by Polly Iyer
Abby heard Luke’s harsh words for the second time and didn’t know what to say. Other questions begged to be asked, but she had pushed too far, dug too deep, and opened old wounds with a rusty knife. The therapist in her knew she needed to stop prying, and she would have if Luke hadn’t stopped for her.
“I’d better leave. I have an early morning shift. I’ll call you tomorrow. Lock the door.”
“Wait,” she said, waving her hand. She heard the door open. Damn. Had he seen her beckoning to him and ignored her on purpose? The door closed. Luke left without touching her, at least not physically. But the emotional slap in the face stung as much as if he had.
Chapter Twelve
A Rare Solar Eclipse
Luke didn’t call the next day or the next. Abby forced herself not to think about Luke McCallister, but the tone of his voice the other night echoed in her mind. As much as she was beginning to care for him, she couldn’t put herself in another situation that would end badly. She wasn’t his therapist and didn’t want to be, but Luke had issues he was determined to keep from her, and she didn’t want to destroy whatever they had by digging into a place he didn’t want to go.
She was about to call the taxi service to take her to pick up Daisy when Lucy dropped by the office to suggest going out to dinner. Lucy’s treat. Abby explained where she was going.
“I’ll take you.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive. We can talk on the way.”
Abby knew her mother would pump her about Luke, and she wasn’t sure she was up for the inevitable barrage of questions, but she had no choice. Lucy would have been hurt if she refused.
Salivating like an adolescent discussing a new boyfriend, Lucy started in as soon as the car door closed. Some things in life were givens. Lucy’s curiosity, no intrusion, about Abby’s love life was one of them.
“Where have you been keeping him, honey? He’s quite something. Handsome, intelligent, good personality. Of course he’s deaf, but who needs to hear anything when you’re making love. And no man talks afterward anyway.”
Oh, damn, here it comes. “He can talk, Lucy, or didn’t you notice?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Actually, I don’t.” The sound of traffic took the edge off the silence inside the car, but Abby’s response didn’t stop her mother.
“I thought you couldn’t date patients.”
“That’s why he’s not my patient.”
“Well, what is he? Are you lovers? Tell me all about him. I want to know everything.”
Abby sighed. Lucy was not going to give up. Now she wished she had taken a taxi to avoid this. Her mother desperately wanted to be her friend. She went from high school to marriage to motherhood by the time she turned twenty, and by twenty-eight she was a single parent saddled with an eight-year-old child. Men weren’t friends. They were lovers or protectors or providers, but not friends. Abby’s profession had transformed her into a confidant. She’d never mastered the role of confider. Not since Stewart.
“We’re not lovers yet, but it’s only a matter of time.” Unless Luke’s closing the door the other night meant he was closing her out of his life. “I don’t feel comfortable talking about this.” She flipped the crystal of her watch. “It’s five forty-five. The vet closes at six. We’ll talk later.”
Lucy huffed. “Be that way.”
They drove in silence. Abby opened the window to let in fresh air. If the pattern prevailed, Lucy would sulk for a while, then start in again. The woman never let go.
“Don’t be mad,” Abby said.
“You never tell me anything. I feel left out of your life.”
Damn. Why did I say anything? “What do you want me to tell you, Lucy? That Luke makes me feel like a woman for the first time since Stewart? That he’s become so important I’m scared to death of losing him when he realizes he’s signing on to be my white cane. Is that what you want to hear?” She tried to keep her chin from quivering, but if Lucy looked, she’d see. Abby knew she’d look.
“Oh, Abby, darling, I’m sorry I pushed. I know how hard that was for you. You’ve always been so self-contained. I’ve tried to make up for lost time these last eight years, but how can anyone make up for a lost childhood? What I did to you is inexcusable, and I’m sure you harbor deep resentments, but there’s nothing I want more in life than for you to be happy.”
Abby didn’t want to have this conversation. The timing is all wrong. Thirty years wrong. Not now, Lucy. Please, not now. But Lucy went on.
“If you do, I understand. I was a lousy mother. A woman so steeped in her own self-pity she ignored the most important thing in her life. I’ve beaten myself up over that more than words can say, but I’d die happy tomorrow knowing you have someone who loves you. I would.” Lucy sniffed, her way to let Abby know she was upset.
Abby didn’t know her mother had it in her. Lucy, having a serious conversation in which she was only a byline to the main topic. My God, a rare solar eclipse. Maybe there’s no such thing as bad timing. No, it didn’t erase all those years, but it came damn close. And it touched the hell out of her.
A wave of guilt hit Abby. She reached for Lucy’s arm and patted it. “I know you would. I’m sorry. Between Daisy and Luke, I’m a little uptight.”
“Do you think he’s in love with you?”
“Right now I don’t know if he even wants to see me again. We had words the other night and he was supposed to call yesterday. He didn’t. Maybe it’s better if we cool it for a while. I have enough angst in my life with my patients. Luke is vulnerable, and I don’t want to be his crutch any more than I want him to be my protector.”
“Protector for what?”
She couldn’t upset Lucy with what had been going on. “Nothing, nothing. You know how men are. He thinks because I’m blind I need someone to take care of me.”
“He obviously doesn’t know you as well as you thought, does he?”
“No, I guess not.” Fortunately, Lucy left it at that.
As soon as Lucy stopped talking, she accelerated into a sharp curve. Abby clutched her seat to stay upright. “Lucy, slow down. You’re going too fast.”
“I can’t. There’s a car right on my rear. If I don’t speed up, he’s going to hit me.”
“Can’t you pull over and let him pass?”
“He’s jamming me. Cars are coming the other way and there’s no room on the right.”
The car nudged forward from a rear impact. Tires squealed, the sound of the engine behind surged and decelerated. Abby braced herself. Her right hand grabbed the bar on the door, the left clasped the seat. She had a gut feeling about this, and she didn’t like it.
“This guy’s crazy,” Lucy said. “He’s trying to push me off the road. Hold on, baby.”
Abby was sure no sane driver would do this without provocation. He’s trying to kill us both. Abby stifled the dread in her voice. “Can you see who’s in the car?”
“I…I can’t take my eyes off the road. I have enough trouble managing these curves.”
“Do you know what kind of car it is?”
“I told you, I can’t look! Grab on tight, honey. He’s trying to pass, and I’m moving to the right as far as I can to let him.”
Abby heard the rev of an engine from behind. The car jerked when their pursuer plowed into the rear again. The crunch of metal. Lucy gasped. The seat belt tightened around Abby as she lurched forward. She heard her mother’s rapid breathing and muffled sounds of fear, but she didn’t want to break her concentration. Branches scraped the window as the car pulled to the right. Abby reached for her phone with shaky hands. If she speed dialed Pete, what could he do? By the time he got here, the car would be gone and they’d be lying dead on the side of the road.
“He’s beside us. There’s an area up ahead with plenty of room to pull over. Hold tight.”
“Look at the car, Lucy. What color is it? Try to see the license plate.”
Lucy swerved to the rig
ht and slammed on the brakes. The car screeched to a stop, and Abby let out a grunt as she snapped back against the seat. The revved up engine passed and kept going. Her heart pounded. She held the seat in a death grip. They were alive. In one piece. Sweat trickled down her back. She released a long breath.
Abby leaned toward the driver’s side until she found her mother’s arm. “Are you all right?” Lucy panted. When she didn’t answer, Abby unfastened her seat belt and moved closer. She found Lucy’s hand locked onto the steering wheel. “Lucy?”
“I’m all right. Got a major case of the shakes, though. Worse than I ever had when I was drinking.” She took a couple of deep breaths. “They shouldn’t let people like that on the road. How are you, honey?”
“Shaken and shaking, but I’m okay. You did great, Lucy. I don’t know if anyone could have driven any better.”
Abby restrained the temptation to tell Lucy everything. Why frighten her more?
Then a tap sounded on the driver’s side window. “Are you two all right?” a man’s voice asked. Lucy lowered her window. “That guy was nuts,” he said. Then another voice asked how they were, and another.
“We’re fine,” Abby answered. “Did you get the make of the car or the license plate?”
“It was a black SUV, a Lincoln, but I didn’t get the plate.”
“Did you see the driver?” Abby persisted.
“No, the car had tinted windows. Do you want me to call the police?”
“I already called when I saw him trying to push them off the road,” another voice said.
“I don’t know what they can do now,” Abby said. “He’s long gone.”
“Where’s a cop when you need one?” one man said. “I got a ticket for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign, and here’s a guy running someone off the road, and no one sees.”
Lucy got out. “How badly is my car damaged?”
“Just the bumper,” the man said. “Taillights, too. Nothing that can’t be fixed. You’re lucky it isn’t worse.”
The other man came around to Abby’s window. “A police car is pulling up now,” he said. “Are you sure you’re all right, miss? Anything I can do?”
“No. Thanks.”
“I wish I saw the license plate, but I was two cars behind.”
“I wish you did too, but thanks for stopping.”
The police officer came to her window and asked if she was okay
“A little shaken, but otherwise, fine.”
“I radioed in to watch out for a black Lincoln Navigator, but with no license plate or other identification, it’d be hard to stop anyone.”
“He hit us. He’d have a dent in the front of his car.”
“I’ll radio that in. Anyone you know might want to hurt you or your mother?”
Abby hesitated. “No one I know.” That was the truth. When he walked off, she pulled her cell from her purse and called the vet to tell him she’d be late.
After a while, Lucy got back in the car and put her hand on Abby’s shoulder. “You’re sure you’re okay, honey?”
“I’m fine.”
“That guy was probably some redneck out to intimidate two women alone.”
Abby knew he was anything but.
“The officer was so nice. I filled out the information. Good thing those two men in back stopped and told him what happened.”
“I called Dr. Daniel. He said he’d wait. Take your time. You’ve had a scare.”
“You too.”
Yes, she had a scare. If only she knew why someone was doing this to her. She took a couple of deep breaths. They got to the vet’s office without incident. Lucy led her inside. “Thanks for waiting, Harry,” Abby said when the vet greeted her.
“I would have waited even if you hadn’t called,” he said. “I figured if you were late, you had a good reason.”
Lucy started to rattle off what happened, when the tech brought out Daisy. She jumped all over Abby, eager to be her eyes again, to be her best friend. Abby crouched and rubbed her dog’s neck. Daisy wiggled her excitement.
“Hey, girl.” Abby and Daisy had connected immediately. Her guide dog sensed Abby’s needs in inexplicable ways, almost as if she were inside her head, reading her mind.
“She’ll be fine, Abby,” Harry said.
“Thank God. Send the bill to my office.” They said their goodbyes, and Lucy dropped them off at home. After their near-death experience, neither felt like dinner. Abby wanted to ask her to check the house, but then Lucy would know something more was going on than a crazy driver with road rage. She opened the door and listened for a minute before entering.
Tonight, only the steady hum of the refrigerator broke the silence. Any doubts and Daisy dispelled them when Abby undid her harness and Daisy went to her water bowl and slurped.
When Luke still hadn’t called after that night or the next, Abby acknowledged what she said to Lucy was true. She was afraid of losing Luke—terrified, in fact. It had taken so long to share any part of her life, she was now panicked she might lose someone she wasn’t sure was hers to lose. Had prying into his life scared him away? A sickening sensation shot through her at the thought.
But not as sickening as the glass-shattering sound of something crashing through her front window, tipping over whatever it hit on the way down.
Chapter Thirteen
Shock Wave
Abby pulled out her phone and punched a shaky finger onto Pete’s speed dial number.
“I’ll be right over,” he said.
“Hurry. I don’t know what came smashing through the window or where it is. What if it’s a bomb?”
“It would have gone off by now.”
“I can’t tell you how comforting that is.”
“Don’t move. I’m on my way.”
“I have no intention of moving. There’s a key in a fake rock sitting in the planter to the left of the door.”
“Gotcha.”
Daisy sat at Abby’s feet, offering her usual sense of security. Ten minutes later she heard the key in the lock and Pete’s voice. “It’s me.”
“I hope so. This rescue thing is getting old, and I’m tired of being scared shitless.”
“Well, look what we have here,” Pete said.
“Am I in the middle of a war zone?”
“It’s a brick with a note wrapped around it. Effective, if not very original. Lemme put on gloves.”
“What does it say?”
“More of the same. That you’re next.” He sat down on the floor beside her. “This guy’s toying with you.”
“I don’t think so.” She filled him in on yesterday’s road experience.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“And say what? That some nut tried to drive us off the road. What could you have done? The guy scared the crap out of us for five minutes, then took off.”
“Well at least now we know he drives a Lincoln Navigator.”
“How many of those would you say are on the road?”
“Too many.” He helped Abby up. “Got a broom and vacuum cleaner?”
“In the kitchen closet.”
When he came back, he swept up the broken glass.
“Now we’re back where we started. Only now we have a brick through the window with a note saying I’m next.”
“The question is why?” He started the vacuum, which stopped conversation. “I’ll see if the lab can get a print off the paper. It’ll be clean, but I’d be remiss not to try.” He rolled the vacuum back to the kitchen. “Don’t walk barefoot until your cleaning lady vacuums again. I got most of it, but I’m sure there are still slivers imbedded in the carpet.”
“I won’t. I’ll run the vacuum again anyway, for Daisy’s sake.”
“You promised you’d vet your patient list. Have you?”
“Ten times. Went back five years. I couldn’t find anyone with reason to hold a grudge against me.”
“The call to the Psychological Association about Luke means it’s som
eone who knows about your relationship.”
“Yes, I know. But Luke and I have been out and about. Anyone watching could have seen us together.”
“Which means it could be anyone. I hate to leave you alone. Where’s Luke?”
“I hoped you knew. I haven’t heard from him in days.”
“I saw him meet with the captain today. Haven’t seen him since.”
“About his job?”
“I don’t know. He was there, then he wasn’t.” Pete called a glass company, then for a patrol car to stay with her until they repaired the window. “I’ll wait until the patrol gets here, then I want to get this to the lab. Maybe our guy made a mistake.”
“Thanks.”
“If I see Luke I’ll tell him what happened.”
“Okay.” That’s if he even cares.
* * * * *
The glass company replaced the window, the patrolman left, and Abby still heard nothing from Luke. No email, no messages in three days. She’d been going through the motions. Work, home, her only confidant a guide dog who seemed to feel her pain. She’d lost Luke. Her heart felt like someone had thrown a brick into her chest and broken it to pieces, not unlike the shattered glass from her window.
* * * * *
The next day, Kyle Jackson, the investigator from the Ethics Committee, showed up for their appointment. She had hoped the board would come to their senses and toss the complaint, but the members were duty-bound to follow through.
She hoped Jackson didn’t interpret her shaky hands as a sign of guilt? Get a grip, Abby. You did nothing wrong.
She answered his questions honestly, leaving nothing out: the hour’s consultation with Luke, his initial invitation to dinner and her refusal, the break-in, the forced dinner, and the attraction.
“I avoided crossing that ethical line when I recused myself as Detective McCallister’s therapist,” she said. “Then I referred him to another doctor. His sessions are over.”
