out, I can’t seem to stop smiling.”
“Because?”
“I have no idea. It’s the strangest thing.” She couldn’t stop the grin from spreading onto her face as she stared at the ceiling, and she wondered if he could sense it through the phone.
“I know it’s late, but I think maybe I should check on you. Do you want me to come over?” His voice sounded rather tentative, almost a whisper.
“Um…” Harley stalled, glancing around at her crude bedroom walls. “No, that doesn’t seem like a good idea. Where are you? Maybe I could come see you? So you can see for yourself that I’m okay, I mean.”
“Oh,” he stammered, clearing his throat. “I would say yes, but my dad’s already asleep, and…”
Ew. I nearly forgot he lived with his parents.
“Yeah, another time then,” she surmised, sitting up on the bed and grimacing as her stitches stretched a bit. “What did you do tonight?”
“After work, I did a bit of landscaping.”
“Landscaping?” She pressed her lips together as she gave that response a bit of thought.
“Yeah, I’ve got a buddy with a landscaping business, and he let me help him for a while tonight for the extra cash. Spreading gravel by hand—who needs to go to the gym, right? Tomorrow we’re stacking stones along a driveway. Some day off, huh?”
“You always work on your day off?” She bit her lip as she studied her fingernails. “Don’t you ever have any fun?”
“Yes, at work,” he stated with a short laugh. “I’m finding myself in a bit of a quandary lately, though, and it’s your fault.”
“My fault?! Please explain yourself.”
He hesitated a moment, making Harley wish they were face to face so she could see his expression.
“Well, I really need the extra work, and I’ve had a couple offers for next weekend, but I’m contemplating turning them down. I know I shouldn’t, but there’s this girl…”
“What sort of girl?” Harley wondered quietly, sensing his smile on the other side of the phone.
“I’m not completely sure yet, hence the problem.”
Clearing her throat a bit, Harley decided to change the subject. “So, I’m hoping you will tell your friend Miguel how grateful I am for his assistance in the ambulance. He’s fantastic at his job.”
“Is that a thinly veiled insult?”
“Well, to be fair, I didn’t witness you doing much of anything, unless you count fawning all over me and calling me baby.”
“Come on! Did you call me just to insult me?”
He hesitated a second, and then continued more gently. “You’re mad that I wrote on your arm, aren’t you? I defaced your flawless canvas.”
“Actually, it’s the most beautiful piece of art I’ve ever seen.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, I do believe the fair princess might have a soft spot for the pauper after all.”
“Why do you have to go and make it weird?”
“It’s self-preservation,” he remarked, letting out a slight sigh that made her think he was adjusting his spot on the bed. “As long as I keep reminding myself that you hold a small amount of disdain for me, it won’t hurt as badly when I see you out on the town with Junior Trust Fund.”
Pausing, she allowed her brow to furrow as she reworked his words in her mind.
Spoiled brat.
Think you’re too good for me.
Only after guys for their money.
“Still there, Harley?”
Was she? She suddenly felt a bit isolated.
“Yes, I’m just wondering why you wanted me to call since you so obviously desire to throw jabs at me.”
“I’m sorry,” he assured her, voice quieting. “That was rude. The thing is…I’ve got a lot on my plate, and adding you to it is just going to make things more complicated. Not that I’m complaining. You’re like the dessert that’s just out of reach, because I can’t touch it until I take care of the rest of the meal. You know what I mean?”
“You’re comparing me to chocolate cake?”
“It was a horrible metaphor.”
“Maybe you should just relax a little,” she said, staring at the ceiling. “You’re always working.”
“Trust me, I wish that was an option,” he admitted as he expelled a breath he was holding.
“Listen, my friend Annie is worried about me, so she’s dragging me to church with her in the morning. I’m kind of feeling weird about it, and you seem pretty in touch with your spirituality, with all the Bible ink and such. I wouldn’t be totally opposed to you just popping up while we’re there.”
“You make such a tempting offer,” he stated sarcastically.
“This is really unnatural to me, okay? I normally don’t have to do this.” Instantly worried that he would think she was comparing him to other men, she softened her tone. “Will you come with me tomorrow?”
“You have no idea how badly I want to say yes, but I can’t, Harley. I’ve got work to do.”
“On the ambulance?” she asked, trying not to let his rejection sting.
“No, the landscaping, remember?”
“Is it really that important?” Pausing a second, she closed her eyes. “If it’s about money, I will pick you up, and you don’t have to spend a dime.”
“That’s equally insulting and flattering. I’m sorry, really. I’m not trying to hurt you.”
“You’re not,” she insisted, forcing the words past a lump in her throat. “I was just trying to be nice, since you went to the trouble to leave me your number and everything. I don’t want to disrupt your meal, being all cakey and stuff, so no worries. Forget I asked.”
“Please don’t do that.”
“Do what?” Tears filled her eyes, and she angrily willed them away. “You’re the one sending me mixed signals here. You beg me for my number every time I see you, but then you pretty much call me decadent but useless, with the weird dessert reference. Don’t toy with me. Why did you come to the hospital last night? What was that, exactly?”
“That was me wanting to be with you,” he said in a hushed tone.
“Well, this was me wanting to be with you, so I guess we’re even,” she said while a tear slid out of the corner of her eye and made its way down the side of her face. “Good night, Ryan.”
C hapter Twelve
Annie stood with her hands on her hips, giving Harley a slight glare from just inside her apartment door. Gazing at her friend’s tattered jeans, Harley glanced down at her own skirt and felt rather foolish.
“You might have mentioned not to dress up,” she said, stepping through the doorway.
“And you should have waited until I came to pick you up, lady. It doesn’t seem like you should be driving.”
Harley considered using one of her tried-and-true excuses for not allowing Annie into her home: I didn’t have time to clean yesterday. It’s such a long way out of the city. It’s easier for me to drive so I can run errands on the way home. Luckily, today she had an easy excuse.
“I took a cab,” she said breathily. “I had to pick up my car at the station, so it was just easier that way.”
“And how are you feeling?” Annie wondered, still half-glaring at her friend.
“Well enough that you can back off, warden,” Harley assured her with a slight laugh. “I don’t feel completely wonderful, but I’ll manage.”
“Did the doctor tell you to stay in bed or anything like that?”
“Only to take it easy, which I am. Anyway, I have to go back to work tomorrow. I’ve got the momentum of being named favorite reporter, and I can’t lay low and let that slide. I have to capitalize on it while I can.”
“Of course, Harley the vicious career-driven newswoman has returned.”
“And Annie, the snarky friend, has decided to rub my face in it today. What’s with this weekend and people giving me a hard time?”
“What are you talking about?”
Closing her eyes and rubbing her fingers across her forehead, Harley pondered telling Annie about Ryan. “Nothing. I’ve been stabbed. I’m obviously not having a stellar holiday.”
“You should have done Thanksgiving with me like I asked.”
“I had to work that day, remember? I don’t want to worry about it. Let’s just have a good time today, okay? If that can be achieved in church.”
“Something tells me you’re rather hostile to the whole idea,” Annie assessed as she walked down the hall, throwing the words over her shoulder.
Harley paused next to the couch and settled her backside on the armrest, careful not to slouch in a way that would involve her abdominal muscles. “I’m not hostile!” she called, staring into Annie’s kitchen. “I’m not exactly a newbie, you know. My parents forced me into attendance every Sunday. I’ve had my share of hellfire and brimstone and rigid rules that I could find nowhere in the sacred texts, which I looked at until my eyes were crossed.”
“You’re jaded because of a people problem,” Annie stated as she returned from her bedroom, stopping midway in the hall to pull her second black boot over her calf muscle. “Forget about people and just give God a chance for a change.”
“Very clever, until you factor in the little tidbit of information that those individuals are God’s spokespeople. If I was all-powerful, I would choose someone to speak for me who was… I don’t know, intelligent and kind, perhaps?”
“Ah, but God uses the foolish to confound the wise,” Annie told her, lifting her pierced eyebrow.
“That makes sense, because there’s an abundance of foolish, and I’m usually confounded.” Harley took a moment to give her friend a slight smile. “I’m sure your church is nothing like the ones I’m used to, okay? First of all, I’m pretty sure that group wouldn’t have allowed you through the door, which would have been a colossal mistake, because they have no idea what they’re missing.”
“Aww, you made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside,” Annie said sarcastically, grabbing her coat. “Come on, let’s go find the foolish so you can bestow your mighty wit upon them.”
The atmosphere in the room was more casual-friendly than solemn when Harley entered the rather plain building, and Annie fell into easy conversation with each person who walked by. Every one of the other individuals greeted Harley as though they knew her, which Harley had come to expect as a strange side effect of appearing on the nightly news.
One particular person she bumped into startled her enough that she could barely contain her gasp as she stared into the bearded face with the gray eyes.
“Duke? I didn’t
expect to see you here.”
“Well, I’m mighty glad to see you. I was worried about you Friday night. Tiny was beside himself.”
“You and Fletcher know each other?” Annie inserted herself into the conversation.
Responding to Harley’s questioning glance, Duke stretched out his hand. “I’m sorry, it appears we haven’t been formally introduced. Fletcher Marion.”
“What’s going on?” Harley muttered, looking skeptically at Duke’s outstretched hand. “Did I fall in the rabbit hole or something?”
“No, hon,” Duke admitted with a chuckle. “People started calling me Duke because of my last name, Marion.”
“I have no idea what that means.” Eyeing him warily, Harley folded her arms across her abdomen, accidentally pushing in on her wound. Sighing slightly, she relaxed her posture.
“Generation gap,” Duke continued. “John Wayne’s real name was Marion, and people called him the Duke, so…”
“I had no idea you had a nickname, Fletcher,” Annie said, causing Harley to turn to her with wide eyes.
“The guys gave me the name back when we used to ride together, and it stuck. I never felt like a Fletcher, but a name is a name.”
Harley blanched a bit, because she certainly knew what having an unfortunate name entailed.
“So how do you get here on Sundays?” Harley wanted to know, glancing around at the others who were finding their seats.
“On my Harley,” he stated quickly.
“Fletcher… I mean Duke.” Annie giggled for a second. “I think I like that—I’m going to use that from now on. Duke is our recovery group leader for people dealing with addiction.”
Stunned into silence, Harley only stared at the gentleman she had shared chocolate with every Friday night for months.
“People dealing with anything they need recovery from, really,” Duke inserted. “Luckily, so far I haven’t felt a need to repent of my chocolate addiction. Or my friendships with pretty reporters.”
Crowned (Girls of Wonder Lane Book 2) Page 12