Page 11 of Reckless
But with my mother here, none of it would stay unsaid for long.
“Kelly. It’s been a very long time since I last saw you. Do you work in the ER now?”
“Not just the ER. I’m a float nurse, so I go wherever they need me.”
“Hmm…” Mom gave her a considering look. “I always thought you’d turn out to be a writer, or maybe a veterinarian, but that’s wonderful, dear.”
I rolled my eyes. Mom had a way of complimenting you and letting you know her opinion in a way that left your head spinning. In high school, Kelly had been known to take in any stray or injured wild animal that she found or that was given to her. I wondered if she had a barnyard of animals by now.
“Kelly, dear,” Mom said, her hazel green eyes going damp. Kelly stiffened beside me. “I know we haven’t talked much since…since then, but I wanted to let you know—”
“Please.” Kelly’s voice was thick and her body so rigid I thought she might break in two. “Please, don’t.”
Mom let out a breath and nodded. “All right.” She cocked her head, the purple smudges under her eyes becoming more apparent with the tilt. “I was surprised to learn that you were getting your nursing degree. Gage never told me that was your interest.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “But then, Gage never told me anything. Still doesn’t. That boy never changes, no matter how famous he gets.”
Kelly relaxed a little, and a tiny smile curled up her plump lips. “He’s doing very well, isn’t he?”
She’d been keeping track?
“Yes. Can you believe my boy’s the front man of a rock band?” She clapped her hands together in what probably would have been a gleeful manner but instead was almost in slow motion. I frowned, a sense of foreboding catching me in the chest. “I don’t like to toot my own horn, but I must’ve done something right. But then, it sure looks like you’re doing well for yourself too.”
Kelly laughed, a sweet sound that turned back the calendar, and I found myself stuffing my hands in my pockets so I wouldn’t touch her. “I don’t think it’s quite on the same scale.” Kelly leaned in to study the screen that showed Mom’s vitals. “But thank you.”
Mom’s eyes bore into me, and I knew she was about to open a can of worms. Shit. I furrowed my eyebrows, giving her adon’t you dare get out the can openerlook.
Of course she decided to go for it. “And how has everything else been since high school? Do you have a husband and a couple of kids waiting for you at home?”
I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the intense jealousy that shot through me, even though I’d overheard about her lack of a relationship less than five minutes ago. When it came down to it, would it really matter if Kelly did have a husband? I wasn’t totally sure I wanted to know the answer. On one hand, her being married would feel so wrong. On the other, it would make her way too available. And I didn’t plan on going there.
Not that I wouldn’t take her to bed in a flat heart attack. Finish what we had started so long ago. Even in scrubs, her ass was just as I remembered, firm and heart-shaped as she bent over to check Mom’s IV.
Still, I was metaphorically perched on the edge of my chair, desperate to hear what she had to say.
“Oh no. Not much love life for me. I’m married to the job.”
Interesting. She’d remained single. She probably hadn’t been alone for seven long years, but she was single now, just as I happened to crash back into her life. Did that mean something?
“Ah, that is such a shame. A beautiful woman like you, hidden away. It’s not right.”
“You sound like Millie, a nurse friend of mine. She’s always saying stuff like that to me. But I’m fine, really, Ms. Strickland.”
Kelly wasn’t looking at me on purpose, I could tell, but then if I was put under the spotlight about my lack of a relationship, I’d probably react the same way. Thank god I didn’t have that problem.
Christ, she was even better than the images I couldn’t get out of my head at the start of each concert, every damn time I sang our love song. Perhaps it wasn’t that way for her. I clenched my jaw. I’d tried to get us back on track, tried to get to her through the rage she threw at me, then the ice cold wall she erected. But she would never let me in, then Gaged had gotten famous, and we had continued to go our separate ways.
The guilt that accompanied the heartache that swept through me every time I thought of her settled into my stomach. Maybe she’d never felt the way I had, even before the drunk driver had destroyed her world. Either way, she deserved more than being left behind. Not that she didn’t seem happy. She did. And beautiful. And competent. Maybe she didn’t need me after all.
Mom nudged her playfully, already seeming more like herself since Kelly entered the room. “You know me too well for that. Call me Babs.”
“Babs, of course.”
“So, Kelly.” Mom used herI’m being careful but I’m still going to say it anywayvoice. “How is your mom? I don’t get to see her very much.”
Kelly didn’t answer her at first as she made a big show of typing something into the rolling computer at Mom’s bedside, but she blinked a few too many times as she studiously stared at the screen. “Mom is good. I still go around to help her as much as I can. I think she’ll always struggle a bit.” The emotion was evident in her voice. She still hurt a lot, even now.
“Yes, of course. She’s lucky to have you.”
“Mom says she doesn’t need me to come by every day, but then who would do all the little things if I wasn’t around?” Kelly sighed. “Well, I’ll go check on the status of your room upstairs.”
