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“We’ll take an x-ray in the morning, but it isn’t as bad as the ER doctors first suspected. Mostly swelling, but the x-ray will tell us for certain.” She pushed the door open. “Ms. Marks, you have some visitors.” She nodded at the chairs next to the hospital bed. “You can stay as long as you’d like.”
Jackson looked at his mom as she lay on the hospital bed. One of her eyes was black, and there was a bandage across her nose. But what shocked him more than anything was how swollen her face was. Her eyes looked like little buttons in the center of her flesh. There was no sign of the high cheekbones that had always been her defining feature. Just a mess of cuts and bruises, along with a long suture down the left side of her face.
“Jenny.” His dad shook his head and walked over to the bed, taking her hand in his. “Look at you, sweetheart.”
Jackson followed him, walking around to the other side. “How are you feeling?”
She turned her head from father to son. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“Hush,” his dad said. “We know. Are you feeling okay? Does it hurt anywhere?”
“They gave me the good stuff. Nothing hurts.” She tried to smile. “Except when I laugh.”
“Got it.” Ryan winked at her. “No laughing.” He sat, his hand still holding hers. Jackson did the same, swallowing hard when he looked at his parents. How many times had he wished to see them together like this when he was a kid? How many times had he dreamed of his dad and mom being together again?
And now they were, for one night at least, and all he could think of was Lydia and how she was leaving tomorrow. Without him being able to say a proper goodbye.
“The nurse said you should be able to leave in the morning,” Ryan said, his voice upbeat.
“Yeah. I have two fractured ribs, but they don’t need surgery. Just lots of rest and recuperation. Hopefully my nose will be okay once the swelling goes down. They’ll check on that before they discharge me.”
“What happened?” Jackson asked her. “What are you doing in Anaheim?”
“I was driving down to see you.” She cleared her throat. “I thought it would save some time. I guess I did that, huh?”
“I told you I would call, you didn’t need to come.” He raised an eyebrow. “You need to start taking care of yourself rather than expecting us to do it.”
“I know.” She sniffed. “I’m so sorry, Jackson. I really am.”
He hated the way she always made him feel. Fury mixed with relief as he looked at her, taking in all the injuries she had. It could have been so much worse. She could have died, or hurt somebody else. The fact that she didn’t was more due to luck than intent.
“We’ll talk about your car in the morning,” his dad said, shooting Jackson a look. “You should rest now, that’s the only way to feel better.”
“I do feel sleepy,” she agreed, closing her eyes as her head rested on the pillow.
Strange, because Jackson felt completely wide awake. Maybe because his mind was a hundred miles south of here, thinking about a girl whose hand he already missed holding.
“I’m sorry,” Lydia said, wiping her eyes with a tissue. “I don’t know why I can’t stop crying. It’s not like I didn’t know I was leaving. We were going to say goodbye tomorrow, so why am I so upset it happened a few hours early?”
“Because it’s a shock,” Autumn murmured, stroking her hair. They’d left the party almost an hour after Jackson and his dad had driven away. Lydia had helped them clean up, thinking the work might take her mind off things, but it hadn’t worked. And now they were back at Autumn and Griff’s house, sitting on the sofa, Lydia’s head resting against Autumn’s shoulder as she tried to console her. “Shock always makes me cry. I don’t know why, but it does. Remember when the pier caught on fire? I was almost comatose.”
“I remember,” Griff murmured, from the easy chair on the other side of the coffee table. “I thought you’d end up in the hospital.”
A fresh trail of tears ran down Lydia’s cheeks. “Do you think his mom is okay?” she asked. She’d considered calling him, but he’d been adamant she should get some rest and he’d call her in the morning.
“I don’t know, honey,” Autumn murmured. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, you should get some sleep. You’ve got a long journey ahead of you.”
“I don’t want to go,” Lydia admitted, crumpling the tissue in her hand. Her eyes met Autumn’s. “I want to stay here and make sure that he’s okay. But I can’t because I’m due to meet my clients at the airport on Monday afternoon. If I leave any later, I’ll miss them.”
“Jackson understands,” Autumn reassured her. “It’s not like he didn’t know you were leaving. Out of anybody I know, he gets that business has to come first. Your reputation is everything. You can’t let your clients down.” Her smile was soft. “Jackson will be okay. He has all of us to take care of him. I’m more worried about you.”
“I’ll be okay. I always am.” Lydia gave her sister a watery smile. “I just need to get on that plane. I always feel better when I’m traveling.” But she’d never left half of her heart behind before.
Another sob escaped from her lips, and Autumn frowned, hugging her again. “Sweetheart, I’m worried about you. I’ve never seen you cry like this.”
“I can’t remember the last time I did,” Lydia said honestly.
“Maybe you’ve never been in love before.”
