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“Fuck you, Spence. That’s a terrible thing to say.”
Spencer exhaled and placed his hand on her arm. She pulled away. “That’s not what I meant. It’s just that you haven’t been yourself lately. I think this whole situation is taking a toll on you, that’s all. And I mean this with all due respect, but it’s not as though he’ll know whether you’ve come or gone anyway. I don’t see what’s so wrong with having the kids remember him as he was. That’s how I want to remember him…”
Jess crossed her arms. “The ‘situation’ you’re talking about is my father. Don’t forget that. Maybe you don’t understand loyalty, but I do.”
The phone on the console lit up and rang so suddenly it startled Jess. Spencer eyed the phone and then grabbed it so abruptly that Jess watched as it slipped through his fingers in slow motion and fell onto the floorboard of the backseat.
“Shit… Can you grab that?” He pleaded, straining into the backseat fishing with his fingers.
She felt the car swerve slightly. “Spence!” He corrected the steering wheel. “Geez. Focus on the road… would you? I’ll get the phone.” She seethed. Always the damned phone… No wonder they were having such a tough time with their son.
“I’ve been waiting on that call,” he uttered to her, or maybe just to himself, she wasn’t sure.
She turned slightly looking in the backseat, noting that it was too dark to see anything. The ringing stopped and started again, and suddenly, she saw it behind the driver’s seat, nudged up against the left passenger door. It was after midnight. Who would call twice? Hopefully, it wasn’t about the kids…
“Do I need to pull over?”
Jess reached as far as she could. “No, I can get it,” she said feeling the seatbelt refuse to give any further.
The phone stopped ringing and started again.
“Jessica!”
“I’m trying,” she said unbuckling herself to allow herself to reach further.
Jess felt her fingertips graze the phone. “Ah. Got it,” she announced proudly.
Jessica heard his sigh and then the screeching of tires. The screeching of tires. That would be the last thing she would hear for six whole days.
And afterward, in her dreams, for many more than she dared to admit.
Jessica awoke to her best friend whispering her name. She had thought she’d heard people in her room talking, but this was the first time she was actually able to force her eyes open.
“Jessica. Oh, Jess. Wake up. Come on,” Addison whispered.
She felt the familiar sensation of her hand being rubbed. Jess willed her eyes open.
“Jessica! Oh, my God.” Unable to keep her eyes open, the light was too bright, she watched Addison reach for something through the slits of her eyes.
Jess tried to ask what was happening, but she couldn’t speak. Suddenly, she started to panic, unable to move her wrists.
Addison patted her arm and put her face close to hers so that their noses were almost touching. Jess couldn’t focus.
“Jess. Jess! Calm down. Listen to me. I need you to stop fighting. You’re okay.” Addison glanced toward the door and then back at her. “Don’t worry… They’re coming.”
Who is coming, she wondered.
She could see Addison mouthing the words, but Jess wasn’t sure she could hear them being said. Something was wrong.
And then, almost as though Jess had said it aloud even though she knew she hadn’t—she couldn’t, Addison answered, “You’ve been in an accident, sweetie. But you’re all right. They’re getting you all fixed up.”
Jess’s eyes trailed down to her wrist. She attempted to pull her arm toward her face to get a better look, but it wouldn’t budge, and she couldn’t see straight enough to put it all together.
“You’re on a respirator. The restraints are a precaution. So you don’t pull the tube out… We’ll get them off just as soon as the doctors get in here.”
Addison pressed the button again. And again. There was a buzzing sound and then a voice. “I need a doctor in here now!” She heard her friend shout.
An accident. The screeching tires. And with that, Jess faded back into the darkness.
