Page 66 of Strangely Normal

Cole looked back at me and both our thoughts could not have been plainer if they’d been floating around our heads in bold print. The hamburger did a full leap and somersault in my stomach as we raced out the door to the truck.

Cole raced up the street toward his house. My fingers wrapped tightly around the arm rest in the car as my intuition told me the worst had happened. Tension and dread pulsated around Cole too. We spotted the flashing red lights long before we reached the security gates.

My hands were shaking and the blood had drained from my head as his tires screeched up the long driveway to the mansion. A fire truck, police car, and ambulance were blocking the curved driveway. A gurney was just being pushed into the back of the ambulance.

Cole slammed the truck into park and we jumped out. Jude appeared suddenly around the back of the ambulance, looking pale white and in shock. As soon as he saw us, rage added some color back to his face.

“Where the fuck have you two been?” he said. The expression he shot me nearly dropped me to my knees in anguish. Jude blamed me for this.

“What happened?” Cole asked.

“Finley swallowed a bunch of dad’s sleeping pills.”

“Is she all right?” Cole asked.

“I don’t know. They’re taking her to pump her stomach right now. I called Dad. He’s on his way. Why’d you leave her alone?” Again his question was aimed directly toward me. Cole did not jump to my defense, and all I could do is cry. Jude spun around. “I’m going in the ambulance. Follow in the truck.”

Through a flood of tears, I stumbled behind Cole to the car and collapsed into the front seat. I slumped down into a fog of despair, wondering if all this was truly happening. At first the summer job had seemed like a dream come true. It was a way to make money, get a taste of independence, and I couldn’t deny the fun of the luxurious lifestyle, something that was completely out of my range of reality. But it had quickly slid into a heartbreaking nightmare. The shocking reality of the scope of Finley’s problems was only the half of it. I’d fallen for Jude, and now, he’d shown me with no question for misinterpretation that I meant nothing to him. If I had, he would never have looked and spoken to me the way he had. Now I wanted nothing more that to be away from this job and this family.

Cole hadn’t said a word, and it was better that way. I was just as angry at him for not saying anything in my defense. But the person I was most ashamed of was me. I’d let Finley down. I’d failed at my job. Even if it was a job that was way out my skill level, I’d failed miserably and there was nothing I hated more than that.

Finley had already been wheeled inside by the time we reached the emergency room entrance. Jude had followed her into the ward. Because he was family, Cole was allowed past the double doors, but I had to stay in the waiting room.

My limbs felt heavy, and my head throbbed from crying as I lowered myself into a waiting room chair. There were pleasant paintings on the wall, and someone had coordinated a color scheme of rose and blue with fake flower arrangements and furniture upholstery. The last time I’d been in a waiting room was when Sophie was three and had fallen and cracked her chin open. She’d needed twelve stitches and she’d bled so much I was certain she would die from it. I remember sitting, holding my dad’s hand, and feeling sick to my stomach with worry. And I remember hating the cold, dreary, and crowded waiting room. We’d had no money or medical insurance, and Mom had held a cloth against Sophie’s chin while Dad drove us across town through irritating traffic to the county hospital. With the amount of blood covering Mom and Sophie’s clothes, I was certain they’d rush them right through the door and to a doctor. But at a county hospital, they took the most life threatening injuries first, and that meant gunshot wounds. There seemed to be a lot of them that day, and we’d waited anxiously for them to help my little sister. It was one of the worst days in my memory, and yet, it had been nothing compared to this day. Jude had been so busy chastising me, he’d left us with little information. I had no idea what kind of shape Finley was in.

Sitting there, with my arms crossed tightly against my churning stomach and a bleak bitter feeling flooding chest, I suddenly knew how badly Finley had been feeling these past few days. Even when things had sunk to their absolute worst, and my family and I had spent several weeks living in our car, I hadn’t experienced this sensation of complete and utter hopelessness. It drained every ounce of energy from me, and I wanted to roll off into a dark hole or fall into a deep, endless sleep . . . just like Finley had wanted.

I’d hardly moved a muscle since I sat down, and when Cole walked into the room, I was completely stiff from sitting so still. It took some effort to push from the chair and stand up.

Cole looked decidedly better and more relaxed than he had an hour earlier when he’d clutched his steering wheel so tightly I thought it would come off in his hands. “They pumped her stomach, and she’ll be all right.”

I burst into tears not realizing just how terrified I’d been.

Cole put his arm around me, and I pressed my face against his shoulder. I heard footsteps enter the waiting room. I gathered my strength and turned to face Jude.

His skin had barely regained its color. “Eden, I’m sorry.” His voice was low and hoarse and every word caused the pain in my throat to grow. “I was scared and I lashed out and—”

I swallowed hard and attempted to produce my coldest tone. “How’s Finley?”

Apparently, my attempt was successful. Jude looked at me as if I’d slapped him. “She’ll be fine, and I think she’ll finally get the help she needs.”

“I’m glad of it.” It was hard as hell to sound emotionless when every emotion I’d ever felt was swirling inside of me. “I need to use the restroom.” I sidled past him without giving him as much as a glance. He’d apologized, but there was no way to take any of it back. His angry words had sliced through me like an icy blade, and there was just no way to recover from the blow.

I headed through the two automatic doors and turned down the walkway that led to the street. I’d loved my time with Finley, at least the original version of Finley, and Jude had been the first guy who I’d felt I could give my heart to. But as far as I was concerned, my summer job with the King family was over.

Chapter 22

Miraculously, I found a taxi without much effort, and I paid for a ride back to the mansion. I told Tilly that Finley was all right but that I’d returned to pick her up a few things. I looked in on Some Pig. He had curled up on her bed. He lifted his snout as I kissed him on the head and then I went to my room to pack my few belongings into my broken duffle. The only place I could think of going was our old apartment. I still had a key, and technically, it belonged to my parents for a few more days. I had no idea how to find my family, but I was a big girl and I would figure things out once I got there. I was still sick and numb with heartbreak, but I would get over it. The survival instincts I’d developed through my tumultuous childhood years had kicked in.

The taxi dropped me at the bus stop, and I pulled my sweatshirt hood up onto my head and slumped onto the bench to wait for the next bus. Unbidden, my thoughts went back to the day that Jude had gone with me to see my parents. We’d spent the entire day together, and it was that day when I’d seen him outside of his world of luxury and privilege that I knew he was worth falling for. I’d been horrified at the thought of him seeing our shabby apartment, but he’d never shown even an ounce of shock or pity at the way we lived. And we’d ended that day with his second failed attempt at painting me, a failed attempt that made my skin warm just thinking about it.

A burst of air pushed my hood back. The bus had arrived. Once again, my limbs felt filled with lead as I picked up my duffle and climbed aboard. This time I avoided the back seats. My only fear was that the sleazy landlord had taken advantage and overlapped the lease on the apartment. Then I’d have to find a cheap hotel to live in. I had some money in the bank from my first paycheck, but motel rent would eat it up quickly.

The bus ride seemed interminably long, and I sighed with relief as it finally pulled to a stop near the all too familiar mini mart. I stepped inside the small store. The store manager looked surprised to see me.

“You didn’t leave with your family?” he asked.

I put the milk and a newspaper on the counter and shook my head. I paid him and wandered down the sidewalk past the quiet, dark construction site. I doubted that Cole would be showing to work any time soon, but I would avoid walking past it just in case. I was fairly certain that Jude never told him that my family lived nearby.

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