Fragile (21 page)

“Lucy?” There was a hand on my back, then a cold wet wash cloth on my forehead. When I felt it was safe enough to return to bed, Dad helped me get there safely.

“I don’t know what’s going on with her.” Dad’s voice travelled down the hallway.

“She wouldn’t talk about it.” I rolled to my side to double check that I wasn’t hearing things.

“Have you tried calling Rick?”

“Yeah, he didn’t answer. Dad said that he left last night. Dropped Aiden off and left.”

It was silent so I rolled over and went back to my blissful darkness of slumber. The next time my eyes were forced open, it was to find my ringing phone. My cotton mouth made it hard to talk. My voice was groggy and I groaned as I answered the phone.

An uncertain female voice came through the speaker, “Dr. Jackson?”

“Dr Brooks.” I rubbed my forehead as she spoke.

“You’re needed down here. A man came in and...”

“Say no more. I’m on my way.” I hung up and got ready to head into work. Walking out to the main part of the apartment, I headed to the kitchen to find some pain killers for my throbbing head.

“Hey, honey,” Dad offered when he saw me.

“I’ve been called in. Don’t know how long I’ll be there for, but if you’re cooking, save me some and I’ll let you know when I know.”

Dad walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, handing it over to me. “Is it safe to say that you’re back?”

“Yes, unless you’ve got other plans. I mean, are you and Mather working things out? Is she going to be moving in?”

He leaned in and kissed my hair, “We’ll talk when you’re feeling better.” With that cryptic message, I left and headed to the hospital.

RICK

“It’s good to see you, son. How have you been?”

Dad sat across from me on the couch, clear concern showing in his eyes. I shrugged, because telling him that I felt like shit and didn’t want to return to an apartment that reminded me of Lu, even after being gone for three weeks, was too difficult to express.

Dad seemed to understand my lack of words, “That good, huh?”

I watched Aiden as he sniffed around the house, whining, no doubt looking for Lu. The sound of his paws tapping along the ground echoed throughout the place. “Do you need anything?” Dad’s voice pulled me back to him. I shook my head. “Do you want some company, or...”

“No,” I interrupted him. I just wanted to wallow in my own pity. “Take Aiden too. Give him to Lu. She’ll like that. And take her the car. She needs it. If she argues over it, leave the keys. You know what? Just give them to Ray. He’ll talk some sense into her over it.” Dad called for Aiden, and they left with the promise that he would return tomorrow. I didn’t have the energy or the will to move from the couch, so I didn’t.

“Have you moved from that couch since yesterday?” Dad stood in the kitchen, eyeing me. I shook my head and continued to look at the black screen of the TV.

“Have you eaten?”

“I’m not hungry.”

Dad sighed and put a plate of food on the table in front of me. “Do you plan on living on that couch?”

I nodded. This is where Lu sat the last time she was here. “Did you take Aiden to Lu?”

Dad sat down in his usual seat. “Yes, he’s with her.” I nodded again. I wanted to ask how she was, but if I talked about her, asked questions about her, I didn’t know what I would do.

“Did you leave the car?”

“Yes. She wasn’t there, but I left it with Ray.” I nodded, my heart constricted at the topic. I bet she wasn’t sleeping probably, or eating, and taking a bloody taxi to work and back. I bet that Dr. Douche bag is all over her. At least his family hadn’t destroyed her life more than once.

LUCY

“Are you sure about this, honey?” Dad asked, placing his hands on my shoulders.

“Yes Dad. Go.”

“Are you sure you’re going to be fine? I don’t want to leave if you need me up here.”

“Dad, I’m fine. I’m really good. It’s time for you to take Mather home. Get your life back together.”

He didn’t want to leave, but he and Mather were going home, and I refused to go back with them. “You’ll call?”

“Every day.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. Now go.”

We walked outside, bags in our hands, and moved toward the car where Mather and Ireland were waiting.

“Lucy,” Mather greeted me with a hug.

“Hi.” I hugged her back.

“You’ve got everything?”

“Yeah.” Dad took the bags out of my hand to put them into the boot.

“You look after him. He’s having a tough time leaving,” I told Mather.

“That’s because you’re here.” She put a hand in mine.

“Yeah,” I whispered, unable to stop my eyes from tearing up. “He needs to be home, to get back on track. I’ve promised to call, if not text, every day.”

“Good, I hope that you’ll visit and I’ll make sure that Ireland is out of the house for you.”

I offered a small smile. “I’ll see what I can do.” Dad came back over, and we said our final goodbyes before I watched them drive away.

Back at the apartment, I collapsed onto the couch and Aiden jumped up next to me. “Hey, boy.” I rubbed his head. “It’s just us now.”

We sat like this for a while. Taking in how much our lives had changed again, in such a short amount of time. Tray had decided to stay with Mark so we had decided to meet for coffee the following day at the hospital.

“Hey, doctor.” Tray sat down in the chair across from me, handing over a cup of coffee.

“Tray,” I accepted the cup and took a sip.

“How’s the doctor business going?”

“I’ll never be out of a job. Let’s just say that”

“I’ll toast to that.” He held his cup up and I tapped it with mine.

“How’s school going? Got yourself a girl yet?” He smiled and shrugged. “Ladies man,” I teased and he blushed.

RICK

Tray and Dad sat down at the table with Chinese food in hand. They opened and exchanged boxes, put food on plates, and acted as if I wasn’t sitting on the couch behind them. I hadn’t moved from this couch since I came back and I wasn’t planning to. The smell of the food made my stomach grumble. Dad and Tray were chatting away and didn’t stop when I got up and moved to the table, sitting down and helping myself to the food.

“I met some of the people she works with today. They’re friendly. One is really friendly, if you know what I mean.” Tray’s blabbering got my attention. I knew who he was talking about.

“Tray,” Dad warned.

“What?” He said through a mouthful of food. “Lulu’s always had a following. It’s good to see that some things never change.”

“Dr. Douche bag ask her out again?”

They both looked at me. “I don’t know who that is, but some guy was talking about a function that’s happening next week.”

I sat there staring at him. “Is she going?” I didn’t need to know, but I also did.

“No, she has a surgery that night.” I sat and took it in. We had argued about her going, she didn’t want to go and I didn’t want her to go with him. “He asked her out for dinner this weekend.” Tray said.

I put my fork down and pushed my chair back hard making it hit the wall behind me. “Why would you tell me that? Do you really think that I want to know that the girl I love is going on a date with another man?” I started to walk toward the front door.

“If you love her so much, why did you break her heart?”

I heard Dad warn Tray before I turned to face him. “I did it to avoid Lu getting hurt by our family anymore.”

“You did the wrong thing.” Tray was right. It was the wrong thing but I did what was right for Lu. Walking out the front door, I stopped when I saw the car that I explicitly told Dad to leave with Lu parked in the car park.

Walking back inside, I interrupted Dad and Tray arguing, “What is Lu’s car doing outside? I told you to take it to her.”

“I did, but she returned it.”

“Lu was here?”

“No. I drove it over.”

I snapped my gaze to Tray. “Why would you do that?” My fists were clenched and I was beyond pissed.

“Easy, Rick,” Dad warned.

“Lulu didn’t want it. She told everyone that. When Ray left, there was no one to ignore her protests.”

“Ray left?” I shot my gaze to Dad. “She’s over there by herself!” I put my hands in my hair and tugged at it. I knelt down, put my hands on my knees, focusing on my breathing.

“She has Aiden,” Dad reminded me.

I wanted to tell him that yeah, she has Aiden, but he can’t help her if she’s attacked in the parking lot. Leaving the apartment for the first time in weeks, I got into the car and drove to Lu’s. When I got there, I could see from the parking lot that her light were on. Getting out of the car, I stood still looking up to her apartment before I closed the car door, and left, putting the keys in her mailbox on my way past.

LUCY

I got up way before my alarm went off. It was still dark outside and Aiden was snoring at my side. My stomach rolled as I lay still in my bed trying to get it to calm down. I closed my eyes, but instead of it helping, it made things worse. After cleaning up in the bathroom, I went into the kitchen to get some water and some painkillers before I went back to bed and tried to sleep until my alarm went off.

When I walked out of the apartment I spotted Rick’s car parked in the car park. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with it so I pulled my phone out and sent Tray a text.

Rick’s car’s back. Can you take it please? I don’t want it.

Pocketing my phone, I got in the taxi that was waiting for me on the side of the road.

“So what would you recommend, Dr. Brooks?” I continued to look at the scan currently displayed on the light board.

“If we decide to go ahead with the surgery, there’s a large chance that the patient could lose a substantial amount of his memory.”

“There is,” I agreed with her. “We could recommend that the patient...whoa.” I stepped back and closed my eyes as dizziness rushed over me.

“Dr. Jackson?” Brooks put her hands on my shoulders.

“I’m fine.” I rubbed my forehead, slowly opening up my eyes, then closing them again when the dizziness returned.

“Sit down.” She pushed me backwards until the back of my legs hit a chair. “Put your head between your legs.”

“I got it, Brooks.” I stayed still with my eyes closed until the dizziness went away.

“I’ll get you some water.” Brooks left the room right as my phone buzzed with an incoming text message. I pulled it out of my pocket to read the text from Tray.

I did. Rick went ape when he saw it sitting in the driveway.

I texted back,

Take it back please.

He replied instantly,

:)

Brooks came back in the room with a bottle of water in her hand. “Can I get you anything else? Food maybe? You’ve been here a while, have you eaten?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Continue on with what you were saying a minute ago. What would you recommend for the patient?” I put the attention back on the patient and listened to Brooks as I drank my water and waited the dizziness out.

RICK

Tray walked into the apartment and threw a set of keys on the couch next to me.

“Take it back,” I said as I looked at the car keys sitting next to me.

“She doesn’t want it, Rick. You made your choice not to be a part of her life. Don’t push back into it.”

I picked up the keys and held them tightly in my hand. I just wanted her safe. I knew that we couldn’t be together but I want a little bit of me with her, forever. “When did you get so smart?”

“When my big brother decided that his family wasn’t good enough for him, and I got a sister who destroyed the only other person I care about in the world.”

Fuck, that hurt. “It wasn’t like that Tray. You guys are...”

“Don’t tell me that it wasn’t like that. Leave Lulu alone. Her life has been uprooted so much lately, and she needs to get settled again.”

I couldn’t believe that this was my younger brother standing in front of me, basically threatening me to stay away from Lu. “Look after her.” He nodded and walked away.

If I wouldn’t be there for her, at least she had Tray.

LUCY

My head hurt from throwing up so much so I had gone to a spare on-call room to try and sleep my nausea off. In the background, I could hear my phone ringing. Reaching around, I found it.