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Graham lay back and stared at the ceiling. Then, he turned to face me. "What does he expect in return?"
I shrugged, not certain I wanted to confess just yet. "He's doing it out of loyalty to you and me."
"Just out of loyalty?" His eyes narrowed.
"What else? He hates our family, but he still feels some loyalty to us because of his friendship with you."
That seemed to appease him for the moment so I didn’t say any more. I didn’t want him to think I was prostituting myself in repayment of his debt. That would infuriate him and make him feel even worse. I wanted him to recover, and if he was really upset and if he hated himself for what he did, that might not be good for his health.
"I don’t like the idea of you staying at his safe house, or whatever it is," Graham said. "If he forces you to do anything against your will…"
So Graham's mind went immediately to where Hunter’s had…
"I'm not doing anything against my will," I said, my voice firm. "I'm my own person, Graham. You know that."
"Only too well," he said and sighed.
We talked for a while about his physiotherapy, and the second surgery he'd have to have done on his arm because of a problem with the way it was healing. After about an hour, I stood up.
"Well, I better go. My driver will be waiting and I want to stop by and pick up Amy."
"You have a driver?"
"He's on Hunter's staff."
Graham sighed. "I'm sorry that all this happened."
"Don't mention it," I said and kissed him on the forehead, stroking his hair back. "What's done is done. I'm fine. I'm going to class now, and then I'll go by and see Mom."
"Tell her not to worry about coming up to see me," Graham said when I picked up my book bag and started to leave. "I know how hard it is for her to get out."
"I will," I said and waved at him. "I'll stop by later tonigh
t."
"Okay," he said and I turned and left him, feeling a little catch in my throat to see him still so incapacitated. It would be a few weeks before he could go home, so I'd have to be the go-between for my mother, who would be unable to spend much time in the hospital, visiting. I had been surprised she’d gone on the cruise, but it had been on her bucket list. Since they had a special room on the ship for disabled people, she and Spencer had gone as her birthday gift and to celebrate fifteen years of being together.
I’d hated those fifteen years. Fifteen of the worst years of my and Graham's lives. When my father died and my mother turned to Spencer to take over, my own happiness disappeared and Graham and I took comfort in each other's company.
I wished my father and mother had never gone on that trip down to New York City. If they had delayed for even an hour, things—my life—would have turned out completely different.
One bad decision and that was it. That was all it took to change a life.
I knew that now with such clarity that I weighed every decision I had to make as if it might change everything in an instant. One false move and that was it. Game over. I didn't always live up to my goal of thinking twice, looking before I leapt, but I tried.
I went to class, barely able to concentrate on the material. I was looking forward to seeing Amy for our next class so James drove me over to the dorm. I knocked on Amy's door and she opened, peering around the door at me like she was afraid.
"Celia!" she said, her mouth opening. "You're here. I didn’t think you’d come today."
"Why not?" I asked as I entered her tiny apartment, a few doors down from my own dorm room.
"Haven't you been listening to the news?"
I frowned and sat down on the sofa across from her flatscreen TV. On the screen was a breaking news report showing a wooded area by the bay somewhere along the coast outside Alexandria, Virginia.
"What's this?" I asked, glancing at her face, which was white.
"I was just going to call you again," she said and sat down beside me, one of her arms going around my shoulder. "Spencer's dead."
