Page 44 of Class Act

“Hardy har har,” I replied, somewhat sarcastically, which only made him laugh and Lizzie’s eyes nearly pop out of her head. Admittedly, it wasn’t the way I typically spoke to people.

“How are you feeling?”

I gave him a very brief, very fact-based rundown on the night while my two friends soaked up every facial expression and tone of voice they could. I sounded almost robotic in my efforts to not give away how elated I was that he’d called.

“So, your friends are still there?” he asked.

“Yeah. Lizzie is making me watch a horror movie.”

“Hmm. Seems like that might spark a relapse.”

I cracked up and then had to squeeze my eyes tight when it caused a pain to shoot along my forehead. “I’m telling her that.”

“Telling who what?” Lizzie mouthed.

I shook my head. “It was nice of you to call.”

It was a dismissal, one I didn’t really mean, and he picked it up quickly, hopefully understanding it was about my eavesdropper friends and not my lack of desire to talk to him. Then again, I didn’t want him to think I wanted to talk to him, right? Ugh.

“No problem. Hey, I also wanted to let you know that I had your car towed. It was supposed to be delivered to your house, but the company messed up and sent it to mine. I only noticed it when I went out for a run this morning. Sorry about that. I hope you weren’t worried. I’ll make arrangements to get it to your place.”

“No, don’t,” I blurted without thinking. “I . . . ” Why had I blurted that? “You’ve already done more than enough. When I’m cleared to drive, I’ll come get it. Unless it’s in the way? I could send up my friends to pick it up.”

“No, not at all. It’s fine where it is.”

“Okay.”

A pause, and I swore I could feel him smiling through the phone. Ruby’s comment about wanting scent-o-vision suddenly didn’t seem so silly. I could almost smell a hint of Ford as though he were here.

“Hailey?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks.”

We hung up, me with butterflies wanting to shoot out of my earholes, and I put the phone in my lap.

“Well,” Ruby said, “how very interesting.”

“He has my car,” I stated.

“I don’t think that’s the only thing of yours he has,” Ruby mumbled.

Lizzie patted my hand and hit play on the movie, kindly leaving me to my own thoughts . . . as jumbled as they were.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I was lying on the couch Sunday around lunchtime, watching mindless TV, when a loud, rapid knock on the door caused me to nearly jump out of my seat. Ruby and Lizzie had gone back home, and I wasn’t expecting anyone. My mom had spent the night last night, still concerned about my head injury, but she’d been appeased by that morning and had left with a promise to call me later in the day. The rest of my friend group had already checked in and, well, I didn’t get many visitors. I stood and walked to the door, not caring that I was in leggings and an oversized Aggies sweatshirt, about as comfy as I ever got. My hair was a little rough, seeing as I’d done it one-handed and then laid on a couch all morning. I wiped at my eyes, remembering I hadn’t done my makeup yet.

Hillary’s tear-streaked face greeted me, and I looked behind her to see a slightly less upset but still worried Henry. He was holding his bike upright, but her little bike was lying next to my porch alongside a smashed bag. My eyes flew back to her, and her entire face crumpled.

“I told Daddy I wanted to bring you cookies, but he was busy and said I could bring some to school on Monday. So I got Henry to bring me. It was so far, and I got so scared.”

I looked back to Henry, and his lip quivered as his face turned red, but he bravely held his chin higher. “I’m not scared.”

My jaw fell open as I mentally mapped the route they must have taken to come down the foothills from their father’s estate to my condo. My stomach clenched at the thought of the main roads they’d crossed and the danger they’d been in.

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