Honte

Chapter Eight

"Hey..."

I never thought hearing Aunt Emma's voice would be so comforting.

"Aunt Emma? What... what happened?"

She squeezed my hand. "The car crashed into the Manzanella Harbor—you would've drowned if Tristan and Robert hadn't seen you. Thank God you're okay."

"How long was I out?"

"It's been three days," Aunt Emma replied. "Oh dear, we were so worried."

I squeezed her hand. "I'll be okay."

I was about to lean over the left side of my hospital bed when I noticed Henry, wrapped in a letterman jacket, asleep on the loveseat against the window.

"...Henry?"

Aunt Emma looked over and smiled. "He's been here since the day of the accident. Such a sweet boy, dear.... I believe he hasn't gone home."

"He's really nice," I said, smiling.

Sigh... Henry was such a good guy. We were off to an okay start, I guess. Maybe things could be different this time around.

"Are you hungry, dear? Maybe I can get you something?"

"No thank you, Aunt Emma. I think I'll be okay."

"Nonsense, dear! You haven't eaten in days! I'll go find you something in the cafeteria," she said. She took her handbag from the side table, kissing me on the forehead. "Thank God you're okay."

Aunt Emma gave me a reassuring smile before she left.

I was about to doze off again when I heard a quiet knock on the door.

"Come in..." I said sleepily, yawning.

The door opened, and in came a friendly, tired face. "Vi?"

Ava smiled. She was dressed in a large pullover, pastel jeans and white sneakers, and looked exhausted. "Hey..."

"What are you doing here? I thought..."

She squeezed my hand. "I guess it wasn't really going to work out," she said. "The first few days were amazing, but we just kept fighting about dad and going back and I couldn't take it anymore. "

"I'm just glad you're back," I said.

"I am too," Ava said. "Let's just have a great summer, okay?"

"We can try," I laughed.

Ava noticed Henry asleep on the seat near the window. "Is that... Coddington?" she said. She looked at me with a knowing smile. "You're a lucky girl."

"I know..." I said. I promised myself I'd make it up to Henry as soon as I got out of the hospital.

Ava stayed until midnight, joining me long enough to have noodle soup for dinner with Aunt Emma. Despite how she'd reacted to Ava's engagement, Aunt Emma was surprisingly calm with her. She listened intently to Ava's London stories, and praised her for realizing by herself how stupid the decision was at the end.

"Trust me—you're lucky," she said in between spoons of soup. "I've had friends who stayed with their summer flings and the results weren't good," Aunt Emma joked.

Ava laughed. "Well, I'm glad I made a good choice then," she said. She took Aunt Emma's hand. "Thank you for being so... nice about this."

"No problem, dear," Aunt Emma said, squeezing her hand.

Ava left at around 12:30, and Aunt Emma followed. The soup made me sleepy, so I ended up dozing off again.

"Honey, I swear! I didn't know ANYTHING!"