Page 45 of Nothing Heals Me Like You Do

“Sienna, darling. Where are you?” Her mother’s voice was all choked up. “Are you alone?”

“No, I’m at Mimi’s with Alexis and, um, Justine. Why?”

“It’s your dad. He’s had an accident.” Her mother’s voice tightened even more. “On his motorcycle. He—” The silence on the other end of the line was interspersed with sobs. “He didn’t make it, darling. I’m so sorry.”

“What?” Sienna sank into the nearest couch. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s dead, baby. Bobby’s dead.” Her mother exhaled deeply. “Give me the address of where you are. I’ll send a car. Come to the house. Your sister’s on her way.”

“Mom.” As the news slowly registered in her brain, Sienna’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t get it. Dad’s… dead?”What the fuck?

“I’m so sorry, baby. Come be with me. You need to be with your family now.”

Justine had walked into the lounge and crouched next to Sienna.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

Sienna’s hand dropped to her lap, her phone tumbling to the ground.

Justine picked it up and talked to Sienna’s mother for a few moments.

Sienna just sat there, trying to absorb the news. Surely, it couldn’t be true. She’d need to get her phone from Justine as soon as she hung up so she could call her dad. She would speak to him and he would tell her none of this was true. It was all utter nonsense. It was just the worst nightmare Sienna had ever had.

“I’ll bring her over right now,” Justine said and ended the call. “Hey.” She swallowed hard. “I’m so sorry, babe. I’m so very sorry.” She tried to fold her arms around Sienna, but Sienna shrugged out of her embrace, her muscles rigid.

“No, no, no,” Sienna muttered, fumbling for her phone. She retrieved it from Justine’s hand and immediately dialed her father's number. It went straight to voicemail.

“Dad, call me back as soon as you get this. Please. It’s urgent.” She hung up and called again, her fingers trembling. Voicemail. Again.

Sienna’s mind raced with possibilities. He was on set, caught up in a scene. He was out with friends, his phone on silent. He was asleep, his phone charging in another room. There had to be a reason he wasn’t answering. Any reason except the one her mother had given her.

She called a third time, desperation rising in her chest with each unanswered ring. When his familiar voice came on, asking her to leave a message, a sob escaped her throat. “Daddy, please,” she whispered, the phone clutched to her ear. “Please, pick up. Tell me this isn’t true.”

Justine gently took the phone from Sienna’s hand and set it aside. She wrapped her arms around Sienna once more, and this time, Sienna didn’t resist. She collapsed into Justine’s embrace, her body shaking with the force of her grief. Tears streamed down her face as the reality of her father’s death began to sink in.

“I’ve got you,” Justine murmured, holding Sienna tightly. “I’m here. You’re not alone.”

“Everything okay?” Suddenly, Mimi was standing next to them.

Justine whispered to Mimi for a while. Was she really saying to Mimi that Sienna’s father,theBobby Bright, was dead? Was Bobby really gone? How could that even be? A fist of the hardest, coldest steel wrapped itself around Sienna’s heart.

Sienna huddled against the car door, her forehead pressed against the cool glass of the window. Tears streamed down her face in a silent, endless cascade as Justine drove through the busy streets of LA. The city’s nightlife carried on around them, people laughing and enjoying themselves, blissfully unaware that Sienna’s world had just shattered into a million pieces.

How could they be doing this? How could life continue as normal when her father was gone? It seemed impossible, a cruel joke the universe was playing on her.

As they stopped at a red light, a motorcycle pulled up beside them. Sienna jerked forward in her seat, her heart leaping into her throat. For one brief, desperate moment, she thought it was him. It had to be him. This was all a mistake, a terrible misunderstanding. Bobby would pull off his helmet, flash her that Bright grin, and tell her everything was okay.

But it wasn’t him. The biker was just a stranger.

Sienna doubled over in her seat, her arms wrapped tightly around her middle as if she could physically hold herself together.

Justine reached over and placed a hand on Sienna’s back, rubbing soothing circles between her shoulder blades.

“Breathe,” she murmured, her voice thick with emotion. “Just try to breathe.”

But breathing seemed impossible. Everything seemed impossible.

As they drove on through the night, Sienna’s sobs gradually quieted into a silent stream of tears, but the ache in her chest only grew. The rest of the journey to her mother’s house passed in a haze of grief and disbelief, each mile taking her further away from the life she had known and closer to a future she wasn’t ready to face.

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