Overflow: The Carpino Series

by Asher, Brynne

  Yeah, I want her. She knows everything there is to know about me now, there’s nothing between us anymore. Not able to wait another second, I head to my desk to get my shit and get to Gabby as fast as I can.

  *****

  “Gabby!” Jude calls, coming from the garage. “Where are you?”

  I let out a breath and close my eyes. It’s not tonight. It’s only late afternoon. Well, I guess it is five o’clock and five o’clock could swing either way. But I was thinking tonight-tonight when I told him tonight. Not this afternoon-tonight.

  “Gabby?” he bites out, impatiently this time.

  “In here,” I answer quietly. I hear Jude coming through the great room and see him standing in the French doors to the study that overlooks the front of my house.

  “Sugar, what are you doing in here? I’ve never seen you in here before,” he rasps out as he stands there with his hands on his hips. Mia is circling his feet, and as usual, he is paying her no mind.

  “I don’t know,” I say withdrawn, because I am. “I used to sit in here for hours after my parents died. My dad used to work in here all the time. His desk was always a mess with case files and court documents. When I was little I would play in here when he worked. I’d sit right here on this sofa with my baby dolls laid out and accessorize them. I never played with them much, just changed their clothes.”

  That’s when he moves to me, I’m curled into the corner of my dad’s tufted leather sofa. He instantly invades my space again by picking up my feet and sitting down laying my legs over his lap.

  Typical.

  All I can do is sigh.

  I’ve thought all afternoon. I thought and thought and thought. And all I can come up with is what came to me yesterday. I love him, everything about him. But if he doesn’t feel the same, it’s going to break me. I’ll literally be broken. Again. And I’m so tired of being broken.

  “Your dad worked for the District Attorney’s office?” he asks. I notice he’s looking at my dad’s certificates that are famed and hanging around the room.

  “Yeah, for about five years before he and my uncles formed their practice. He was an Assistant District Attorney. I was so little, I don’t remember him working there.”

  Jude then looks back to me and quietly rasps, “Babe, why are you in here?”

  “I don’t know,” I lie. There are parts of this house that make me feel closer to my parents and this is one of them. I need to be close to them today somehow. I feel like I’m bracing for something.

  “Sugar, tell me what you’re thinking.” I lift my eyes to his and he leans in closer, wrapping an arm around my legs and the other hand to the side of my neck. He’s done it again. Caged me in. And I can’t deny it, this feels nice. I close my eyes and lean my head into his hand, feeling like I could go to sleep right here. I feel his fingers tense lightly in my hair and I open my eyes and he whispers, “Gabby, talk to me.”

  I sigh again and look into his eyes that look as tired and as stressed as I feel. “It’s just that Conner compared me to lots of women. Not to mention calling me other awful names. I need to know what that means, but I’m afraid I already know what that means and that scares me to be lumped into a group like that.”

  “Sugar, I’ve not been in a relationship since Julia died. Not once in nine years. Now, I’m sorry to say, that doesn’t mean there weren’t women in my life. If I could change that for you now, I would, but I can’t. But you have to know you’re more than that, Gabby. Much more. You know that. We haven’t known each other long, but you have to know that, at least. Surely you can feel it.”

  Well, I sure don’t want to be lumped in that group, so I guess that’s good. I swallow and look out the window to my front yard. He gives my head a little shake to get my attention and continues, “Babe, there’s something I need to---” but he’s interrupted by my cell phone playing a song from somewhere in the sofa. I start to move around to find it and he says, “Gabby, let it go, I need to talk to you.”

  “Let me just see who it is, Jude.” Just as I can’t handle surprises, I can’t not know who’s calling me. I finally find my phone and when I look at it, I immediately slide my thumb across and mutter, “It’s the hospital. What the hell?” I answer, “Hello?”

  “Gabby?” I can hear her and I know her well enough to know she’s crying and something is very wrong.

  My back goes straight and I pull my legs off Jude and say, “Leigh? What’s wrong? Why are you at the hospital?”

  Her shaky voice comes through the phone again, but not answering my questions, she says, “I’m so sorry, Gabby. I didn’t know who else to call.”

  “Leigh, what’s wrong?” I demand. Jude and I are both standing now but out of the corner of my eye I see his hand reaching for my phone.

  Uh, huh!

  Not this time!

  I lean back, ducking out of the way and swat his hand away with a slap. I point my finger at him giving him the meanest glare I can muster. He is not snatching my phone away from me when my childhood friend is calling from the hospital crying and I’m trying to figure out what is wrong. Not this time. No way! I’m learning his maneuvers and I’m creating my own Jude Defense, even if I have to resort to a girlie slap! I take a step back, waving my hand around in front of me again for good measure to communicate to him he had better keep his paws off my phone! He, in turn, stands there with his arms folded across his chest glaring back at me.

  Trying to concentrate, I ask again, “Leigh? Tell me what’s wrong.”

  “Can you come, Gabby? I don’t have anyone else,” she answers as her breath catches.

  “Yes, I’ll be right there. But you have to tell me, are you okay?” I probe again.

  “No,” I hardly hear over the phone.

  Now she’s scaring the shit out of me. “Okay. You hold tight, I’ll be right there. I’m leaving now.”

  “Thank you,” she says, and my phone is nothing but dead air.

  “What?” Jude asks impatiently, since he didn’t get to snatch my phone away this time.

  “She needs me, I don’t know what’s happening but I’ve got to get to the hospital,” I explain as I bypass him and head to the kitchen to grab my purse. “It’s got to be bad, Jude. She was crying and wouldn’t say what’s wrong. I’m sorry, but we’ll have to talk later. I’ve got to get to her.”

  “I’ll take you,” he says.

  “No, no. It’s okay, you don’t have to. I’ll call you, let you know what’s going on.”

  “Gabby, I’m taking you. Let’s go.”

  “Jude--”

  “Enough, sugar. I can tell your upset, you won’t know what you’ll need when you get there, I’ll take you. Let’s go.”

  “Fine, but we need to hurry. I don’t know where her asshole of a husband is and she doesn’t have any family here anymore. If she says she needs me, she really needs me,” I rush out my garage to Jude’s truck, I can hear him setting the alarm and following me out.

  Jude climbs in his truck, looks at me as he cranks it on and says, “Don’t worry, Gabby. I’ll get you to her as fast as I can.”

  As he charges down my street and out of my neighborhood, I reach over and grab his hand saying, “Thank you.”

  *****

  Jude was not kidding when he said he would get me here fast. I’m pretty sure we made it in record time and even parked in the emergency parking area so we didn’t have to mess with the parking garage. Stopping at the front desk to get her room number, I’m shocked to learn she is in obstetrics. Looking at Jude with a puzzled look on my face, he gazes down at me softly and takes my hand pulling me in the right direction.

  We exit the elevator, Jude finds the signs quicker than me, pulls me to the left and stops when we get to her room. He looks down at me, puts his hands on my shoulders and rasps softly, “You go in, she doesn’t know me. I’ll be right here if you need me.” He leans in and kisses me softly.

  I nod my head and turn to walk through the door. The lights are low and I se
e the back of Leigh’s light blonde hair scattered over the pillow. She’s curled up facing away from the door. I walk around to the other side of the bed and gasp when I look at her face. She opens one eye to me, the other is too swollen to open, bright red with bruising and puckered all around. Her hand comes to her face as she closes her good eye again. I go the side of her bed to take her hand when I see that her arm is cast from her hand to her elbow and she’s holding it gingerly on the mattress in front of her.

  “Leigh?” is all I can manage as the tears, my damn tears, come for my sweet friend, without even knowing what’s happened to her. Her tears are flowing as well, all I can do is gently put my hand out to push her hair out of her face. I pull up a chair to sit close to her letting her cry, knowing her well enough that now isn’t the time to press the issue. I’ll learn the details soon enough. She lets me hold her good hand as she cries and this going on for a long time.

  Finally a doctor walks in and seems surprised to see me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know she had company. I’m Dr. Cline. I’m glad to see she finally has someone here with her.”

  “Gabrielle Carpino. I’ve known Leigh since we were little. I’ll be here for whatever she needs.”

  Dr. Cline’s face goes soft and he gives me a small smile, saying, “Thank you, Ms. Carpino, that’s good to know.” He looks down at Leigh and laying a light hand on her shoulder, he says to her, “Leigh, I need to talk with you. Would you like to do that alone or should your friend stay?”

  Uttering her first words, Leigh softly says, “She can stay.” But she doesn’t move, she stays where she is facing me with her back to the gentle doctor.

  “Good,” he replies, like he means it in more ways than one. He continues in a soft voice, “We need to talk about your fall, Leigh.”

  “Fall?” I ask.

  He sighs and continues softly, “Leigh tells us she fell down a half flight of stairs at home, resulting in the injury to her eye, a broken arm and miscarriage.”

  “Miscarriage?” I gasp again. She was pregnant? And how in the hell did she fall down the stairs? Leigh is one of the most graceful people I know. Every move she makes is graceful. Leigh’s hand tightens in mine, so I hold strong. “How did she fall down the stairs?”

  Dr. Cline can see I’m surprised by everything and gazes at me with knowing eyes, trying to communicate more than he is saying, but rather says the words, “That’s what we are trying to get to the bottom of.”

  It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out what he means. I give him an ever so slight chin lift telling him I understand then I ask, “Where’s Preston, her husband?”

  This makes Leigh’s breath hitch, trying to control a sob, but she says nothing. Dr. Cline informs me, “We understand he’s with authorities, answering some questions. Please talk with your friend, Ms. Carpino. Encourage her to be truthful. We are bound by law to make our own reports and Leigh’s injuries do not happen by falling down half a flight of stairs.” He looks down to Leigh, again touching her shoulder, “Leigh, talk to your friend. Tell her the truth. You’re obviously not safe and we need to make you safe. You lost dearly today, Leigh. It’s time to be truthful, you owe that to the memory of your baby if not yourself.”

  Leigh’s body is wracking with sobs now. I have to hold on to her hand tight for fear if I let her go I will hunt down her jackass of a husband and kill him myself. He did this to her and apparently killed their baby in the process. I nod to Dr. Cline and he turns to leave. I sit back down in front of her and let her hold on to me for a few minutes. My tears have dried up and have been replaced by fury so hot and deep I can barely sit here. But my job, given to me silently by the gentle doctor, is to get her to tell me what really happened.

  I start with, “Leigh, girlie, you were pregnant?” Still trying to control her sobs, she only nods. “Okay, I wish you would have told me, but I understand. But you have to tell me, Leigh, did Preston do this to you?” She gave her head small but quick shakes, telling me no. I try again, “Leigh, you heard what the doctor said. They know this could not have happened from falling down stairs. You have to tell me the truth.”

  “I feel so alone,” she squeaks. “I’m not like you. I don’t have a family to take care of me. My mom is a mess in the next state and my sister is a mess across the country. I don’t know what to do.”

  “I’m here, Leigh. I’m your family and I’ll take care of you. You know my parents loved you and would have stepped in to care for you in a heartbeat, as well. But it’s just you and me, now. I’m going to make sure you’re okay and you are most definitely not okay at the moment. But I need your help here, Leigh. I can’t make you safe by myself. I’ll be the strong one but you need to help me. I’ll just ask you some questions, you can answer yes or no. How does that sound?”

  She looks up at me, completely scared and freaked. After staring at me a few beats, she closes her good eye and nods. I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding and say, “Okay, but I need to tell you something first. After you get out of here, our first step in making you’re safe is moving in with me. You can have the basement all to yourself. You know it’s a huge house and I can help you while you’re healing. And you know you’ll be safe there, right?” I look down at her and she agrees with a little nod. “So we’ve got a plan. Now that the plan is in place, there’s no reason for the truth not to come out, okay?”

  This wins me another nod.

  Thank you, God.

  So I take in air and start asking my sweet friend questions. She answers with her head, rarely with words. The tears are streaming down my face again as I learn about the hell she’s been living through. But no more. Preston will only be a memory for her, but worst of all, so will her baby. Once I finish asking her questions and the truth has been laid out, I have enough to give the doctor to start the ball rolling. She will need to be questioned again by the police, but later after she has had a chance to process everything. A nurse comes in to give her pain medication and I stay with her until it takes affect and she falls asleep.

  I walk out of her room and am surprised to see Jude is still here, sitting on a hard folding chair. He waited for me. Standing up, he pulls me into his arms and holds me tight. I let myself melt into him as he says into my hair, “I’m so sorry you had to go through that, sugar. I heard it all and you were perfect. She’s lucky to have you.” He pulls back to cup my face in his hands and goes on to growl out, “But that fuckwad is going to pay for what he did to her.”

  Oh no. I forgot about Jude’s radiating fury. Being on the other side of the hospital bed this time, I can understand Jude and my family’s wrath when Trevor beat me up. “Okay,” is all I can manage, but then I go on, “I need to talk to her doctor. I also need to call my Uncle Tony. She’s going to need representation and he specializes in family law. He’ll do it for free.”

  “You know for sure he’ll do it pro bono?” Jude asks as we make our way to the nurses’ station.

  “My Uncle Tony will take one look at her and represent her for free. But remember I am part something or other in the firm, so yes, he’ll do it for free,” I say cocking an eyebrow at him.

  “I have a feeling Leigh is going to have the Carpino’s at war for her on all sides,” Jude mutters, looking down and pulling me in close to his side.

  I allow this because I am so tired from all that’s gone on the last twenty four hours, not to mention what I have ahead of me with Leigh. Knowing I shouldn’t allow myself the comfort, I take it anyway and tuck myself into Jude, trying not to think about the future. More importantly, the future I might not get but so desperately want. We wait for the doctor and with everything that has gone on tonight with Leigh, I’m so thankful to have Jude here with me. I do my best to not think about our pending conversation. However, trying and doing are two very different things. And when it comes down to it, I just don’t have the energy to push him away. So for tonight, I’m going to let him take care of me so I can take care of my friend.

  Chap
ter 20 - I’ve Got A Lot To Say

  I pour chicken stock into my Le Creuset. It’s Tuesday, the day after we got back from Colorado, the day after I found out my childhood friend is a victim of domestic violence, losing her baby and the day after two mostly sleepless nights. I’m pretty sure Jude didn’t sleep much, either. He used his police connections to find out that Preston was arrested for assault with more charges to come and spent the night in jail. Since I am all Leigh has, I took matters into my own hands and drug Jude over to Leigh’s house and we packed up everything she could need.

  No, scratch that.

  We packed up every stitch of clothing, personal items and everything else that I knew was hers that she would want out of that house, plus her car. It took three trips with Jude’s truck and my Tahoe and then we lugged it all into my house. I wanted to get it done while Preston-the-asshole was in jail to avoid him at all costs. Not wanting her to be alone, we went back to the hospital around one in the morning and I spent the night with her. Jude stayed for a few more hours before going back to my house to take care of Mia and trying to get some sleep himself. He even came to the hospital over his lunch hour and filled me in on what he could find out about Preston when we were out of earshot from Leigh.

  Now it’s dinnertime and Jude texted about half an hour ago saying he should be here any minute. Leigh was discharged late this afternoon and I got her settled in her new room in the basement. We have been home for two hours and she has been resting in bed while I have been hanging and folding clothes, arranging her things around the room and bathroom so she will feel at home. I did all this while she apologized to me about four thousand, three hundred and seventy five times for everything under the sun. Finally, I looked at her and said, “Enough! Would you have done this for me if I didn’t have a crazy family to take care of me after I lost my parents?” Her face said a million words and after that she was weirdly quiet. I proceeded to curse myself for saying anything because I think I preferred her apologizing as opposed to the weird silence. I made sure she took her pain medication and even supplied her with my left over stool softeners. You can never be too careful.