LIB

Chapter 9

         On the drive home, I thought about what Amanda had said about Blake. Should I tell him about the accident? I had made the decision to not let anyone at this school know about it, but that had been before I met Blake. Out of everyone, he was the least likely to treat me differently because of it.

            But I just wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. I would tell Blake about it in time, but for now I would just keep quiet. Maybe in a couple of months I’d feel better about talking about it.

            When I got home, I wasn’t surprised to see that Jared’s truck was gone. He was probably out at one of his other patients homes. I went straight into my room and collapsed onto my bed. Tonto came into the room and watched me carefully. “I’m alright, boy. Close the door, will you?”

            After he did as I asked, he came over to the side of the bed. I scratched his head a few times before shifting so I could curl up under the covers. Within seconds, I was sound asleep.

            I was woken up a few hours later by someone knocking on the door. Jared poked his head in a moment later. “Hailey? What are you doing home?”

            “I didn’t feel like subjecting people to my wrath because I was tired, so I left school after first period. I went to the hospital to see Jake.”

            Concern entered his eyes. “How are you feeling?”

            “About Jake? Or about how tired I was?”

            “Both.”

            “Well, I had a nice long nap, so I’m not tired anymore. And as for Jake, I actually ran into Amanda there. Did you know that she’s been visiting him since the beginning?”

            Jared was clearly surprised. “No, I didn’t know that. I haven’t seen her since her and Jake broke up, although he talked about her a lot still.”

            “Did you know that he had called her the night of the accident?”

            “That, I did know. He wanted to get back together with her. Said something about how he was stupid to let her go.”

            I smiled. “He really was. Anyways, having her there really helped me. I never wanted anyone to come with me, because I thought it would make it worse. But having Amanda there actually lessened the load a little. We’re going to start meeting there regularly. And I was hoping maybe you could come as well.”

            “Isn’t there a limit to how many visitors a patient is allowed at a time?”

            I rolled my eyes. “Like they’re really going to try and stop us. Liam donated so much money to that hospital, that we could probably have a party in Jake’s room and the staff would cater it for us.”

            Jared chuckled. “That might be true.” He sobered a little. “Are you sure you want me to come as well?”

            I shrugged. “Maybe not every single time, but sometimes it might be nice. Today is the first time I came home from the hospital without that feeling of depression coming over me.” I glanced at my watch. “I’m going to take Tonto to the park. I told Blake I might be there, and I wouldn’t mind talking to him for a bit if he’s there.”

            “You planning on telling him about the accident?”

            I shook my head. “Not yet. But I think I will eventually; I just don’t exactly know when.”