by Aria Ford
I heard Jared chuckle hollowly on the other side of the phone. “Now, don't worry about me. You go have a good Sunday.”
“I'll try,” I murmured.
“Bye,” he said.
“Bye.”
I sat there with the phone in my hand, tears running down my cheeks. I needed to know he was okay. What was going on down there? More than that, my tears were for how moved I was. How was it that he still cared so much about me? After I'd walked away from him?
“I wish I understood him.”
I finished my coffee and went through to the kitchen, lost in thought. As I washed up the coffee-things, a thought occurred to me.
He was hung over.
Of course he was. That explained the strange illness that had suddenly befallen him. But why?
Jared didn't drink. I knew he didn't drink. Neither of us did, at least neither time we'd been out together.
The poor guy.
Alex had been worried about him. He had been right. The poor guy was suffering.
I tried to imagine how much stress Jared must be facing, in order to make him drink. I could imagine he'd hated it. He would be so mad at himself right now for breaking his promise. I knew he'd had a hard time with drink. Now that he'd turned his back on it, it would be hard to know he'd fallen back on it.
I hope he isn't making this a habit now.
I was worried for him.
“What can I do?”
There weren't many options I had, really. I could contact my uncle about it. But that would mean explaining the whole thing about Jared and me to my uncle, which I wasn't prepared to do.
I could try going up there myself, but that would be near-impossible – I'd already taken up a week of leave. I would be eating into my leave budget if I took any more.
I could tell Alex.
That was my only other option. Again, phoning Alex would mean telling him about my relationship with Jared. But it was about time I did that.
I checked the time – it was ten am. I was sure Alex would be awake by now – Sunday or no, Alex didn't seem to sleep very much. I pressed down the call button. Closed my eyes. Braced myself.
“Hello?”
“Alex! Hi! I hope you're up...”
He laughed. “Sure I am, Darby. What is it?”
“I have something to tell you. And something to ask.”
“Okay, sister,” he said quickly. “Fire away.”
I cleared my throat. “I... when we were in Green River I was seeing someone.”
“I thought that. Yes?”
“Oh. Well, I would have told you, but I thought you'd be mad at me.”
“Mad at you? Hell, Darby! You're no kid. You can do what you like. I have no right to be mad at you! Not for anything.”
I sighed. “I know. Well, thanks. But I thought you'd be worse than mad. That you'd be ashamed.”
“I would never be ashamed of you:”
His reply was so instant that it sent a flare of warmth straight to my heart.
“Thanks, Alex. Well, the thing is... the guy I was seeing was... It's Jared Manning.”
I held my breath, waiting for the sky to fall. Nothing happened.
“Really?”
To my astonishment, Alex was laughing. He sounded happy. I was shocked.
“Alex? You mean, you're okay with...”
“Of course I am,” he said immediately. “I'm just surprised. I thought...when you two met I thought you hated him.”
I chuckled. I had almost forgotten about that first day. I had certainly “blasted him”, as he would say. But no – I didn't hate him.
“I guess it looked like that.”
My brother chuckled. “It did, kind of. But...listen, Darby...I'm sorry. About yesterday, I mean. If I had any idea, I would never have...” he trailed off.
“You mean about asking me about legal advice?”
He sighed. “Yes. I mean...did you know?”
“No,” I admitted. “You see, when I thought you'd disapprove of him, I tried to walk away. But I can't. I just can't, Alex. It's weird,” I tried to explain.
“Darby,” he interrupted gently, “it's okay. Why would you have to walk away?”
“Well, he's...different, and Mom, and you, and...and my colleagues...” I tried to explain but he just laughed.
“You thought we'd all ostracize you because you were dating a guy who had been down on his luck. That right?”
I sighed. “That's exactly right.”
“Well,” he gave a big sigh. “I don't know about Mom. We could have some work to do there. But me? You know how I feel. I think it's great. He might be from, well, the wrong neighborhood, let's say it that way. But he's a great guy. I liked him the instant I saw him. Reminded me of Chett. The same clear outlook.”
“Yes!” I was astonished. “That's it!” I was amazed. My brother got it in a way that surprised me. That was exactly what I'd appreciated the most about Jared. His clear outlook.
“Well, I get it,” he assured me. “And I'm sure Mom will get it too. She just has to meet him. And your colleagues? Well, if they met him, they'd see what we saw. Trust me.”
I sighed. “You know, you're right. I feel like I was so dumb.”
I was laughing, but it was a mix of relief and regret for how foolish I had almost been. How could I have risked losing something that could be precious, just because of what other people would think? If I saw something good in Jared, other people would too. People weren't that different.
“And you know what?” he added.
“What?” I felt so reassured talking to Alex. It felt like all the worry that had been haunting me was finally evaporating. Things were clearer now.
“Well, if your colleagues don't like him they respect you enough to put up with whoever is with you.”
I heaved out a big sigh. “You think so?”
“I know so. So. What are you going to do?”
I shook my head. “I don't know. I'm worried about him, Alex.”
“I know,” he said softly. “So am I. I talked to his boss, but he didn't sound too happy.”
“Oh. Hell.” I frowned. “That's bad.”
“Yeah. Well, I told him he should investigate him by all means if he had to. He won't find anything bad – no criminal record or anything.”
“You're sure?”
Alex sighed. “Not one hundred percent, no. But as far as I know the worst they could have had Jared in on was shoplifting. And I can't actually see Mr. Haddon counting that as some non-excusable lapse.”
I laughed too. “And even if he did, I can't see being a shoplifter's going to impact his current job.”
My brother chuckled. “Yeah. Not many shops to lift from out there.”
“No. And difficult to hide horses under your coat.”
We were both laughing when we finally hung up.
When Alex had gone I sat quietly for a while. I felt a peace descend on me that I hadn't felt for weeks. Not since I first met Jared. I realized how much I had been tormenting myself with the fact that my family wouldn't approve of him – at least, my belief they wouldn't.
How could I not have trusted Alex more?
I wished I had. I would have saved myself weeks of worry, and I would have kept in touch with Jared.
I wasn't going to berate myself for that now, though. I had acted on the knowledge I had, which was that no-one would possibly understand me dating someone out of my own social tier.
I really thought that at the time. But now I had told someone, I had the power to change things. I was going to do my best to help Jared and sort this whole case out. Then I would think about what I wanted in my own life. That was going to be a complicated one. But I was ready for it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Jared
I felt much better after talking to Darby. In fact, I felt like I couldn't even understand the space I'd been in before. I was so light and happy now that it didn't even seem possible to me that I'd been that sad before.
She
didn't hate me. It was all going to be alright.
The day went by much faster than I would have expected. I managed to get more done than I ever would have thought possible. I fixed the cracked tile in the bathroom – something I hadn't even known how to do before a few months ago. I did the shopping. I took stuff to the laundromat.
The next morning at work I felt was joking and laughing with the rest of them. If Cody noticed the miraculous transformation, he didn't say anything, which was nice of him.
“Hey! Jared! I bet I can shovel dirt faster than you!” Jeff yelled.
I grinned. “I bet you can. Probably had more experience than me with tons of dirt.”
We all laughed. I was happy.
I had a good day and returned home feeling tired and fulfilled. It was when I got there that I remembered I had to take out the trash.
“Well, there's always something you forget,” I muttered to myself. I lifted the bags and carried them out.
I drove the short way out of town to the dump. I was walking back to my truck when they appeared. Three of them. With baseball bats as clubs.
“We know you,” one of them said.
“Get him.”
I tried to run – who wouldn't? Three against one is stupid odds. I'd tried it once, but only for Darby. I ran. They caught me at the corner. The first blow hit me in the lower back, making me fall forward. The next one took me on the head. I blanked out for a moment, then made a wild grab at the knee of the guy in front of me. Pulled him off balance. He fell.
I howled and he yelled and I made a grab at his throat. I missed. Someone hit me across the ribs. I couldn't breathe.
“Hit him good.”
“Kill him.”
The last thing I needed right now was to die. For someone who had spent a lot of their childhood wishing for just that, suddenly I wanted, very badly, to live.
I tried to stand. Someone kicked me.
I hissed out a breath. I could feel the blood down my face, warm drops from my nose. I could feel the ache in my ribs that told me one of them was bust. Again. I coughed.
I was on my knees, trying to stand. They rained blows down on me.
If all else fails, play dead.
I remembered that rule from Frank. He'd been my friend in the gang – about twice my age and wise like that. He was right.
I played dead.
Someone kicked me again and I managed not to cough no matter how hard it hurt. I wondered if they were going to stop when I was unmoving, or if they'd carry on and really do the job. I was starting to panic when I heard one of them say something.
“Someone's coming.”
They cleared off after that. I would have sighed in relief as I heard their feet slowly crunch across the tarmac, but I could hardly breathe. I waited until I couldn't hear them anymore, then rasped and coughed.
I was still coughing when the person they'd heard coming, came up.
“Hell, buddy. You look terrible.”
It was a guy. He was maybe twenty years older than me. He sounded really concerned. I coughed.
“Ribs,” I said.
He nodded. “Someone beat you up, huh?”
I smiled. Nodded. It occurred to me to ask how else I'd got in this state, if someone hadn't been kicking me, but I didn't have any breath and besides it wasn't the place for being a wise-ass.
“Come on, buddy. You need the hospital.”
“Not that... again...” I whispered.
He laughed. “You been there often, huh?”
I nodded again. I was starting to be unable to see out of my left eye – it was swollen almost completely closed now. I coughed again and my head felt as if it was floating somewhere above my body.
“Come on,” the man said. “Oh, no. I'm gonna have to carry you, right?”
“Can... walk...” I said.
I passed out.
When I woke up I could smell that scary clean smell. Hospital.
I groaned. I opened my eyes. My left I still didn't fully open.
“Hello?” I rasped.
Everything hurt. I felt as if I had been put through a tree-shaker. My arms hurt. My chest was agony. My legs. My head. I didn't want to wake up. Sleep was good. Waking just brought pain.
“Hello?”
“Oh! We're awake.”
I groaned.
“No... I'm awake,” I corrected. Heard the nurse laugh.
“You're full of it, aren't you?”
I laughed. “I try to be.”
She shook her head at me, making sympathetic noises. “You're full of bruises, that's for sure. The doctor'll set your ribs later on.”
“Not... necessary,” I coughed. “Just... painkiller. Please.”
She shook her head. “You're scheduled to have them set. I've given you a painkiller. You can have one in an hour when this has worn off.”
“If this is...with painkiller...I'm glad for...painkillers,” I rasped.
She laughed.
“You'll do,” she said.
I groaned. My next thought was, bizarrely, of contacting Darby. I wanted to ask where my things were. I didn't remember the thugs stealing anything – as it happened, they were after revenge.
“Things?” I mimed a wallet in my pocket, realizing with some embarrassment that I was wearing one of those horrible hospital gowns.
“Uh...in the locker. Can I get something?”
“Phone.”
She passed it to me. “It's quite remarkable that it's not broken,” she said.
I smiled. “Yeah. Thank Goodness.”
She handed it to me and I managed to find a non-painful way to hold it and be able to see it through my right eye. Ever tried texting with one eye only? Well, don't. It's hard.
I gave up and phoned Darby instead. My head was starting to ache. Probably focusing with the one eye was making the pain worse.
“Hello?” She sounded alert.
“Darby,” I said. Then I started coughing.
“Jared!”
“Uh...sorry.” I managed to rasp. “I... I'm in hospital...”
That was when the whirling ache in my head grew and flourished and carried me away into the dark.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Darby
“Jared?”
No answer.
“Jared! You're in hospital? Answer me. Please?”
The line went dead. I tried to call back. The phone was off.
I swore. What could I do? What had happened to him?
I immediately called my brother. He would know what to do. It was a reflex born of years of being his little sister.
“Alex?”
“Hi, Darby. What's the matter?” He sounded tired. But he clearly wasn't too tired to hear the rising terror in my voice.
“Alex. I just got a call from Jared. He said he's in hospital. Then the phone just died. Alex, please. I need to know what's happening.”
I trailed off with a sob. I hadn't realized before how much he meant to me. How much knowing he was okay would change things for me.
“It's okay,” Alex said quietly. “If he called, he's alive. If he's in hospital, he's safe. We'll find out what's going on.”
“You're right.” That made me feel a bit better. “How?” I asked.
“We'll call the hospital,” he said practically. “As far as I know, there's only one in Green River. If he's really there, they'll be able to tell us more.”
I let out a long sigh. “Thanks, Alex. You're wonderful.” I felt a bit silly for not thinking of that. But then, I was really worried.
He laughed. “No, I'm not. I'm stupid. Maybe this is my fault.” He sounded sad.
“Alex! No!”
He sighed. “Darby, I would...”
“You did all anyone can do! If we're going to talk that way I could blame myself too. I mean, how could we have known about this?”
“We knew he was threatened.”
“It was them, wasn't it?” I think I'd guessed the minute he called.
&n
bsp;
