Love is Blind (3 page)

“So?”

“So didn’t anyone ever teach you any
manners?”

“No.”

I sighed and leaned my elbows on the table in
front of us. “Fine, be surly. I was just trying to be polite.”

He turned his head in my direction. “Bite
me.”

I snorted. “Really? That’s the best comeback you
can come up with? I’ll have to go buy you a book of comebacks or
something.”

His brows pulled down into a frown. “You got a
better one?”

“Tons. But you have to be nice to me if you want
me to tell you any of them.”

“Whatever, I don’t care.”

He faced the front again and I didn’t bug him
again. I’d established a first conversation, albeit a short one and
I would have to be satisfied with that for today. We spent the rest
of the class in silence. Blake didn’t do any of the work that the
teacher assigned, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from asking
him why he was here if he wasn’t going to do anything. It seemed
rather pointless to me.

When the bell rang, I carefully gathered up my
stuff and headed out the door. As I was leaving, a girl came in and
walked over to Blake. I paused in the doorway for a moment to watch
as she leaned down and said something quietly to him. He nodded and
got to his feet, placing his hand on her shoulder. They left
through the other door, and I continued on to my next class. I
joined David and Rachel in the back of the room. They both greeted
me cheerfully and immediately asked if I would sit with them at
lunch again. I agreed and after the class we all went to the
cafeteria together.

When we sat down at a table, Rachel turned to
me. “So I’m going to be nosy and ask you why you started at our
school this year.”

I shrugged. “I moved and this was the best
school in the area,” I replied simply. I didn’t say anything about
my past, because I still wasn’t comfortable talking about it.
Luckily, Rachel accepted that answer and we moved onto other
topics.

The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully.
My mind drifted to Blake a few times, but I didn’t see him anywhere
in the halls. I wondered who the girl was that had helped him after
class, and I hoped one day I would find the answer to my
questions.

After school, I didn’t go straight home. It was
Wednesday, and every Wednesday and Sunday I went to the hospital.
Today was no different, so I got in my car and made the fifteen
minute drive, finding a parking spot fairly quickly once I got
there.

I went into the building and started walking
towards the elevator, the familiar dread settling into the pit of
my stomach as I got closer to my destination. I rode the elevator
up to the third floor and headed to the room I always went to.

A young man in his early twenties was lying on
the bed, the same as every other day I came here. Tears pricked at
my eyes as I looked at him, but I refused to let them fall. I
stepped closer and stopped at the side of the bed. “Hey Jake,” I
said quietly. I took a seat next to his bed and put my hand on top
of his. “I started my last year of high school yesterday. I’m going
to a new school now, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to face
everyone at my old school after everything that happened. I think
I’ve made a couple of friends already, and I’m happy about
that.

“Jared is still living with me and Liam. I think
he’ll be with us for a long time, because neither of them are
comfortable leaving me alone. I’m a lot better than I was six
months ago, but I still struggle every day with everything that’s
inside me.” I gazed out the window that was next to his bed. “Most
days it’s easy to bear. But every once in a while, it all just
boils up and overwhelms me. How am I supposed to go on living a
normal life when mom and dad are dead, and you’re in here? I know I
should be grateful to be alive, but some days I think it would have
been easier if I’d died that night as well.”

I lapsed into silence for a few minutes before
shaking my head. “I can’t let myself think like that. If I do, I’ll
slip into depression again and I’ve worked so hard to stay away
from that. And I don’t want Jared and Liam to worry about me any
more than they already do. They’ve been so strong for me, but I
know that inside they’re hurting as well. I refuse to be the source
of any more pain.”

I stayed for another half hour, telling him
about random things in my life. He was the only one I felt
comfortable telling that I was still struggling sometimes. I knew
if he’d been awake, he would’ve told me that it was okay to have
trouble living, as long as I didn’t give up. Life wasn’t supposed
to be easy, and I’d learned that the hard way on that fateful night
that took almost everything from me eight months ago.

When I got back home, I skipped dinner and went
to the music room. I stopped at the doorway and my eyes were
immediately drawn to the piano. I sat on the bench and ran my
fingers lightly over the ivory keys, trying to decide what to play.
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and let the music flow out
of me. I sang along softly, my voice quiet but steady. It was a
song that I often sang after seeing Jake, and it was about trying
to forget the past and move on. That was something I’d been trying
to do since Jared and Liam snapped me out of my funk six months
ago.

When I felt a presence in the room I let my
fingers still on the piano. A moment later Jared was sitting beside
me on the bench, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I laid
my head against him as silent tears fell down my face.

“You saw Jake today?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I spent just over half an hour
with him. I know he probably can’t hear me, but I always feel
better after talking to him. I just wish it wasn’t so hard to see
him like that.”

He kissed the top of my head. “You know I’m here
for you no matter what, right?”

I sniffled before raising my head and turning to
look at him. “I know, and that’s part of what helps keep me going.
I don’t know what I would’ve done without you and Liam these past
months.”

He brushed the tears off of my face with his
thumbs. “You would have survived just fine without us. You’re a lot
stronger than you give yourself credit for. Not many people would
have been able to walk and lead a normal life after the injuries
you sustained.”

“I’m just too damn stubborn for my own good.
Once you started working with me, I had to prove to everyone that I
could lead a normal life again.”

Jared chuckled a little. “You and Jake are the
two most stubborn people I know.”

I dropped my gaze to the ground. “Jared, what if
he doesn’t wake up? I know the chances are slim to none at this
point. Am I being selfish by keeping him alive?”

He blew out a breath. “I don’t think you’re
being selfish, Hales. You’re not ready to let go, especially
because there is a small amount of hope that he might wake up. He’s
not brain dead, so we just have to keep praying that he wakes up
one of these days.”

I closed my eyes and rested my head on his
shoulder again. “Don’t ever leave me, Jared. I couldn’t stand to
lose you too.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Hailey. I’ll always be
here for you.”

Chapter three

My back was sore when I woke up the next
morning, indicating that I had tossed and turned a lot during the
night. I wasn’t overly surprised, since that often happened after I
saw Jake. I lay in bed for a few minutes, mentally preparing myself
for a rough day. Tonto sensed that I was sore and he followed me
into the bathroom when I finally got up to have a shower. He held a
towel in his mouth when I stepped out of the tub and I took it from
him, patting his head with a smile. “Thanks boy.” After the
accident eight months ago, Tonto had gone into training to help me
when I had bad days. He wasn’t technically a service dog, since
he’d been mine already before the accident, but he knew most of the
commands.

I got ready a little slower than I had yesterday
and as a result I only had time to grab an apple for breakfast. I
ate it as I drove to school and knew I’d be starving before lunch
rolled around. Since there wasn’t anything I could do about it now,
I went to Biology and took my seat beside Blake. I stretched a
little in an attempt to relieve the ache in my back and grimaced
when I felt something pop. It didn’t do anything to relieve the
pain, but at least it didn’t make it worse.

I knew Blake was aware of me because his head
was tilted in my direction, but he didn’t say anything. I wasn’t in
the right frame of mind to try and talk to him today, so I remained
silent as well. Throughout the class I shifted a bunch of times in
an effort to get comfortable. Nothing worked and my back started to
get a little worse from sitting on the hard stool.

Near the end of the class, while everyone else
was discussing an article in groups, Blake finally turned to me.
“Will you stop moving already? It’s getting annoying.”

“Sorry,” I muttered, not really paying attention
to him.

He was silent for a moment and then he sighed.
“Are you okay?”

“No, but I will be. These seats are just really
uncomfortable.”

“They’re the same ones from yesterday and the
day before,” he pointed out.

It dawned on me then that he was actually
talking to me, and that he wasn’t being completely rude. “Why do
you care?” I asked.

“I don’t.” With that, he turned away from me
again.

“And they say women are moody,” I mumbled under
my breath and I could have sworn I saw his lips twitch at the
corners a little. I didn’t comment on it though, instead focusing
on the article I was supposed to be reading.

When the bell rang, I stood up slowly. My back
twinged and I gripped the table for a moment until the spasm
passed. Then I looked down at my bag and cursed when I realized I
was going to have to bend over and pick it up. Obviously I hadn’t
thought this one through very well.

“Why are you swearing?” Blake asked from his
seat beside me.

I turned my head to look at him. “My bag is on
the ground.”

“So?”

I glanced around the room and saw that we were
the only two left there. “I can’t bend over to pick it up,” I
admitted quietly.

To my surprise, he didn’t ask why. He just
reached down to the spot in between our chairs and felt around
until he found my bag. He picked it up and set it on the table.
“There, problem solved.”

I blinked a few times in surprise. “Um, thanks.”
I carefully slung my bag over my shoulder. “See you tomorrow.”

He didn’t reply so I left the room with my mind
whirling. I hadn’t expected him to be nice to me, and it had thrown
me a little off balance. When I’d made the decision two days ago to
befriend him, I hadn’t been prepared for him to show a slightly
less hostile side to me. I didn’t know what had brought it on, but
I suddenly had hope that I might actually get through to him at
some point. That thought distracted me enough that I was able to
mostly ignore my back pain for the rest of the day.

As soon as I got home, I changed into my bathing
suit and headed for the hot tub out on the back deck. I sank into
the hot water with a grateful sigh and leaned my head back against
the edge. I closed my eyes and let the pulsing jets relax my
muscles. This hot tub had been my saviour since I’d moved in with
my uncle. Any time my back was sore and Jared wasn’t around, I’d
come out here and the heat and jets would eventually relieve the
soreness.

Jared found me out there half an hour later and
sat in one of the chairs on the deck, stretching his legs out in
front of him. “Rough day?”

“It wasn’t too bad; my back was just sore today.
It’s better now though.” I moved my head so I could look at him
properly. “How was work?”

“It went pretty well. Got a couple of new
patients, which is a good thing.”

Jared had opened his own clinic in town when
he’d moved in with me and Liam. He was slowly gaining more patients
and I knew he was really enjoying his work. “In that case, I think
we should go celebrate this weekend. How about a movie tomorrow
night?”

“That sounds like fun. Think Liam will want to
come as well?”

“Want to come where?” Liam asked as he stepped
onto the deck.

“To a movie tomorrow night. We’re celebrating
Jared getting more business at his clinic.”

“I’d love to, but I have to go out of town this
weekend. Can I take a rain check?”

“You’re going out of town this weekend? Why
didn’t you tell me earlier?” I asked him.

He gave me a puzzled look. “I did tell you.”
When I continued to look at him blankly, he hesitated. “Didn’t
I?”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “No, you
forgot to mention it. How long will you be gone for?”

“I’m leaving tomorrow morning and I’ll be back
on Sunday afternoon.” He smiled apologetically. “I could have sworn
I told you.”

“It’s not a big deal. Jared will be here so it’s
not like I’ll be alone.”

Liam frowned. “Yeah, but I shouldn’t really be
leaving you here. Do you want to come with me?”

I grimaced. “Ugh, no thanks. I’d rather stay
here than go to a bunch of boring conferences with you.”

“Don’t worry Liam; I’ll make sure she stays out
of trouble,” Jared said.

“More like I’ll keep you out of trouble,” I
retorted.

“Pfft, I’m an angel. I don’t know what you’re
talking about.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You call having a random
blonde woman sneaking out of the guest house in the middle of the
night innocent?”

Jared flushed. “You saw that?”

I smirked at him. “Sure did. Poor girl looked
mortified to be doing the walk of shame.”

Liam heaved a sigh. “I think I should hire a
keeper to keep you both in line while I’m gone.”

I laughed and shook my head. “We’ll behave,” I
promised him. “Will one of you hand me a towel?”