“I’m sure she understands it was an accident.”
“An accident that might not have happened if I had been more aware of my surroundings. I should have seen the other driver wasn’t stopping at the red light. Instead, I was distracted by something else and turned right in front of him.”
“So you were T-boned?”
“Yes.” She hitched out another sob and fought for control. “By a high school student who only had his license for three weeks. That’s not the point, though. I should never have been driving. I knew I shouldn’t have been behind the wheel. But Audrey and Diane wanted to hit some Black Friday sales and Diane asked me to drive. I thought I would be fine. I only took one pain pill but I... chased it with bourbon.”
He had no idea what to say. He knew his sister hadstruggled with substance use when she was younger, after she ran away from the boarding school their father had sent her to. But that had been years ago. Since she had her daughter, Kim had worked hard to turn her life around and had stepped up to raise her on her own after Audrey’s slimeball father had died in prison.
“I... I think I need to go into rehab. Dad’s found a place in Boise that can take me. I hate to leave Audrey, especially this time of year, but if I can check in now, I might make it home for Christmas. By New Year’s at the latest. Dad thinks if I can prove to the court I’ve sought help on my own, I might be able to avoid jail time.”
Apparently Colonel Douglas Caldwell had his daughter’s life all figured out. Like always.
“Was anyone else injured in the accident?”
“Audrey and I have a few cuts and scrapes. The other driver only had minor injuries, thank heavens.”
“I’m so sorry this happened. Thanks for keeping me in the loop.”
Kim paused for a long time. He was about to ask if she was still there when she finally spoke, her voice small. “Ry. Can you come here?”
He should have instinctively saidHell yeah. If his sister needed him, he should be willing to drop everything and go to her.
Instead, he had said nothing while he tried to figure out the logistics. Apparently his silence spoke volumes.
“Forget I said anything. It was a silly thing to ask. It’s just... there’s Audrey. I would normally have her stay with Dad and Diane but they live in Haven Point, eight miles from her school, and Dad will be busy caring for Diane after she gets out of the hospital. She doesn’t need a thirteen-year-old girl underfoot while she recovers.”
“I could maybe move some things around and put in for emergency leave,” he said. “Let me see what I can do.”
He wasn’t exactly out there saving the world anyway. He couldn’t fly until he was medically cleared from the injuries he sustained in a hard landing after a malfunction.
The staph infection he had acquired had nearly taken his leg and his recovery had been far longer than he or anyone else expected.
“It might be a few days before I can get there. Do you have somewhere else for her to stay while I see what I can do?”
“Yes. If you can’t, it should be okay. My boss, Holly, has already said she can take her in. I’ve told you about her, I think. She’s great but she’s so busy. I don’t want to burden her with one more thing.”
He could understand that now, as he drove along the lake toward his father’s place. He didn’t know everything Holly Moore might have going on right now, but he had seen the smudges under her eyes, the subtle fragility.
“Plus, it’s Christmas,” Kim had said. “Audrey should be in her own bed in her own house with her own family, if at all possible.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” he had said.
“That’s all I can ask. You are the best brother in the world, Ryan, in case I haven’t told you that lately.”
He was far from that. If he had been a better brother, he might have seen the signs earlier that his sister was struggling. He should have been paying more attention and identified that she was on the edge, instead of being consumed with his own injury and his uncertain future.
He looked at his niece now, who was scrolling on her phone.
“I think we’re about a mile from your grandpa’s house,”he commented to Audrey, more as a conversation starter than anything else.
What did one say to a thirteen-year-old girl, anyway? He hadn’t been great at speaking to girls her age when he’d actually been a teenager himself.
She looked out at the dark trees lining the road here on both sides as they drove around the lake. “Yeah. It’s not much further.”
“Sorry about taking you from your babysitting gig.”
She shrugged. “Holly and Lydia will be okay. Lydia’s pretty good most of the time. She’s cute, isn’t she?”
