Rolling over, I frown up at her. “They’ll ask why I was fired, and he’ll say I broke the ethics code.”
“Hmm, I suppose that is a little hard to spin.”
“And the World Championships are this week,” I stare past Ronnie to the ceiling. I feel empty. Maybe she was right. Maybe my heart is broken.
“Have you been watching those promos again?” Now Ronnie isn’t consoling, she’s annoyed. “I told you to stop. They were assholes and you deserve better.”
“I can’t help it.” I pull the pillow out from under my head to hold over my face.
“Don’t make me play mom and threaten to take away your phone,” she says. She’d really do it too. “Now, I’m going to take a shower. Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”
Once she leaves, I throw the pillow farther down the bed and just rest my head against the mattress as I stare up at the ceiling for a good ten minutes. I have no motivation to work or study. My career is in jeopardy and I see no way to get it back on track. I can reach out to my advisor, but it’s not like they’ll be able to do much, if they even want to given that I’m the one who broke the rules. No legit newspaper will want to work with me once they find out why Carl let me go.
My phone rings from deep within my purse. It’s probably my mom, but I really don’t have the energy to pick up it up and talk to her right now. I’m already feeling bad for myself. There’s no way I can help keep her spirits buoyed right now too.
Ronnie comes back in, looking much calmer with her hair wrapped in a towel. The phone rings again as she enters, and again I let it go to voicemail.
She’s just shucked her bathrobe and is standing there topless, digging through her drawer for a bra, when it rings a third time.
“Do you want me to just turn it off?” asks Ronnie, seeing that I’m making absolutely no move to answer it.
“Sure.” I really don’t care right now.
She digs my phone out of my purse, but freezes when she looks at the screen. Instead of turning it off, she answers it, staring at me.
“Hello, this is Rebecca’s phone.”
I sit up. I’m not opposed to Ronnie answering my phone, but her face has gone white with concern.
“Yes, thank you for calling. We’ll be there as soon as we can.” She hangs up and looks at me, her face ashen. “That was the hospital. You mom’s been in an accident. She just arrived in an ambulance.”
Ronnie swings open our door, still shirtless, and yells up the hall, “Courtney! We need your car, now!”
“No! I’m going out tonight!” Courtney calls back down the hall.
“Bitch, this is an emergency! We’re going to the hospital!”
“Why? You having a baby?” calls a different voice.
Ronnie doesn’t answer, just pops back into the room and throws on a tank.
Our door swings open again, and Courtney stands there in a party outfit, only half her makeup done.
“Here are the keys.” She holds them out by the disco ball keychain. “I hope everything’s okay.”
“Me too. Thank you.” Ronnie smacks a kiss right onto Courtney’s cheek. “Come on, Rebecca.”
“Thanks,” I mumble to Courtney as I hurry behind Ronnie.
I want to feel grateful to Courtney for letting us borrow her car, but there’s no room in me for anything but guilt for letting my phone ring so many times without answering it. And for all the times lately that I’ve ignored it when it really was my mom calling. I haven’t had the energy to deal with her problems on top of my own, but now for all I know she could die thinking I don’t care enough to answer her calls.
I’m a terrible daughter. I’ve left her to be taken to the hospital alone, without anyone there with her for support. I don’t even know what to expect because I didn’t even take the call myself. I made my best friend do it because I couldn’t be bothered.
Ronnie drops me off in front of the ER, telling me to go inside and find my mom while she parks. I rush in and give my mom’s name at the desk.
“I’m her daughter, someone called and said she was in an accident.” Everything is a confusing blur as a nurse ushers me to a curtained bay.
I fling the curtain aside and see my mother stretched out on a bed with a blanket over her, her arm strapped to her chest. Her face is bruised and scraped. “Mom! I’m so sorry, I got here as fast as I could. What happened?”
