“I’m fine. Just a little hormonal, I think. Do you know where Heath is?”
“He’s repairing a leak on the roof,” Lilah answered.
“The roof? Isn’t that dangerous?” Lora asked, uncomfortable with the idea of Heath up there without the proper safety equipment. “I don’t think that’s wise. Larimar certainly doesn’t need a lawsuit if he hurts himself.”
And just like that Lilah’s tentative concern withered. “Why can’t you just be concerned for him because you care for him as a person, not as a potential liability?”
Lora stared, privately wincing at her sister’s apt accusation. She certainly appeared to be the raging bitch at most times and she hadn’t done anything to change that opinion as of late. And it bothered her, but she couldn’t seem to censor her mouth when she should. “Of course I’m concerned about his safety,” she amended quickly. “I’m just so accustomed to thinking in terms of dollars and cents that sometimes it bleeds over into my personal perspective.”
Only moderately mollified, Lilah said, “Well, I don’t like him up there, either. That storm is coming in faster than we anticipated and the wind is already kicking up. It’s not safe for him. Maybe you could persuade him to come down and fix the roof after the storm has passed.”
Celly entered the room, a ferocious frown on her face. “Dat boy is going to fall! Not safe! Dis storm coming with a vengeance and bringing wit it a misery.”
Lora fought the urge to send a scowl Celly’s way, but Lilah nodded in sage agreement. “Lora’s going to try and get him to come down.”
“You have bettah luck dan her.” Celly sniffed, not even trying to sugarcoat her opinion of Lora. She and the front-desk woman had been circling one another since the first day Lora had returned home, but Lora had yet to find a way to either make her go away or find a common ground.
“Watch it,” Lora warned under her breath, but Celly simply sent Lora a hard stare and then turned on her heel, saying over her shoulder, “Bad tings blow on de wind.”
“I’m going to fire her as soon as I can find a way,” Lora vowed darkly, but Lilah waved away her promise with a fretful motion.
“Focus, Lora! Celly isn’t the issue. We need to get Heath down from the roof. I have a bad feeling about this. My stomach is in knots!”
“Likely because that voodoo woman just filled your head with nonsense,” Lora said, still glaring in the direction Celly had left.
“Voodoo? C’mon, Celly is not into voodoo. But I agree with her. Something doesn’t feel right. Maybe I’m overreacting, but better safe than sorry, right?” Lilah implored Lora. “Please…get him down before he gets hurt.”
“I doubt he’d listen to a word I have to say,” Lora admitted, a bit apprehensive. If she were him, she wouldn’t listen, either. She’d been pretty harsh.
“Oh…I thought you two had become…close?”
Oh, misery. Lora wanted to sink into the floorboards. Her sister knew? That meant Lindy knew, too. Trying to keep a secret in this house was like trying to herd kittens: nerve-racking and pointless. How to explain when she didn’t quite understand herself? Yes, misery was the word. “It’s complicated,” she said lamely, hating herself for even uttering the ridiculous phrase. Most times when people made that statement it meant they were in dysfunctional relationships that they clearly didn’t have the good sense to get free from. Ugh. Was she one of those incessantly annoying people?
“He’s a good man. Don’t break his heart.”
Lora stared. Did her little sister just champion Heath? Where was the love for her? “What about me? What if he broke my heart? He’s no saint, you know.”
At that Lilah smiled. “Lora, I’m not dumb. If anyone is in danger of losing themselves, it’s Heath. Not you. And I care for Heath, so please don’t play with his heart. That’s all I’m asking.”
Lora struggled for a comeback, but hadn’t she already acted in a way that was emotionally confusing? Because the answer was yes, she choked back the hot words in her defense, knowing she was fighting her own hypocrisy. “I’ll go see if I can persuade him to come off the roof,” Lora finally managed to say, earning a nod of relief from Lilah.
Switching tracks, Lilah handed her a certified letter. “This came yesterday. In the confusion and turmoil of Pops’s disappearance I forgot about it. It’s a certified letter from the IRS.”
Damn. She accepted the mail. “Thanks. Did Pops see it?”
“No.”
“Good. I don’t want this to upset him. I’ll handle it.”
Lilah’s smile widened with true relief. She didn’t even try to disguise that she was glad it wasn’t her facing whatever nasty news was in that letter. Lora squared her shoulders and, tucking the mail under her arm, went to find Heath.
She found him on the south side, replacing a broken tile, frightfully high off the ground. A warning bell jangled in her head and she hollered up at him. The wind blew her hair in her face and into her mouth. She pushed it away and tried again. This time, the banging paused and Heath’s head popped over the side, a quizzical expression on his face.
“Come down,” she yelled up to him. She pointed to the storm clouds. “Come down. It’s not safe.”
“I’m just about done. Two more tiles that need replacing. Otherwise the leak will cause water damage. More expensive to fix,” he yelled back, returning to his repair.
She looked toward the dark gray clouds roiling in the distance and saw the rain coming. “Heath, please come down!” Those tiles would get slippery as soon as the water hit them. She had a horrible vision of Heath slipping and tumbling to his death. Stop being such a worrywart, she told herself when her heart rate started to thunder. But she tried again as the first raindrop pelted her in the face. “Heath, the rain is coming. It’s not safe! Come down, now.”
“Stop being so damn bossy,” he shouted. “I’m not coming down until this is fixed. I don’t need you trying to blame me for the water damage or something. It’s going to be fixed or I’m not coming down!”
She bit her lip. He was still angry. “Stop being stupid. You’re going to get yourself killed just to spite me. And that’s just recklessly stupid!”
“Well, that’s me! Stupid as all get-out! The proof is in the pudding, right? I fell in love with you!”
Lora sucked in a tight breath, stunned. Did he just… She could only stare. Heath realized his mistake and swore loudly before disappearing again. Now he’d never come down. What did she say to that kind of admission? Love? Where did that come from? They couldn’t even get along for ten minutes without one or the other storming off in a huff. That was the very definition of dysfunctional.
The rain started to pour, plastering her hair to her head. This was just fabulous. Was she supposed to profess her love to him? Love she didn’t feel? This was an awkward moment, one she’d endeavored to avoid her entire adult life.
Anger percolated through her worry, blotting out the latter. What the hell was he thinking falling in love with her? She’d never promised him anything of the sort in return. And now she’d likely get blamed because of this whole mess. How would she explain to Lilah that she hadn’t meant to allow Heath to fall in love with her, therefore, she wasn’t at fault for his subsequent broken heart.
“Damn you, Heath!” she yelled just as a peal of thunder shook the air. She jumped at the sound, then glared at the roofline where she could hear Heath pounding away, trying to beat the storm. “I never said it was okay to fall in love with me.”
“Get inside before you drown, you idiot.” He peered over the side, his hair dripping.
“I never asked you to fall in love with me,” she shot back, another warning tingle dancing up her spine. She could feel the static electricity zipping in the air. “Now, will you please get off that stupid roof before you kill yourself?”
“I don’t quit when things get difficult,” he retorted with a snort of disgust.
Was he calling her a quitter? If she was anything she was obsessively competitive. “What are you talking about? I’m not a quitter, either.”
“No, you’re right, you’re not a quitter—you’re a coward,” Heath said. “The minute you started to feel something for me, you backed off like a scared little jackrabbit.”
Her squeal of outrage was timed perfectly with the next clash of thunder and streak of lightning. Another gust of wind rocked her on her feet, whipping her hair in her face. The truth stung a bit. But now was certainly not the time to start going all introspective. She gestured at the storm that was barreling down on them. “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a hurricane coming this way, you jackass! Can we table this discussion until after the crisis?” A small collapsible lawn chair toppled over on the patio with a clatter causing her to jump again. Running over to the patio furniture, she dragged each piece into the shed and locked the doors. Lilah ran out, gesturing wildly at Lora.
“Come on! The weather station said we’re going to have fifty-mph winds! We have to board up the windows before someone gets hurt. Where’s Heath?” Lora pointed to the roof and Lilah made a sound of distress. “I thought you were going to get him to come down?”
“I tried,” she said, freshly aggravated. “He chose this moment to throw the L word into the situation and clearly, it’s not the best time!”
“Do you guys ever get along?” Lilah asked, exasperated. “There are bigger issues here!” She stomped past Lora and called out to Heath. “Heath, please come down! It’s me, Li! Please, it’s getting bad and it’s going to get worse real fast!”
Heath popped over the side, grinning. “All done! Be down in a flash.”
Relieved, Lilah cast Lora a disapproving look as if it was her fault that Heath was acting like a stubborn child, then ran inside, already soaked from the rain.
Lora opened her mouth to say something snide to Heath about his attitude when she saw Heath jerk and flail, pitching forward and, suddenly, instead of words, there was nothing but a scream.
Heath had fallen.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
LORA SCREAMED TO HER SISTERS, the words an endless stream of high-pitched panic as she ran to Heath, splashing through growing puddles on the flagstone patio. Heath was lying unresponsive on the patio, a pool of blood gathering beneath his head in an ominously bad sign. She dropped to his side, skinning her knees in the process but she didn’t feel the pain. She didn’t know if she should touch him, but she wanted to pull him to her and hold him tight, to demand that he stop scaring her and wake up.
“Help!” she screamed again, crying. “Someone call the ambulance!”
The twins burst from the door and skidded to a halt when they saw Lora rocking on her knees, crying, afraid to touch Heath but desperate to know that he was still alive.
“Oh, God,” Lindy whispered, her face pale. Lilah cried and ran to Heath’s other side, her hands fluttering gently to his neck, searching for a pulse.
“Lindy call the ambulance,” Lilah said, her tears mingling with the rain. “He’s still alive.”
Lora looked with gratitude to Lilah for knowing what to do, shocked that she hadn’t thought to check his artery for a pulse. Lindy spun on her heel to call for help. Pops appeared and Lora rose on shaky feet to keep him from running to Heath, too. The shock of seeing Heath, crumpled and still, was enough to stop Pops’s heart and they didn’t need two tragedies at once. “He slipped, Pops,” she said, explaining. “He was just getting down when a wind gust knocked him off balance and he slipped on the wet tile. He’s going to be all right,” she said, almost desperately. Maybe if she said it enough, it would be true. “He’s going to be fine.”
Pops’s mouth trembled and she thought that he was going to lose his grip on reality but suddenly, he seemed to catch hold of lucidity again and Lora was immensely grateful. He cocked his head and then said, “Ambulance is here. I’ll let them in.”
She nodded, her throat constricting. Heath had to make it. He just had to. You have to give me the chance to apologize, she wanted to whisper but with Lilah so close, Lora didn’t dare.
Maybe if she’d just been a little nicer…maybe if she hadn’t picked a fight with him earlier… There were too many what-ifs and maybes…and each one cut like a knife.
* * *
“YOU WERE ALWAYS SO STUBBORN,” a disembodied voice said from the fog of his thoughts. He couldn’t quite turn his head to make out where the voice was coming from but he’d recognize that voice anywhere.
“Grams?” he called out, his voice scratchy and weak. Ah, crap. Was he dead?
“No, you’re not dead, silly boy.” Grams’s chuckle floated on imaginary wind currents. “But you’re hurt pretty bad.”
Heath tried to remember what happened but his head ached and trying to remember only exacerbated the pain so he stopped. “What happened?”
“You fell and cracked your head open like a raw egg.”
“But if I’m not dead and you are, where does that leave me?”
“In an interesting place,” Grams suggested with a soft laugh. The lady had always been a bit of a cuckoo bird. A well-loved cuckoo bird, but nutty just the same. She sobered. “Go easy on Lora. She’s real worried about you.”
At the mention of Lora, sadness and heartache replaced the pain in his head. If he didn’t remember going Humpty Dumpty, he certainly remembered her reaction to his inadvertent admission of his feelings. And it hadn’t been pretty…or flattering. He closed his eyes. Maybe he’d just stay in this interesting place. At the moment, it was far better than waking up to a world where Lora avoided him like the plague.
“She’s scared of being hurt,” Grams said, as if this was a completely normal conversation happening in real time and not some damaged section of his brain, kicking out wild dreams. “She’s the kind of person who loves so deeply that she’s afraid of the pain of losing. She’s lost so much in her life, you know. First her father, then her mother and then me. I don’t think she’s quite recovered.”
He must know all this because otherwise, why would the Grams in his imagination know it?
“Will you stop trying to figure out the how and why of what’s happening and listen? It’s not as if I have a lot of time to sit around and chew the fat.”
Deciding to play along with his own delusions, he said, “She misses you a lot.”
“I know. I miss her, too. I miss all my sugar birds,” Grams said, sighing. “But I have front-row seats and I’m not missing a thing.”
If that was the case, then she was probably watching her husband lose his sense, one marble at a time.
“Yes,” she said, as if listening to his internal dialogue. “But at least he hasn’t lost his sense of humor. That man is a card. He could always make me laugh.”
“You’re not worried?”
Grams thought for a moment then said, “No. Not really. He has you and the girls to look after him and besides, he’s not really to the point where he needs babysitting. He’s not a danger to himself or others. And I love our afternoon chats.”
That made him do a double take. “Come again?”
“Oh, yes, a benefit to losing his mind, I guess. Opens doors that otherwise would remain closed. Fascinating stuff.”
The pain returned to his head and Heath gritted his teeth against the grinding agony. Grams clucked in concern and he almost thought he felt her cool, soft hand on his cheek. She’d been the first woman in his life who’d shown him that love didn’t come with a price. That a mother’s kindness wasn’t conditional. Sure, she wasn’t his mother, or grandmother for that matter, but Grams had never made him feel like an outsider.
He closed his eyes
and for a second the pain subsided. He exhaled slowly, relieved the pain had stopped. Until he felt a sharp whack on his arm.
“Nope. Can’t do that,” Grams announced, jerking him from his growing lethargy. The pain returned with his awareness. He groaned and twisted in misery. “That’s a boy. On the other side of that pain wall, is the life you’ve always wanted. You just have to hold on…”
* * *
LORA STRUGGLED TO REMAIN still and calm but the words coming from the doctor’s mouth washed over her in a tidal wave of worst-case scenarios.
Possibility of brain damage.
Cracked skull.
Medically induced coma.
“Because his brain is still swelling, we’ve removed a section of his skull cap to give the brain more room. The damage occurs when the brain is smashed against the skull. When the swelling subsides, we’ll have a better opportunity to assess the damage.”
Lora nodded at the appropriate moments, but she barely heard more than the initial assessment. She kept replaying that moment when Heath pitched from the roof, his shout cut short as his head smacked into the flagstone with a sickening crunch. She could still smell the blood and rain.
Suddenly, Lindy was by her side, tucking her into an embrace. She sagged against her sister. “I was so mean to him,” she whispered, horrified. “I said terrible, awful things. What is wrong with me?”
Wisely, Lindy remained silent, and simply held Lora like a sister ought to when the other is heartbroken. Lora didn’t deserve her sympathy or support. If Lindy knew how wretched she’d been to Heath… She shuddered. “It all happened so fast,” she said, seeing the scene over and over.
“He’s going to make it,” assured Lindy. “He’s as hardheaded as you. And then when he recovers, we’re going to tease him about the bald spot they shaved on his head when they removed that square of skull.”
In spite of her misery, Lora actually laughed. “You have a wicked sense of humor, sister mine.”
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