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Laz doesn’t seem satisfied, but he lets go. Trent doubles over, struggling for breath. He’s dropped his backpack and Laz punts it down the street with one hard kick.
“Now, fuck off.”
As fast as he can, Trent scrambles after his bag and hightails it away.
I turn to Laz with an exasperated shake of my head. “Laz, he’s just a bully. He doesn’t matter. You didn’t need to terrify him like that.”
“Is he just a bully? Or is he a man who thinks he doesn’t have to treat women with respect?”
I haven’t got a reply to that. I don’t think I’ve ever heard one decent thing out of Trent’s mouth about a woman. It’s one of the reasons I didn’t want to date him.
Laz stalks back to his Camaro. “I thought so. Get in the car.”
“What are you even doing here?”
Laz grips his open car door, his expression changing from angry to troubled. “Isabel was in an accident. She’s in the hospital.”
Whatever I thought Laz was going to say, it wasn’t that. For a moment, I can’t breathe and my whole body locks up. My sister. In the hospital. Those words don’t belong together.
“I don’t know anything else. Come on, your mom’s already there.”
We drive in silence. At one point, Laz reaches for my hand, but I’m so sick with worry that I pull away.
I ask at reception where my sister is, and the staff member on duty directs me to the third floor.
I can hear Mom sobbing the moment we step out of the elevator and before we pass through the double doors into the ward. I half walk, half run down the corridor, dreading what I’m going to find when I reach Isabel’s room.
An angry voice cuts across the crying before I can reach it. “For heaven’s sake, Mom! It’s just a broken leg and a broken nose.”
Isabel’s voice, sounding strong, alive, and exasperated. I sag with relief and Laz loops his arm around my waist to hold me up.
“Thank fuck,” he mutters under his breath.
I stroke his chest briefly in thanks and detach from him, conscious even in this situation that I don’t want anyone in my family to see us touching each other. His hands leave burning hot marks on my body that only I can see.
“But your beautiful face,” Mom sobs.
I round the corner to see Isabel propped up in bed, her right leg in a cast, white tape over her nose and two black eyes. She looks like she was in a fight with a charging bull and lost.
She gives me a weak smile. “Hey, Mia. Hey, Lazzaro. Could one of you get Mom out of here, please? There aren’t enough pain meds in the world to deal with her right now.”
Laz sighs and heads toward his wife. “Come on, Giulia. Let’s go and get you some coffee.”
With a little persuading, Mom hiccups herself out of the ward with Laz at her side.
“Thank goodness she’s gone. She was ruining my buzz,” Isabel laughs to herself. Her eyes have the glazed appearance of someone who’s high on pain-relieving drugs.
Of my two sisters, I’ve always got along better with Rieta. Isabel is so much like Mom that I find it hard to talk to her sometimes, though I still love her.
“Cheer up, I’m not at death’s door.” She frowns at me, her eyes nearly crossing. “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen you smile lately. What’s been eating you?”
I give her a tight smile. “I’m fine. What happened to you?”
“A truck ran a red light. I smashed right into him.” She mimes a T-bone accident. “I didn’t know you could break your nose on an airbag. But seriously, Mia. What’s been up with you lately? Or, like, the last five years. The weight of the world is on your shoulders or something.”
I swallow, hard. How can she not know? Doesn’t she see how Mom treats me? How this entire family acts like I’m invisible most of the time? There’s recrimination in her tone, like being unhappy is my fault or I’m wallowing on purpose.
Isabel gives me a knowing look. “High school blues. Boy trouble. I remember it well.”
