Summer's Last Breath

Part 22

I called Ally and told her I was sick. Wasn't far from the truth. I was sick with worry and the repeated scenarios rushing through my mind as I stared at my phone, willing it to ring. I paced the foyer, waiting for my dad to come bursting through the door and tell me what the hell was going on. I paced around the pool, thinking maybe Jamie would show up and put my mind at ease. What was taking so long? Jamie had fielded my dad's call almost four hours ago. I should have heard something by now.


Out of desperation, I started to call my mom, when I heard my dad's car pulling up in the driveway. I was out the door in a hot minute.


"What happened?" I asked, searching his face frantically. His short, spiky hair stuck up all over his head as though he'd run his hands through it a thousand times. His normally bright eyes were dull with fatigue, the kind that comes from worrying.


"Accident," he said. "Chopper went down in the Gulf.


"Is anyone hurt?" I fell in stride with him as he walked back inside, his gait slow and measured.


"Donovan suffered a head injury," he said, running his hand over his face. I immediately went to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer, popped the top and handed it to him.


"Thanks," he said and plopped on a stool at the kitchen island. I was still too distraught to sit.


"Is he okay?" That my dad was home after one of his men had been injured meant one of two things: either Donovan was all right, or he was dead.


"He's fine," he said, with a note of reservation in his tone. He took a sip of his beer and looked at me with tired eyes.


"And Jamie?" I couldn't stop myself from asking.


"Tonight might have ended in disaster if it weren't for him," he said, almost begrudgingly. "Donovan would've suffered a lot more than a bump on the head."


"But he's all right?" I was glad Donovan was alive and well, but my dad hadn't answered my question. 


"Yes, Erin, he's perfectly fine. I left him at the hospital sitting with Donovan. His parents are flying in from Texas. The guys were going to stay with him until they get there."


"And no one else was hurt?"


"A few minor abrasions and bruises, nothing serious."


"Well, that's good," I said, feeling a deep sense of relief. For the first time in over four hours, I took a fulfilling breath. "And it's good Jamie's with Donovan. It means they aren't angry anymore."


"Jamie more than likely saved Donovan's life. His GPS malfunctioned. It would have been hours or more before we found him, had we found him at all. He didn't have hours."


"So what does that mean?" I asked, my hope that maybe tonight's events would change my dad's mind about Jamie's standing with the team.


"It means, I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. I'm exhausted. But first," he leveled that steely gaze on me, "I want you to tell me what you were doing with Jamie."


"Talking." Were we really going to have this conversation right now after what had happened? Seemed pretty insignificant now. Apparently, my dad didn't see it that way. "We were friends dad. I miss him. And before you go blaming him again, I blindsided him. He didn't know I was going over, so if you want to rake someone over the coals, that person would be me."


He let out a labored breath and took another sip of beer. "You're giving that boy a hell of a time."


"No, you are." This whole situation was stupid. I wasn't a child anymore. Jamie certainly wasn't, and I was tired and emotionally overworked enough to say so. Then I stomped out of the kitchen before the tears that threatened fell, and headed for the stairs. Why was my dad continuing to be so obstinate when it was obvious Jamie had proven himself?


When I'd closed myself in my room, I checked my phone, surprised to see I had a message from Jamie. 


Jamie: you get in trouble?


Me: no


Jamie: I was worried.


Me: you're the big hero now.


Jamie: I guess. Donovan says to tell you he's sorry.


Me: he can tell me himself when I come see him tomorrow.
 

I waited for an hour for another text from Jamie, but it never came. Eventually I fell asleep clutching my phone in my hand.