Starting Anew (Life Unexpected Book 3)

by Melanie D. Snitker

  Equally surprised and curious, he followed her through town to the hospital.

  Concerned she might be there for herself, he’d kept his distance and was relieved to find she’d gone to the hospital for someone else. He overheard something about her sister. The couple that appeared to be her parents seemed less than thrilled to see her.

  Since the cardiac wing’s waiting room was small and virtually empty, Jeb headed back downstairs to wait. She’d have to pass by him to get to her car.

  When that guy she’d been seeing arrived at the hospital, to say Jeb was unhappy was very much an understatement. The guy hadn’t so much as been to the house since Jeb had Bethany exposed, so hopefully she’d kicked him to the curb where he belonged.

  Any hope of that evaporated when the guy went back up to the cardiac wing with an orange juice and blueberry muffin.

  Didn’t Bethany see how the guy didn’t care about her? Why couldn’t she understand that Jeb was there, no matter what? He loved her when she was at the top of the pop charts, and he loved her now, too.

  He’d make her see that. But first, he had to get the idiot guy out of the picture.

  One thing about waiting at a hospital—it gives a person plenty of time to come up with a plan.

  Chapter Fifteen

  From the moment Lynn got back to the cardiac waiting room, her father ignored her. How someone could pretend another person wasn’t there so completely was beyond her. But her mother, even though she didn’t speak, gave Lynn an encouraging smile.

  Above it all, though, was the reassurance she had with Nathan sitting to her right. He kept her busy with his tales of Mia. Lynn laughed so hard her stomach hurt when he told her about how Mia had filled the toilet with some of her dolls and then tried to flush them down.

  Nathan turned and gave her a stern look. “You wouldn’t think it was so funny if you had to pull them out one-by-one and then hope you got them all.”

  He was right, but that didn’t stop Lynn from laughing even harder. “I’m sorry. I hope she never does it again.”

  “Me, too. The good news is I did snap a picture of her standing beside it, her dolls visible in the toilet, with a content look on her face. It’ll serve nicely as blackmail fodder when she gets older.”

  Lynn glanced at her mother who was smiling at the story. One from her childhood came to mind, and she considered not telling it, but decided it was from her life and she should be able to do so whether her father approved or not.

  “I remember one day, Perry and I were so bored. It’d been raining for what felt like forever, and we were sure we’d done everything we could to entertain ourselves. I finally settled on reading a book, but Perry had other ideas. She came through the room we shared and disappeared into the closet.”

  Lynn chuckled at the memory. “Curious—and still pretty bored—I opened the closet to find Perry had gotten our mom’s make-up bag and was liberally applying everything to her face. In the semi-dark. Oh, she was a mess.”

  Nathan laughed heartily. “I can’t say I’m looking forward to Mia wanting to wear make-up. So what did you do when you saw Perry?”

  “We were already bored. The last thing I wanted was be grounded from the few activities we did have available. In desperation, I started wiping the make-up off her face with one of my sweaters.”

  To Lynn’s surprise, her mother chimed in. “And that’s when I found them. I never could get the make-up out of that shirt. And you girls still got into trouble.”

  Dad gave his wife a sharp look, but Mom didn’t seem to notice.

  Nathan grinned. “What was your punishment?”

  “We had to clean the kitchen from top to bottom and make it shine.” Lynn shrugged. “At least we weren’t bored anymore.”

  Everyone but Dad laughed.

  Nathan started telling another story when a nurse walked into the waiting room, effectively creating a blanket of silence.

  “Are you the family of Perry Truitt?”

  Dad stepped forward, put an arm around Mom, and said, “We are.”

  Lynn went to stand near them and nodded her head. A moment later, she felt Nathan just behind her. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before letting go again.

  “She’s awake, but still very groggy. Family can visit for a while, but the rooms are small. So a short visit might be best until we get her moved from recovery to a regular room.”

  Dad barely allowed her time to finish before speaking again. “Her mother and I will sit with her.” Then he moved forward as though that settled everything.

  Lynn wasn’t about to let him take over like that. “I’m Perry’s sister. I’d like to come see her for a little while as well.”

  The nurse smiled. “Of course.” She turned to Nathan. “I’m sure we can squeeze four in if your husband would like to come along.”

  Lynn’s cheeks immediately heated as she turned and gave Nathan an apologetic look.

  To his credit, he simply raised a hand and said, “I’m just a friend of the family. You three go ahead, and I’ll make a run to the cafeteria. Can I get anyone anything?”

  Dad ignored him completely, Mom shook her head with a polite, “No, thank you.”

  Nathan touched Lynn’s arm. “Want me to grab you a sandwich or something?”

  “That would be great. Thank you.”

  He smiled into her eyes. “You’re welcome. I’ll be praying for Perry.”

  With a final glance his way, Lynn followed the nurse through the double doors, down a hallway, and into recovery room nine where the sound of beeping monitors greeted them.

  Dad and Mom rushed forward, and Lynn hung back a little. Perry looked so small in the large hospital bed, and so pale next to the white sheets. She lifted her eyelids and looked at their parents with a small smile on her face. Clearly the poor girl was having a difficult time staying awake.

  Lynn remained patient as Mom doted on Perry and Dad looked as though he felt helpless.

  Suddenly, Lynn’s stomach pitched and her breath caught in her throat. It’d been years since she last spoke to Perry. Waving at her in the window was one thing, but this… What if Lynn walked up there and Perry didn’t want to have anything to do with her? What if she upset Perry?

  Lynn considered escaping before she was spotted, but knew that wasn’t the answer. She’d been waiting for years to see her little sister again. She wasn’t about to miss the opportunity.

  Instead, she went around to the other side of the bed and approached. When Perry’s gaze shifted, Lynn gave her a little wave and a smile. “Hi Perry.”

  Lynn had imagined their reunion many times, but none of those compared with the way Perry’s eyes lit up, her mouth opened wide, and she clasped her hands in front of her.

  “It’s Bethany! Mom. Dad. Do you see? It’s Bethany!”

  That’s when Lynn went forward and gave her sister a gentle hug and placed a kiss to her brow. “Yes, it’s me. I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Are you hurting?” When she stood again, Lynn was happy that Perry still held her hand tightly.

  Perry nodded. “I’m sore. But mostly, I’m tired.” Her eyes closed for several moments before she forced them open again. “Will you come see me again later, too?” She looked right at Lynn.

  “Of course I will.” She smoothed some of Perry’s hair away from her eyes. “But for now, you need to get some rest.”

  Perry nodded. She looked around the room at her family and smiled as she allowed her eyelids to fall.

  Relief and love flooded Lynn’s system in equal measure. Not only was Perry happy to see her, but she wanted Lynn to come back again. It was everything Lynn had hoped for. And much of it was thanks to Nathan not letting her give up and walk away when her Dad wanted her to leave.

  She’d wait in the room to make sure Perry was going to stay asleep and then go find him again. She couldn’t wait to tell him how well things went.

  ~*~

  There were quite a few people in the cafeteria when Nathan arrived,
but the hospital had it running like a well-oiled machine. It wasn’t long before he’d been able to pay for two ham and cheese sandwiches and bottles of soda.

  He didn’t want to be gone long in case Lynn needed him. He was proud of her for going back and facing her dad. As a father himself, he was all for respecting and obeying your parents. But from what he’d seen, he wasn’t sure Lynn’s dad had done anything to earn her respect. Certainly not as an adult, anyway.

  With his bag of food, he left the cafeteria and made his way down the hall to the elevator. As he waited, he barely noticed another man walk up and wait as well. Once the doors opened, they both stepped inside. Nathan pushed the button for the eighth floor. The other man chose the sixth.

  Only the two of them were in the elevator as it approached the sixth floor. Suddenly, the other guy turned to look at Nathan, an intense expression in his eyes. “You think you know Bethany, but you don’t. She hasn’t come close to telling you everything about her past—or about me. Stay away from her. I’ll find out where you live.”

  “Are you threatening my family?” Who was this guy? Nathan wanted to push him against the side of the elevator and demand some answers when the doors opened again.

  Multiple people walked onto the elevator as the man who’d threatened him pushed through and exited. With one foot on the tracks so the door couldn’t closed, Nathan stepped out and looked around, but found no sign of the man.

  Knowing Lynn was waiting for him, and not wanting her to run into this guy, he got back on the elevator again. He half expected to see the guy standing there when the elevator doors separated again. Just down the hall, he walked into the waiting room at the same time as Lynn did on the other side.

  Nathan waved a hand in greeting, relieved to see that the guy from downstairs wasn’t here. “That was a fast visit. Is your sister okay?”

  Lynn’s smile brightened up the room. “She’s going to be okay. She fell asleep again, but she was really happy to see me.”

  He followed her to some chairs and joined her after she collapsed into one, clearly exhausted. “I’m glad to hear that. I know you were nervous about it.”

  “We were always so close, but it’s been years. I was afraid she might take one look at me and not want anything to do with me.” Lynn frowned, but a moment later, her smile broke through again. “She seemed really excited. I want to make sure I come see her after I get off work while she’s here. Spend a couple of hours with her.” She paused. “I was going to say if my parents let me, but I guess they don’t necessarily have a choice. Right?”

  “That’s right.” Nathan smiled at her and handed over the bottle of soda he’d chosen. “So you are planning on going back to work tomorrow? Mia and I didn’t scare you away for good?” He was joking—partially.

  Her expression clouded which had Nathan second guessing things again. Was her choice to stay home all week because she didn’t want to see him? “It was supposed to be a joke,” he said lamely.

  Lynn’s eyes opened wide. “Oh, I’m sorry. No, it’s not you. Things are…complicated.” She glanced at the door as though half expecting someone to come through. It looked as though she were going to say something again but seemed to think better of it.

  Nathan suppressed a sigh of frustration.

  She was still keeping something from him. All he really wanted was for her to open up and tell him what was going on. Especially if it had anything to do with the man downstairs.

  Then again, he wasn’t even sure where they stood. Which meant Lynn wasn’t, either. Especially when he was the one who told her he needed space.

  What they really needed to do was talk.

  He’d just taken a bite out of his sandwich when Lynn’s parents re-entered the waiting room. When Lynn stood, Mrs. Truitt held up a hand to reassure her.

  “Perry’s sleeping, and the nurse suggested we go get something to eat.” She hesitated.

  “I’ll stay here while you guys go, just in case something comes up,” Lynn assured them.

  Mrs. Truitt smiled her thanks as she followed her still-silent husband to the hall.

  Lynn sat down again and stared at her sandwich. “I wonder if my dad will ever speak to me again.” She shrugged. “Is it sad that the only real reason why I care is because I want to be in touch with Perry again? Dad hasn’t been my dad for so long, it’s hard to really imagine things being any different now.” She cringed. “That sounds terrible, doesn’t it?”

  “To a lot of people, maybe. But it’s being realistic.” He felt for her. How many times had he faced reality when it came to the people in his life that should’ve been there no matter what? “Sometimes, real life hurts.”

  “It sure does.”

  Nathan worked on his sandwich, though he barely tasted it. He’d hoped Lynn would volunteer to tell him what else was going on in her life. He’d give her more time, but he couldn’t ignore what the guy said downstairs.

  He had a feeling the warning was likely all hot air. But what if the guy found out where Nathan lived? He knew Mia was safe at Little Lambs, but he didn’t like the idea of the guy wandering around his house.

  He swallowed the last bite of his sandwich and cleared his throat. “Have you noticed a guy hanging around lately?” He went on to describe what the man looked like.

  As he did so, Lynn’s eyes widened, and she set her sandwich down, the food clearly forgotten. “Did Sharon tell you?”

  “What? No, a man approached me downstairs. He warned me to stay away from you and all but threatened Mia and me.” He studied Lynn’s face closely. “Am I right to be concerned?” He expected her to say something. Instead, she pulled her phone out and started to text. “Lynn?”

  “I’m letting Sharon know so she’ll keep a close eye on Mia.”

  “Then I do need to worry.” His chest tightened at the thought of some lunatic thinking he had the right to hurt someone else.

  Lynn finished texting and slipped the phone back in her pocket. She turned sad eyes to him. “I’m so sorry you’ve been dragged into this.” With a resigned sigh, she leaned into the back of her chair. “I left the music industry for a lot of reasons. I missed my family, I was tired of the producers trying to make me bend my morals, and I was tired of having no space to myself. Especially when it came to one particular guy.”

  Nathan was all ears and motioned for her to continue.

  “I think he might have followed the group around while we were touring. I always heard someone yell out that he loved me when I was going on stage for concerts. He’d leave flowers or candy for me at my bus. I ignored it, you know? Figured it was all part of the package. One of those things I had to deal with for living out my dream.”

  He clenched a fist. It didn’t matter if Lynn was a pop star or the most normal person on the planet, no one deserved to be treated like that. “He was stalking you. What happened?”

  “One night, he broke into my bus. Of course, he was stopped before he even got back to my room, but he managed to escape. That was just the last straw, you know? I’d kept rationalizing my decision to stay. But after that, I knew I had to do something else with my life. Get away from it all.”

  “Do you think this is the same guy?”

  She nodded. “He’s been leaving notes along with my old guitar picks on my car at work and on my front porch at home.” She rubbed her arms as though she were warding off a sudden chill. “I think he’s the reason why the press showed up at the restaurant and ambushed us.”

  Nathan tried to take it all in. If someone was stalking her, why didn’t she tell him? “You should report all of this.”

  “I have. They’ve taken notes but said that, since he hasn’t threatened me or trespassed, there’s nothing they can do.”

  “We could put some cameras up to monitor your doors.”

  Lynn nodded. “We thought of that. Walt—Sharon’s husband—put some up just this last week. Jeb has been careful enough to not come close ever since.” She must have thought of something be
cause her frown deepened. “I left for the hospital early, early this morning. How did he even know I was here unless he followed me? And if he followed me…”

  “…then he was waiting outside your house, watching.” Yeah, Nathan didn’t like the sound of that. Judging by the way Lynn’s face had paled, she didn’t either. Was there seriously nothing the police could do? What would it take? Him breaking in and trying to hurt her first? “I think I’m going to stick around until you’re ready to go home. Then a stop by the police department is in order. I’d like to let them know what Jeb said to me.”

  The thought that the guy might be lurking outside Lynn’s house at night gave him the creeps and made him just plain mad. He’d love it if Jeb would follow Lynn right to the next jiu-jitsu class. Nathan would be happy to demonstrate a few choke-holds.

  Lynn leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. “I’m so sorry I got you into this. I was hoping that, by lying low last week, he’d just leave me alone. I should’ve known better, though. I just wish he’d give up and go away.” She lifted her chin, her watery eyes focusing on him. “If I’d told you about him before, then at least you’d have had a heads up.”

  There were a lot of things he wished had been handled differently, and the way she’d kept things to herself was one of them. He also had to admit a lot of this was the result of an extreme situation. One that he was certain even he wouldn’t have known fully how to deal with.

  He reached over and captured one of her hands in his. She squeezed back as though his hand were her lifeline. “Instead of beating yourself up over a situation you have no control over, why don’t you just see this as a lesson in asking for help when you need it?” He stayed serious for several heartbeats before revealing a smile that he hoped would earn him one in return.

  There. That pretty smile was exactly what he needed to see.

  She ducked her chin again as pink colored her cheeks. “I admit it is a minor character flaw.”

  He nudged her in the arm. “Trust me, we all have them.”

  They still had a lot of things to talk about, and this Jeb guy was definitely a big concern, but Nathan felt more content sitting with Lynn now than he had the entire last week combined.