Stronger Within (The Silver Lake Series Book 1)

by McCallum, Coral

  He glanced over at Lori and shook his head slowly, indicating that something was wrong, “See you in a few minutes. I’ll wait out front and watch for you.”

  Stuffing the phone back in his pocket, he turned to Lori, “Sandy’s been in an accident at a bar in Dewey Beach. The police have just called Grey. Sounds serious. He needs me to watch Becky for a few hours, I couldn’t say no.”

  “Of course not!” exclaimed Lori. “What was Sandy doing over at Dewey Beach?”

  “Lord knows” sighed Jake, with a look of disgust. “She’s a drinker. You saw that for yourself. If it wasn’t for Becky, Grey would have bailed out a long time ago.”

  “Hope she’s ok,” said Lori quietly. “For his sake.”

  “We’ll find out soon enough.”

  A few minutes later, she heard the crunch of tyres outside. Jake had gone out to sit on the porch to watch for his friend. When she heard Grey’s truck, Lori went out to see what was going on. She stayed on the porch while Jake lifted a sleepy Becky out of the passenger side, exchanged a few words with Grey then slammed the door shut. Snuggling Becky into his shoulder, Jake watched as his friend sped off into the dark, heading for the emergency room. The little girl was wearing her pjs and was clutching a small, well-worn rag doll.

  “Come on, princess,” said Jake quietly to her. “Lori’s made some popcorn. Want some?”

  “I want my daddy,” she said with a sob.

  “He’ll be back real soon,” promised Jake, hugging her tight.

  Once back in the sun room, none of them could concentrate on the film. The popcorn lay untouched. The little girl had cried for a few minutes, then settled on Jake’s knee. When Lori looked over, she was clutching the doll tightly under her arm and fingering Jake’s long hair. Her other thumb was firmly in her mouth. Soon Becky was fast asleep, her tousled head resting on Jake’s chest.

  “What did Grey say?” asked Lori, once she was sure the little girl was sound asleep.

  “Not much. Seems like Sandy started a fight in a bar. Someone’s pulled a knife or maybe a broken bottle. All he knows is that she’s been stabbed,” he replied, keeping his voice quiet. “He said he’d call when he knows more.”

  “Doesn’t sound good,” said Lori sadly. “Do you want to wrap Becky in the blanket on the other couch? She looks as though she’s out for the night.”

  “Please,” agreed Jake with a smile. “She’s a dead weight on my arm and it’s starting to hurt.”

  Soon the little girl was snuggled up in the soft fleecy blanket on the smaller couch and both of them were cuddled up together on the other one, anxiously waiting for Jake’s phone to ring. Neither of them knew what to say so they sat in silence, the TV still playing in the background. At some point, Lori dozed off leaning against Jake’s shoulder. He sat staring at the TV without really seeing it, her head resting on his shoulder. Shortly after one in the morning his phone finally rang. Jake answered it after one ring before it would waken Becky. As soon as he moved, Lori stirred and sat up.

  “Grey?” he said, getting up and walking through towards the kitchen.

  Lori watched him go then decided to follow him. She could hear him on the phone as she limped through the dining room, but couldn’t make out what he was saying. As she entered the kitchen, Lori heard him say, “Shit, I’m so sorry, buddy. I’ll wait here till you’re done.”

  Silence for a moment as he listened, then he replied, “She’s asleep. She’ll be fine. We’ve got her.”

  Finally, he said, “We’ll see you when you arrive. Drive safe.”

  Ending the call, Jake turned to Lori, took her into his arms and just held her tight. She looked up into his eyes and saw nothing but sadness.

  “She never made it,” he whispered hoarsely. “He’s lost her.”

  “No!” cried Lori softly in total shock at what she’d heard. “How?”

  “He’s a mess,” began Jake sadly. “Something about it being a broken bottle. It caught an artery. Before the paramedics could stop the blood loss she went into cardiac arrest. She was gone by the time he got there.”

  “What now?”

  “He’s still with the police but said he should be here in about an hour. We’ve not to tell Becky if she wakes up. He needs to tell her himself.”

  “Poor little mite,” said Lori, thinking of the pretty, little girl sleeping innocently in the sun room. “What a mess.”

  “Sure is,” muttered Jake. “Do you mind if I make some coffee?”

  “I’ll make it,” said Lori, lifting the jug to fill the machine.

  “I’m going out front for some air,” murmured Jake. “I just need a minute.”

  “On you go. I’ll call you if Becky wakes up.”

  Death was a cruel visitor and seldom a welcome one, thought Lori as she made the pot of coffee. She could hear Jake pacing up and down in the driveway, his feet crunching on the gravel, but guessed he needed time on his own. Although she had only met Grey’s wife once, her heart went out to him and especially to Becky. Quietly she went through to check on the little girl. She was still curled up on the couch, her thumb firmly in her mouth. Satisfied, she was ok, Lori returned to the kitchen, lost in her own thoughts. She was sitting at the table with her coffee when Jake came back in. He poured himself a mug, then sat across from her in silence.

  “You ok?” she asked softly.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said, with a sigh. “It’s just so surreal. I only saw her the other day. She brought Becky in for a slice of pizza. I just wish Grey would get here. It’s him I’m worrying about.”

  “He’ll be here soon. I checked on Becky. She’s still sound asleep,” reassured Lori. “What do you think will happen now?”

  “I don’t know,” admitted Jake. “Sandy wasn’t from here. Don’t know what family she has. She was from out west. Grey’s local. His mom lives in Lewes and he has a sister in Chicago.”

  It was almost three in the morning when they finally heard Grey’s truck pull up outside. Jake flew out of the house to greet him while Lori fetched another mug from the cupboard and topped up the coffee pot. A few minutes later, the two friends came back into the house. She could see from his eyes that Grey had been crying. Gently she hugged him and whispered, “I’m so sorry.”

  “Thanks, Lori,” he said, emotion catching in his voice. “I’m sorry to land all of this on you.”

  “Nonsense,” she replied. “Can I get you a coffee or something stronger?”

  “Coffee would be good,” he sighed, taking a seat at the table. “Where’s Becky?”

  “Asleep in the sun room,” said Jake, sitting beside his friend. “She’s fine. Let her sleep.”

  “What am I going to tell her?” said Grey with a sob. “How do I tell her that her mommy isn’t coming back?”

  “You’ll find the right words,” reassured Lori, putting a hand on his shoulder.

  “I just don’t know what to say to her.”

  “Lori’s right,” said Jake. “You’ll say all the right things when you have to.”

  “Lord, I hope so,” sighed Grey, wiping a tear from his cheek.

  All three of them sat and chatted around the kitchen table. Grey explained to them all he knew about what had happened. He was thankful that the police weren’t pursuing anything. Sandy had started the fight and had smashed the neck off the beer bottle. In the struggle, she had slashed another woman across the cheek. When the woman pushed her away, she had fallen and landed on the broken bottle in her hand. It was sheer bad luck that she had cut herself so badly, but it appeared to have been a massive heart attack that had killed her a short while later. The paramedics had worked on her, but there was nothing they could do and she had died in the ambulance before they reached the hospital. The other woman was in the emergency room receiving treatment for her slash wound. When he was all talked out, Grey asked if he could stretch out in the sun room until Becky woke up. Lori fetched him a blanket from the hall cupboard and a pillow from the spare room. With his head lowered
and shoulders hunched over, he retreated to the sun room to be with his little girl. Jake and Lori were left alone in the kitchen.

  “You should go and get some sleep, li’l lady,” said Jake, noticing how pale she had become.

  “So should you,” she replied, reaching out to take his hand. “Come on. Let’s go to bed for a couple of hours.”

  ♪

  Sitting on the end of the bed in Lori’s room Jake felt out of place and awkward. This was not how he had envisaged spending his first night with her. Once in the bedroom, Lori had excused herself and gone into the en suite bathroom. He could hear running water and the sounds of her brushing her teeth. A few minutes later she came back into the room. She was wearing her Silver Lake T-shirt and three quarter length pyjama bottoms. Propping her canes up in the corner, Lori limped across the room and climbed into bed. Jake still sat, fully clothed, at the end of the bed.

  “You can sit there all night if you like,” said Lori softly, “But you need some sleep too.”

  Standing up, he pulled off his T-shirt then slipped off his shoes and socks and finally his jeans. With all the awkwardness of a teenage virgin, he slipped into bed beside her.

  “You sure about this?” he asked anxiously.

  “About this? No. About sleep? Yes,” she replied sleepily. “I’ve set the alarm for eight just in case.”

  “If you’re sure,” said Jake, settling down beside her.

  As he lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling, Lori wriggled over and laid her head on his chest. “Hold me, please,” she whispered. He wrapped his arm around her and held her until they both drifted off to sleep. Before the alarm went off a few short hours later Lori wakened. Beside her Jake had rolled over onto his side and was snoring gently. Reaching over, she cancelled the alarm, then glanced at the clock – it was just after seven. She thought she could hear the sound of the TV coming from the sun room. After a few minutes deliberation, she got up, collected her canes from the corner and went to investigate. When she entered the sun room, she saw that Grey was still asleep, but that Becky was sitting on the rug watching cartoons.

  “Morning, princess,” said Lori quietly as she sat on the couch. “You ok?”

  Becky nodded, then whispered, “Daddy’s still asleep. Shh.”

  “So is Uncle Jake,” replied Lori. “He’s snoring.”

  The little girl giggled.

  “Why don’t you switch off the TV before you waken your daddy?” suggested Lori, her voice barely above a whisper. “And we can go into the kitchen for some cereal.”

  “Ok,” agreed Becky, pressing the red button on the remote. “Do you have any Lucky Charms?”

  “Let’s go and find out.”

  The girls went into the kitchen and Lori closed over both doors so that they wouldn’t waken the sleeping males. There was a tiny portable TV on top of the refrigerator and Lori turned it on to the cartoon channel to help keep Becky amused. Her supply of cereal turned out not to include Lucky Charms but the little girl was happy to settle for a bowl of Cheerio’s. While she sat munching contentedly on her cereal, Lori busied herself clearing out the coffee maker and setting it up for a fresh pot. As the coffee brewed, she rinsed out the three mugs from the night before, ready to use when the guys awoke. When Becky was finished her cereal, she politely took the bowl over to the sink, then asked if she could have a drink of milk. Lori rummaged in the cupboard and found a glass from her own childhood with Elmo and Cookie Monster on it. Quickly she rinsed it out, then filled it with milk for the little girl. She had just sat down with her own coffee and toast, when Jake came stumbling into the kitchen wearing only his boxer shorts.

  “Morning, ladies,” he said with a yawn.

  “Morning,” said Lori with a smile. “Coffee’s hot. Grey’s still asleep.”

  “Morning, Uncle Jake,” said Becky, jumping down to give him a hug. “What happened to your arm?”

  In all the commotion Jake hadn’t yet removed the dressing from his new tattoo.

  “Let me get my coffee and I’ll show you,” he replied, pouring himself a mug of coffee then adding some half and half and sugar.

  He came over and sat between the girls, took a mouthful of coffee, then carefully peeled the tape off the dressing. Taking great care not to disturb the fresh tattoo, he lifted the dressing off. He had expected it to look angrier than it did. Resisting the temptation to touch it, he turned his arm round to show Becky.

  “Those dots look like the music you showed me how to draw!” she squealed in delight. “Can I touch it?”

  “Not till it’s healed, honey,” said Jake, admiring his new body art. “Do you like it?”

  “Yes,” said the little girl, nodding furiously. “It’s not scary like the other pictures.”

  “It looks sore,” observed Lori. “But it’s nice.”

  “I’m scared of the bad man on his arm,” stated Becky bluntly. “He’s ugly.”

  Glancing at the image of the grim reaper, Lori couldn’t disagree, no matter how well it was inked.

  “It’s not as ugly as that skull your dad has on his arm,” muttered Jake, feigning being upset.

  At that moment the other kitchen door opened and Grey stumbled in, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

  “My skull tattoo is not ugly,” he said, forcing a smile.

  “Morning,” said Lori. “There’s coffee in the pot.”

  “Thanks,” said Grey, helping himself. “I hope this young lady has been behaving herself.”

  “Of course I have,” stated Becky indignantly. “Lori made me some Cheerio’s and gave me milk in her special glass. Look, it’s got Elmo on it.”

  “She’s been fine,” added Lori warmly. “Can I get you guys something to eat?”

  “Not just now, thanks,” said Grey. “Guess it’s now or never.”

  He turned to Becky and asked her to come back through to the sun room so that he could talk to her about something important. Both Jake and Lori watched sadly as he led the happy little girl out of the kitchen. Not wanting to eavesdrop, Lori declared she was going for a shower. Jake came through to the bedroom a minute or two later to get dressed then returned to the kitchen. He could hear Becky crying then heard Grey begin to sob. It was breaking his heart to see his friend so distressed and grief stricken. Not knowing what to do or if he should go through to comfort them, he took the coward’s way out and remained in the kitchen watching cartoons on the tiny TV screen. With her hair still damp, Lori came back into the kitchen about half an hour later to find Jake engrossed in Tom & Jerry. She hugged him from behind as he sat on the kitchen chair. Taking her hand, he guided her round and sat her on his knee. Gently he kissed her.

  “You’ve been amazing with them. Thank you,” he whispered into her damp hair.

  “I’ve not done anything,” she disagreed. “At least not anything you couldn’t have done on your own.”

  “Should I go through there?” asked Jake, completely out of his depth with the situation.

  “Maybe,” said Lori. “I don’t know.”

  Both of them were spared the decision as a few moments later Grey came back into the kitchen with Becky trailing behind. He was pale and strained looking; the little girl was quiet, her face all red and blotchy where she had been crying.

  “I’d better head home,” he said sadly. “I’ve folks to call and shit to sort out.”

  “If we can do anything to help, you just need to ask,” said Lori warmly. “I mean it, Grey. You aren’t alone in this.”

  “Thanks, Lori. Appreciate it.”

  Jake got up and embraced his friend.

  “Thanks, Jake,” said Grey. “I’ll call later. Thanks for everything.”

  “Bye, Lori,” whispered Becky sadly.

  Reaching out to hug the little girl, Lori said, “You can sleep over here anytime, honey. I’ll keep the Elmo glass handy for you to use.”

  Becky gave her a sad smile, then followed her daddy out to the truck, her rag doll tucked under her arm.

 
; Jake and Lori sat on in silence in the kitchen for a few more minutes, neither of them knowing what to do or say. Nothing seemed appropriate; nothing seemed important. Eventually, Lori suggested they go for a walk to get some air. Jake shook his head.

  “If you don’t mind, I’ll head home for a few hours. Get a change of clothes,” he said. “I’d better try to see the guys too till we see what we can do to help here.”

  “Ok,” said Lori, sensing his need to be on his own. “Why not invite them over here later? We can do food or whatever you think is right.”

  “Might be a plan,” he agreed. “Let me talk to them. I’ll try to be back here after lunch. You should try to get some more sleep. You look wiped out.”

  “I’m fine,” she assured him. “Go and do what you need to do. I’m not going anywhere. If the guys are coming over, you might want to get some beers. There’s not many left.”

  He nodded, kissed her on the top of the head, then headed off through the sun room to walk back along the beach.

  Once out on the sand, Jake walked slowly back towards town. A strange mix of emotions were brewing up inside him, mixing in with the guilt that he felt for leaving Lori at the house. He needed to get them straight in his head on his own though. Death scared him. Even if there had been no love lost between him and Sandy, he cared for Grey like a brother. He had sat back and watched her hurt and embarrass him time after time over the years; watched her abandon Becky to his care, to anyone’s care, so she could party and drink. It angered Jake that part of him was relieved, almost glad, that she was gone out of their lives for good. He knew that deep down Grey still loved her, but he had listened to his friend unburden himself about the mess his marriage was in, more times than he cared to recall. Then there was Becky. Such a beautiful, innocent little girl didn’t deserve to have to deal with this. As he walked, kicking the loose, soft sand up in front of him, Jake thought back to how effortlessly caring Lori had been with the little girl. She had naturally cared for the child without overstepping the mark. She had subtly cared for Grey too.

  With a heavy heart and a confused mind, Jake sat down, watching the waves roll in and the sea birds play. He looked down at the fresh tattoo on his forearm, hearing the music in his head. The tattoo, the music and the lyrics- they all represented Lori to him. He thought back to the day he had met her, not far from where he was now sitting. How would he feel if something or someone took her away from him? What if his moods drove her away? Lying next to her in bed the night before had seemed the most natural thing in the world to do. Neither of them needing the complication of sex in their fledgling relationship, but both of them needing the comfort of each other. It certainly wasn’t the image he had pictured in his head of the first night in her bed. Perhaps the reality was better. A fresh wave of guilt washed over him as he thought of her alone back at the house. With a deep sigh, he hauled himself to his feet and continued his walk along the beach, up onto the boardwalk and back towards his apartment.