by M T Stone
“Well, that’s not what Ryan wants to hear right now,” she told him. “If I were you, I would just apologize to both him and Olivia. Sometimes, just owning up to what you’ve done goes a long way to healing the situation.”
“True. Maybe that’s what I need from you.” Dylan looked off in the distance, avoiding eye contact with his mother. “An apology for making me raise two kids for the last eight years.”
“You know . . . I’ve been waiting to ream you since Friday night. You sure know how to steal a gal’s thunder.” Patty reached out and wrapped her arms around her son. “I’m sorry that you feel like I stole your childhood. Carson promised to stick around and help out. After he left, you seemed like you were mature enough to handle it. I knew it wasn’t fair to you, but I didn’t know what else to do. I really am sorry.”
They stood there in each other’s arms until a squad car pulled into the driveway. Looking over his shoulder, Dylan suddenly felt foolish, even though it was the best moment he and his mother had shared in recent memory. The apology was long overdue and they both knew it. The other person who owed him an apology got out of the car and approached them with a smart-ass grin plastered across his face. Sergeant Reed groaned as he lifted himself out of the car, trailing a few steps behind.
“What are you two getting all lovey-dovey about?” He slapped a hand across Dylan’s back as he came up next to him. “Is Mommy giving you some lovin’?”
“Yes, we were having a good talk,” Patty interjected defensively. “Dylan hasn’t had the easiest childhood and he deserved an apology for some things.”
“You know, kid, life is generally a bitch,” Carson told him, shaking him by the shoulder. “That’s why you gotta be tough, so you can shake that shit off.”
“Really?” Patty’s expression instantly reverted to the steely glare, but this time it was directed at Carson. “Eight years ago, you completely abandoned us, all because you couldn’t get back into Olivia’s pants!”
“Okay . . . on that note, I think I’ll just get back in my car,” Sergeant Reed quipped, throwing his hands up in front of him. “Dylan, you need to stop by the station tomorrow morning around eight. There are still a few things that we need to discuss.”
“Okay. Are Summer’s parents going to be there? I need to apologize to both of them for what we did on Friday night,” he admitted to the officer.
“I think that would be a smart move, son. I know you saved her tonight, so it would be nice to see Ryan come around a little too,” he replied with a look of pity crossing his face. “He tends to be a bit childish when something gets under his skin. Maybe I’ll see if I can get ahold of him first thing tomorrow.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.” Dylan reached out to shake his hand.
“A bit childish?” Carson scoffed, shaking his head at the rest of the group. “The man has always been a certified asshole. That’ll never change.”
“Talk to you tomorrow,” Dylan confirmed with Sergeant Reed before turning to head into the house. It was apparent that something was bothering Carson, and he wasn’t in the mood to listen to any more of his bullshit. After two nights of little sleep, he needed to crash for a few consecutive hours just to feel human again. Glancing back as he got to the door of the house, he saw his mother jabbing Carson in the chest with her index finger and giving him hell. It looked like she was getting a chance to blow off some steam after all.
While Madeline and Olivia sat in the room with Summer, Cliff pulled his son into one of the family rooms for a private conversation. He had been stewing ever since a newspaper headline caught his eye shortly after landing at the local airport. It was the announcement of a million-dollar reward that had been offered by his son. He knew damn well that Ryan didn’t have a million dollars to back it up.
“So how do you feel about giving that asshole, Carson, a million bucks that you don’t have?” he asked as soon as they were inside the room.
“It’s nice to see you too, Dad. Thanks for cutting your vacation short and flying back. Your support means everything to me,” Ryan replied, wanting to change the tone of the conversation. “I just had to make sure we got her home safely. I never considered who might be the one to find her.”
“I’m sorry, son. I just know how much animosity there is between the two of you. It had to have been a little bittersweet to find out that Carson was the one who found her.” Cliff wandered over to a couch and plopped down. “Have a seat. We’ve got nothin’ but time now.”
“It wasn’t bittersweet at all. The moments before we heard that she had been found were easily the longest, most desperate, heartbreaking and miserable minutes of my life. We were closing in on forty-eight hours without a trace of her anywhere,” he recanted with a crack in his voice. “I just knew I was going to lose both of them.”
“Olivia?” Cliff pulled off his cowboy hat and ran his fingers through his swept-back gray hair. “Your marriage is that shaky?”
“We’ve been having a hard time connecting lately,” Ryan admitted. “Our lives have revolved around Summer for the past eighteen years.”
Cliff nodded his head while he listened, thinking about how he could best help his son. “Madeline and I had to figure out what to do with ourselves after you and Renee were off on your own. What I did was start thinking about how I used to feel about her when we first started dating. I remember counting the minutes until I could see her and stopping off at the flower shop on the way over to her place. I was obsessed with that woman.”
“Our relationship never came quite as easy as yours did,” Ryan confessed. “I always had Carson and his larger than life persona to contend with. Whenever things started going well, he would come back around and try to weasel his way back into her life.”
“Well, Carson might have the biceps and all that hot air, but you’ve got a lot more to offer than that.” Cliff patted his son on the knee.
“I used to believe that,” Ryan replied, biting his lip. “God, I’ve done some stupid things the past couple of years.”
“We’ve all made mistakes, son.” Cliff lowered his head and simply sat in silence, knowing that he, too, had made plenty of them in his youth. He knew it had been a tough couple of years for both Ryan and Olivia. “You can’t use the runway behind you. What’s done is done.”
“I wanted to turn those oil checks into something more. I thought the oil boom was going to last quite a bit longer.”
“Everyone always thinks that, which is why half the people in this town will go belly up. I’ve been through a couple of these cycles, so I’ve learned my lessons. That’s why I stuck all of my royalty checks in the bank,” Cliff explained. “I knew it would be the last one I’d see in my lifetime. I did my best to try and warn you.”
“I know. You were absolutely right. Everyone else kept saying that things were going to be different this time.”
“It’s always different, but it always ends the same.” Cliff slapped him on the knee again before rising back to his feet. “You’ll just have to work things out with Carson, and if you need my help, just ask. You know that little granddaughter of mine is worth every penny.”
“She is,” Ryan agreed. “That’s why I want that Dylan kid to stay the hell away from her from now on.” Ryan sprang to his feet and began to pace the room. “Do you realize they were drinking that night? She had actually thrown up all over herself.”
Cliff looked up at the ceiling and scratched the stubble beneath his chin. “Do you remember when you and that Olson girl stole a bottle of rum from my liquor cabinet?” Cliff asked with a smirk.
“Yeah, I’ll never forget that night.”
“I remember driving the two of you around town in my truck while she threw up out the window.” He continued to smirk and lowered his head, looking Ryan right in the eyes. “How old were the two of you?”
“I was a sophomore and she was a freshman,” Ryan mumbled.
“Exactly. You two were several years younger than these two,” Cliff chided.
“Don’t be so hard on the boy. Ray Olson wasn’t happy with you either, but he never held a grudge.”
“But his daughter never got kidnapped,” Ryan countered with an incredulous look in his eyes. “If Summer would’ve been sober, this might not have ever happened!”
“If she had been sober, you know she would’ve fought back,” Cliff countered with a raised eyebrow. “That girl has always had spunk. She probably would’ve gotten herself killed before he even got her out of the house. There’s no way to know what might have happened.”
Ryan stared at his father in silence for several seconds. “I suppose you’re right.” His expression slowly began to change to one of resignation. “I guess I just needed someone to blame.”
“The only one to blame is the guy who actually did it.” Cliff stuck his hat back on his head and turned toward the door. “We’d better go check on the girls.”
Ryan turned, and the two men began the walk back to the trauma room. “Thanks, Dad,” he said, knowing that he was right about everything. He also knew that when he said he would help him out, he would. That, however, would be the last resort.
Ryan had been silently hoping that he could come to some sort of agreement with whoever rescued Summer, but he knew that wouldn’t be possible now. Carson would jump on the opportunity to break him or at least knock him down a couple of notches. In fact, he was surprised that he hadn’t heard from him already. He had expected him to pull up to the hospital entrance with his hand held out. Maybe he had changed a bit. Then again, the odds of that were probably about the same as winning the next Powerball drawing.
Chapter 17
Even though he was exhausted from the past two nights, Dylan could only lie in bed and stare at the ceiling. He couldn’t stop thinking about the swollen red bumps that were popping up all over Summer’s arms and legs, along with her blue fingers, lips, and toes. He fretted about her father still not wanting him to see her and the fact that Sergeant Reed wanted him to stop by the precinct in the morning. He couldn’t believe that Ryan still planned on pursuing charges against him after all that had happened. On top of that, why was Carson being such a prick about everything? He should have been reveling in the fact that he was the hero who saved the day. He rolled onto his side, trying to get comfortable. His eyes burned, and he ached all the way from the back of his head to his tailbone. No matter what he did, he couldn’t find a comfortable position.
The glow of the clock displayed the hours ticking by, and soon, the first rays of light began poking through the sheer white curtains. In frustration, he flopped onto his other side, closed his eyes, and tried one last time to get some sleep. His thoughts drifted back to the previous Friday evening, before the entire nightmare began. They had parked atop one of the sandstone bluffs, providing a spectacular view of the river below. That’s where he had uncorked the bottle of wine and shared it with his enthusiastic date. The first few sips were a little bitter, but after the first glass it went down like Kool-Aid.
He could picture the naughty grin that had crossed Summer’s face when her blood alcohol level overrode her inhibitions. He had been determined to let her make the first move, and she hadn’t disappointed him. The way she had leaned over the console and grabbed hold of his zipper, lowering it slowly while maintaining eye contact. His dick hardened to the point of aching as he remembered how her soft, warm lips felt as they enveloped his pulsating head. At the time, he couldn’t believe what was happening. He had been looking forward to it for as long as he had known her. The fact that she was being the aggressor was more of a turn on than anything. After a few minutes, he had lifted her head, kissed her passionately, and told her to put her seat back. That naughty smirk had reappeared as she complied while slipping out of her skintight jeans. A switch had obviously flipped within her mind, and they were hurling toward an inevitable outcome. The front seat of a mid-sized car had created some initial awkwardness, but that had been overcome by a combination of sheer determination and overwhelming desire. The level of intimacy he had experienced that night was heightened by the sheer intensity of the animal magnetism between them. It was indescribable. The way they clung to one another, each unable to get enough of the other and locked in a dire search to fulfill the aching need they were feeling inside.
About the same time that he felt the relief of a powerful climax, the intense summer sun penetrated the loosely closed blinds and hit him directly in the eyes. It would’ve been nice to have gotten some real sleep, but now what he needed more than anything was to see Summer. He sat up in bed, rubbed his tired eyes, and glanced around the room at all the reminders of his childhood. It really was time for him to stop living in the past and start looking toward the future.
After cleaning up with a quick shower and throwing on fresh clothes, Dylan jumped into his car and headed toward the hospital. He knew he wouldn’t be able to rest until he had visited Summer and seen with his own eyes that she was going to be okay. The way she had stopped breathing and turned various shades of blue had scared the shit out of him. The only way to force those disturbing images from his mind was to see her normal again.
He glanced at his phone and it was still only six forty-five, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Olivia would be awake. He sent her a text letting her know that he was on his way to the hospital and that he wanted to see Summer. A few minutes later, he received a return text.
Olivia: I’ll let the front desk nurse know to let you in. Ryan took Cliff and Madeline over to the house about midnight. I don’t expect him back for another hour.
He breathed a sigh of relief, not really wanting to apologize to both of them at the same time. As much as he wanted to see Summer, he knew it would be impossible without her parents’ permission. He eased off the gas pedal, noticing that he was driving well over the speed limit. The last thing he needed was a speeding ticket on top of everything else. By the time he reached the hospital parking lot, he was so wound up that he threw the car into park before it even came to a stop, causing the tires to squawk. He got out of the car and ran across the parking lot to the entrance. “I’m here to see Summer Bennett,” he told the attending nurse as he reached the admission desk, gasping to catch his breath.
“Olivia told me to take you back,” she replied, getting up from her chair and leading him back through a sterile looking, stark white corridor. Walking down the hallway toward her room brought him back to the day that his grandmother died. She was in the hospital on life support the last time he saw her. It was the culmination of a long, precipitous decline that had begun shortly after Dylan’s father was killed. Just a year before that, her husband had died of a heart attack while deer hunting, so everyone knew that Grandma basically died of a broken heart.
“She’s right here in 102.” The nurse’s voice brought Dylan back to the moment as she pointed toward the door. “Olivia is sitting with her.”
He paused momentarily before moving through the doorway. He wasn’t sure of what he might find, but the machines sounded eerily similar to the ones that had been used on his grandmother. He stuck his head in the room looking for Olivia, who immediately burst into tears. That was not the greeting he had hoped to receive. “Is she still unconscious?” he asked with a sinking feeling.
“She spoke a few words earlier, but she was really out of it and I couldn’t understand what she was saying. Her lungs are taking in oxygen, but they still need to do a brain scan later this morning.” She pulled a tissue from the box and wiped her tears.
“Do they think she has brain damage or something?” Dylan asked, sincerely hoping that wasn’t the case. The thought of her living through this ordeal, but never being the same had haunted him throughout the night. He couldn’t imagine her without the dynamic personality that she displayed on a daily basis.
“Yes. They just don’t know the extent of the damage.” She fought to choke back tears. “I just hope she can lead an independent life. She has always been such a free spirit. I’d hate to see that taken away from
her.”
“I knew that the blue fingers and toes were a bad sign.” Dylan pulled up a page on his phone. “I was reading about hypoxemia earlier. I couldn’t find anything about those horrible red welts though.”
“It’s a parasite similar to the one that causes swimmer’s itch, according to the doctor.” Olivia shook her head as if she was having trouble understanding how something so simple could inflict so much damage. “She apparently had a severe allergic reaction to it. Her lungs were the most affected, which is why she couldn’t breathe.”
“I feel really terrible about all of this,” Dylan confessed, biting at his top lip. “If we wouldn’t have been drinking that night, none of this probably would’ve happened. I’m so sorry.” He stood there looking at an anguished mother, not knowing what else to say.
“That’s funny,” Olivia said with a reflective look. “Ryan and Cliff had a similar conversation last night. Cliff brought up the point that she probably would’ve gotten in more trouble if she had been able to fight back.” Olivia moved closer to Dylan, talking in a quieter tone. “I’m obviously disappointed that the two of you were drinking, among other things, but you shouldn’t blame yourself for this.”
“Dylan?” Both Olivia and Dylan were startled by the sound of Summer’s muffled voice. They looked over at her and her eyes were wide open. She looked directly at him and repeated herself. “Dylan!”
“I’m here,” he replied, scrambling to her side. “I’m right here, Summer. Are you okay?”
“No.” She blinked repeatedly and moved her head just slightly from side to side.
“Oh, honey. This is a good sign,” Olivia added, moving around the bed to her daughter’s other side. “Do you recognize me?”
“Claire? From Modern Family?” Summer’s eyes sparkled, revealing the smile that was concealed beneath the ventilator mask. Olivia looked perplexed, not knowing how to respond. “Mom,” Summer added. “Of course I recognize you.”
