Page 55 of Accidentally Mine
I looked up at Ernest and raked my fingers through my hair.“Jesus, could this day get any more fucking unbelievable?”
“I thought it was unbelievable enough when you brought a date to the gala,” he said, shaking his head at me.“And from the look on your face, I’d guess that she’s not just a good runner.”
“I’m almost positive it was Roselynn, also known as Rebecca, who was driving the car that night.”
“Whoa.So she’s a fugitive responsible for almost killing you?You can pick the winners.”
I glowered at him.“She’s in trouble.I think she was running from the mafia, and still is.”
“The mafia?”He frowned.“Wonder what could make the mafia come after a girl that sweet.Damn.Once you fuck with the mafia, you’ll never be done with them.”He met my eyes in the mirror, telling me silently that if I was in, so was he.Ernest was nothing if not loyal to a fault.
I’d told her I’d never hurt her, but what I should’ve told her was that I’d never let anyone else hurt her, either.No matter what had happened in the past.
I opened my phone and punched in my sister’s number.
14
Roselynn
The next morning, I rolled over in bed, feeling like shit.
I scanned the small bedroom that had always been my room at my aunt’s house.It had a twin bed and a dresser and little else, the walls still covered in baby bunny wallpaper from when it was a nursery, back when my Aunt Marie and Uncle Hugh thought they were going to have children.In the middle of the woven oval rug, there was the puddle of fabric of the white and gold Versace gown that Brent had bought for me.It had to have cost thousands of dollars.
And now the silken hem was blackened from my run down the streets of South Boston.Ruined.
But more than that, Brent knew.
He knew I was that terrible, awful person who’d hurt him and then run away.And though he liked to say he was fine, I knew he wasn’t.I’d seen him entering things into his phone to remember them.I’d seen the way his sister looked at him with concern when he said he had a headache.The scars that would forever mar his beautiful body.
How could he forgive me for something like that?He said he didn’t blame me, but how could he not?I didn’t think I could ever forgive myself.
I needed to finish up a story for upload, then go to my father’s house and try to go through some of his things before the estate sale people came to clean up the property.But I just couldn’t bring myself to get up.My body ached, my head ached, and most of all, my heart ached.
The bed buzzed as a text message came through on my phone.I dug through the covers, irrationally hoping it was Brent.Instead, it was from a number I didn’t recognize.
Hi, Roselynn!It’s Claudia.I had such a good time last night I wondered if you’d like to go with me today for a girls’ spa day?
Spa day?Me?I didn’t do spa days.Plus, I doubted she would want to go on a spa day with me if she knew I nearly killed her brother.She’d made her opinion clear last night.
I stared at the message for at least five minutes, trying to determine how to reply.It occurred to me that Brent must not have told Claudia what I’d done.
My hands shook as I typed in:Hi, Claudia.Have you spoken to your brother?
A moment later, she replied,Last night.He told me you weren’t feeling well and agreed a spa day might make you feel better.
So, it had been his suggestion.I flopped back on the pillow, the tension draining out of me.How could he really not care that I’d been the one there that night?I found his indifference impossible to believe.And that he didn’t mind his sister consorting with me, the enemy, was even more impossible to wrap my mind around.
I’d wanted to make amends for so long.Had been tormented by my inability to do so.Maybe if I went, I could figure out a way to make it right somehow.
I took a deep breath and typed in:That sounds great!
Perfect.Give me your address and I’ll pick you up around 10.
I called my aunt, and promised to try to visit her later today, to which she responded that she had company of the male sort and if I had things to do then it was just as well.Rolling my eyes, I jumped into the shower.
As promised, Claudia showed up in an Uber at exactly ten.She rang the doorbell and greeted me with a big hug.On the way to what she said was her favorite spa, the Spa at Mandarin Oriental, she chattered on about Brent, telling me stories from when they were kids.He was six years younger than her, and since they grew up without their mother, she’d loved mothering him.That sometimes he could be utterly clueless, even before the accident, and he really needed a woman in his life.
“I’m so happy he’s found you,” she said as we walked through the doors of the spa.“He needs a good woman.And I can tell he’s infatuated with you.”
