Last Good Man: A Crown Creek Novel Page 8

  I dropped my phone like it scalded me and groaned for so long that Chrissi - who I was starting to suspect actually lived here - popped in looking concerned. "How's your pain level, honey?" She tapped the chart on the wall by my whiteboard.

  I considered the grimacing faces as they moved on the scale from mildly constipated looking to smoke coming out of their ears. Seven seemed right but awfully dramatic looking. "Four?" I ventured.

  She nodded and came over to tap a few buttons on one of the machines I was tethered to. I felt coolness seep into my veins and sighed. "Thank you."

  "You need to tell me when you get uncomfortable, honey." She fixed me with a serious look. "I don't want you thinking you need to suffer in silence."

  I nodded as she left, and then looked at the clock on the wall. Then on my phone. It was three thirty-two in the afternoon.

  That whole interaction had only taken up two minutes.

  I was going to lose my mind.

  With the painkillers now singing through my bloodstream, I tried closing my eyes, hoping that sleep would help pass the time. But for the first time in my life, I felt like I'd actually gotten enough sleep. Too much sleep, actually. I didn't even know that was possible.

  Frustrated, I gave up and opened my eyes again. Then snuck another look at my clock. Three thirty-five. Feeling mildly panicked, I started to amuse myself by counting the different types of beeps I was hearing. I was at five "boops," seventeen "dings," and twelve "bzzpts" when I heard a distinctive half-running tread on the hallway floor.

  I sat up smiling, almost gasping with relief. "Jakey?" I called.

  My little brother peered nervously into the room and my heart swelled with overjoyed pride to see his tentative, gap-toothed smile. "It's so good to see you!" I called. "I missed you!"

  At only eight years old, my little brother was already almost as tall as me. Shooting up like a weed had sucked out all the sweet little baby fat that had rounded his features so adorably when he was a baby. Now he was all angles - sharp elbows, knobby knees - even his hair stood up in jagged spikes. Usually. But today it was lying flat against his head - which meant my mother had probably just attacked him with a comb in the car because it never stayed that way for long. I was impressed with how my mother had managed to get his cowlick to stay down like that until he turned his head and noticed a clump of straight brown hair sticking out from the back of his head, hovering parallel to the ground. But still, that was better than usual. The rest was pinned down by a lot of water and, I suspected a little hairspray too.

  "You look so handsome, buddy!" I called.

  His good hand zoomed up to his hair. "Stop! Stop! Stop!" my mom begged as she followed in behind him and saw the mess he was making of her work. Then she sighed and threw up her hands. "Well, I tried."

  I was smiling so hard that my face hurt, all my boredom and pain forgotten. "What are you guys doing here?" I glanced worriedly at my mother. "Why aren't you at work?"

  "Even an asshole like Cal Finch wouldn't make me stay late when my daughter is laid up in the hospital." She waved away my silent, wincing reminder to stop swearing in front of Jakey. "I asked Dawn to cover me so I could grab Jake after school."

  Jake was approaching me slowly. His face screwed up as he inspected the lines and IVs, then darkened as he took in my cast and the bandage on my head. "Does it hurt?" he asked.

  I took a deep breath, weighing how much to tell him. Jake was a sensitive kid, prone to nightmares. I used to stay up all night soothing him when he had trouble sleeping as a toddler, then fall asleep in first period English without fail, relying on Claire to pass her meticulous notes to me in order to do my homework that night before starting the cycle all over again when he'd wake up crying and screaming. I pressed my lips together. I knew he wasn't a baby anymore, but I still didn't want to scare him.

  "A little bit, buddy," I conceded. "But I'm working really hard on getting better." I tried a grin. "How are you? How's school? Did you have your field trip? Wasn't that happening this week?"

  Jakey didn't answer. He was still staring at the IV with his brow furrowed. “Buddy?" I prompted. "I asked you a question -"

  "You should sue them!" he shouted with sudden vehemence.

  "What?" I looked at my mom for an explanation, but she looked equally lost. "Sue who?"

  "The people that did this to you!"

  "Well yeah, bud, I'd like to. But I don't know who it was."

  Jake shook his head so hard his cowlick sprang free. "They should find out!'

  I held up my good hand. "Hey bud, it's okay. The police are working on it..."

  "They need to work faster!" Jake's voice rose higher. "They hurt you, it's not fair, they need to go to jail!" His face was reddening alarmingly.

  My heart broke. I reached for my brother, but he was too far gone. So far gone, that when I reached out for him, he swatted my hand away with his left one instead of his right.

  It was only a moment, but I swore I could feel every ripple of scar tissue. And the clubbed curve of the fingers he'd never be able to fully straighten hit me harder than any fist could.

  Icy cold gripped my chest. I choked on the guilt that closed my throat. Fuck, Jakey, no. No, you shouldn't be here. It's not safe for you.

  "You need to take him home," I told my mother.

  She seemed confused by my sudden change of heart. "He's fine, Willa. He's just adjusting. Let him have his feelings."

  I hadn't realized I was shaking my head. Every cell in my body was revolting at once at the sight of my brother's distress. "No." I shook my head again, and panic made my voice harsh and guttural. "No, this is too much. You shouldn't have brought him to let him see me this way. Bad idea, Mom. Really bad idea."

  My mother's nostrils flared. "I thought you'd want to see your brother," she said tightly. "And he wanted to see you."

  "Not here. When the time is right. When I can be sure that... this, won't happen." I angrily pointed, indicating his flood of rage-filled tears.

  My mother closed her mouth. Without a word, she put her hand on Jake's shoulder. My stomach twisted when he curled into her, burying his face against her chest. She led him from the room this way, without a look backward, without saying goodbye.

  And I was glad of it. She should have never brought him. It was too much to ask of him. It was too scary for him to see.

  Poor Jake.

  I leaned back and closed my eyes again, only this time it was to keep the tears from slipping out. I was too jacked up on painkillers, too numbed to my senses to be able to properly cry though. I picked up my phone.

  Four oh two. I let my head fall back onto the pillow and stared at the ceiling.

  * * *

  Chapter

  Chapter Sixteen

  Willa

  "Hey."

  "Willa? Hey."

  My eyes fluttered back open from a soggy, unrestful nap to see him standing next to my bed with a smile and a plastic bag in his hand.

  Cooper.

  "Hey." I sat up, rubbing my eyes, and then smiled back at him because...

  Well, fuck. I was bored and cranky. And also really bored. And in spite of him being - well, Cooper - he was surprisingly easy to talk to. And surprisingly attentive too. I'd never expected that Cooper Grant would be the one to visit me the most, even more than Claire, Ruby, and Sadie.

  Not to mention there was also the whole "saving my life" thing. How could I not be happy to see him when I owed him so much?

  Yeah, I was really, really happy to see him.

  It was startling the way my heart leaped when I saw his clear blue eyes, and it was even more surprising how relieved I was to see that he'd clearly slept. He looked like he'd showered and shaved too, and his clothes were decidedly less rumpled.

  He looked... really good.

  "Sorry to wake you."

  I realized I was grinning like a loon at him and tried to pull back a little. I shook my head. "No, you're not."

  He grinned. "It's just, I
promised Liam I'd FaceTime with you."

  "Now?" I reached up and patted my rat's nest of a hairdo. "I haven't bathed in almost three days."

  "You look fine. And besides, who are you trying to impress? Isn't he your ex-boyfriend?"

  I gave him a sharp look to see if he meant that as a dig, and was surprised to see a glint in his eye.

  He was teasing me.

  I sort of... liked it.

  "Maybe I want to look good for my fiancé," I declared loftily. The corners of his eyes crinkled when he laughed.

  "Yeah well, he says you look amazing, so let's get this over with. He gave me a time limit." He bent his head to make the call, while I sat there and tried not to think about how he'd just told me I looked amazing.

  There was a burst of feedback and then Liam's tinny voice. "You really like waiting until the last possible minute, don't you Grant?"

  I laughed, feeling my heart skipping strangely to hear his voice again. It felt like his party was a lifetime ago. "Where are you?" I called.

  "Turn the damn phone around," I heard Liam grumbling. "I'm not interested in seeing you." Cooper scratched his nose with his middle finger and then turned the screen towards me.

  "Liam." I wasn't going to cry. He'd feel guilty and I didn't want him feeling guilty. Liam could never stand my tears, even when they were on his behalf. "Hey big-city bigshot, how are you holding up?"

  But he straight up ignored my bid to keep him from worrying. "Jesus, Willa." Even in the bad light of Cooper's tiny screen, I could see how the blood had drained from his normally tanned face. "How are you feeling?"

  The way his eyes were shining hurt more than the gash on my forehead. "Better," I lied. "I'm fine, really."

  "Cooper!" Liam bellowed. Cooper turned the screen to face him. "You need to watch her."

  The corner of Cooper's mouth. "Yeah, I know -"

  "No, I mean it," Liam interrupted. "Make sure she rests. Don't let her take on too much. I'm not there to make sure she doesn't over-do it, so it's on you."

  "Liam, I'm fine -" I said just as Cooper gave our friend a hard look.

  "What do you think I've been doing?" he hissed.

  Heavy silence. I wanted to speak, to cut the tension, but I couldn't get words past the lump in my throat. I stared at Cooper, but he wouldn't look at me. He'd turned his head and was deliberately staring at something on the wall that only he could see.

  Liam said something I couldn't hear but made Cooper nod. Then he twisted his hand so that I was face to face with Liam again. "I'll call again tomorrow morning, Will. And it had better be a wake-up call. You have to sleep in, that's an order."

  I felt the corner of my mouth twitch. "Make me."

  "You know that I have no problem coming up there right now and slipping you an Ambien. But I don't want to have to, Will." He made a pained face. "Much as I hate to say this, you need to listen to Coop, okay?"

  I glanced up at Cooper. He still wasn't looking at me. But my stomach twisted anyway. Because I recognized that expression on his face. The one I was used to seeing when he was around me.

  Contempt. Mistrust.

  Hatred.

  I looked back at his phone where Liam was still watching me, and the pieces slid into place. With Liam not around us, Cooper and I had been able to settle into something easy. Almost like a friendship. But with Liam in the room, even digitally, the old baggage was back again. Hurt slid like a knife under my ribs, and suddenly - as much as I missed him, as much as I treasured him - I wanted Liam gone so that Cooper and I could be okay again.

  "I'll do that," I promised my best guy-friend. "Even though I think the city smog has impaired your decision-making for you to even suggest it, I'll listen to Cooper."

  Liam nodded. "Miss you, Will."

  I blinked and smiled and hated how disloyal I felt for rushing him off the phone. Loyalty to Liam was so deeply ingrained in me that it physically hurt, but, "I think I'll get started on that good night's sleep soon. I'm getting tired."

  "Of course. Talk to you tomorrow."

  "Sounds good." I smiled one more time, and then waved my good hand goodbye just so he'd believe me that I was okay and hang up.

  Cooper pulled his phone back and tapped the End button. He must have felt the same way as I did, because the second Liam was gone, he met my eyes again. "So," he said.

  "So."

  "You have to listen to me?" He smiled faintly. "That could be fun."

  Some of the ice melted around my heart. "I just told him that so he'd stop worrying. You didn't actually think I was serious, did you?"

  His faint smile widened a fraction. "I have no problem with calling him to rat you out."

  "Snitch."

  He laughed, and I sagged into my pillow I was so relieved to hear it again. "You know it." He rubbed his hands together evilly, setting the plastic bag he was still holding to swinging.

  "What's that?" I asked.

  He looked down at it like he'd forgotten he'd even brought it. There was no store logo on it, just the generic "Thank You Thank You Thank You" printed in red ink all over the surface. Whatever it was, it was small enough that I couldn't make out the shape of it but heavy enough to have it swinging at the slightest motion.

  "Oh." His face changed again. I saw hesitation and realization, along with... something else. It wasn't mischief, although there was a lot of that in it too. It was something like delight. "So before I came, I stopped to look at an apartment."

  That caught me by surprise. "You're moving out of your parents' house?" Cooper lived in one of the new developments that were springing up around the town as farmers sold off their land to developers. Developers like Cooper's father, Fred Grant, of Grant Properties.

  The corner of his mouth twisted in a wry smile. "Yeah, that's not... public knowledge yet."

  I nodded. "I won't tell anyone."

  He gave me an odd look, then glanced at the bag in his hand again. "It's the place on Mill Street on the corner. The white house, top floor."

  "Oh, the one with the second-floor porch? That'd be nice."

  He looked oddly touched. "Yeah. And it's right next to Royal Crown Jewelry."

  Most businesses around here was named similarly. Crown Tavern. Royal Diner. Royal Crown Jewelry. Even our most famous residents had the last name of King.

  "That place always looks like it's one bad day away from going out of business forever. I don't think I've ever seen anyone go in there."

  He lifted the bag. "Well, I did."

  Why was my heart thumping so hard as he reached into the bag. And why did it stop altogether when he pulled out a small velvet case? I squeezed my eyes shut when he opened it and I tried to remember how to breathe.

  "Cooper, what is that?" I opened my eyes to see that there was now something shiny in his hand. "What is that?"

  He burst out laughing. “Jesus, Willa. You sound completely panicked. I’m not holding a bomb.”

  I stared at the small, sparkly circle. “Sure feels that way,” I whispered.

  “Oh my God, so dramatic.” He brandished the ring at me and laughed when I flinched. “People keep asking me where your ring is.” It gleamed, winking at me. “Here.”

  I gaped at him. “Not...”

  “In a million years?” he finished,

  I licked my lips. “I was gonna say, ‘even if you were the last man on earth.'”

  He clutched his hand to his heart. “That’s a little much, don’t you think?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Okay maybe. If you really were the last man on earth, I might grudgingly consider it.”

  “That’s the spirit.” He placed the ring on the tip of my finger. “Willa Harlow, if we are the last two people on earth...” His eyes twinkled. “And my right hand was somehow broken.”

  “Gross.” I stuck out my tongue. “And if I’ve suffered a head wound.” I considered. “A worse head wound.”

  “If we're old and gray...”

  “And ugly?”

  “Never gonna h
appen.”

  He winked. Dick.

  I sat up straighter. “And if I suddenly develop a taste for assholes...”

  “And in the unlikely event I cannot find any other options. The very unlikely event...”

  “And if I suddenly have terrible judgment.”

  He nodded. “If all this happens.” He slipped the ring onto my finger. “Then will you marry me?”

  I looked up at the man who’d saved my life. I hated that I owed him so much. I also hated that this was freaking hilarious.

  “Fine.” I threw up my now decorated hand. “I’ll marry you, sure. Whatever.”

  A noise made us both look up. Chrissi had come in just then, and caught the tail end of Cooper’s “proposal.” He froze. I snuck a wary look at him before fastening my eyes to the floor. Was that it? Was the jig finally up?

  Chrissi made a noise like a leaky balloon. Her eyes shone as she clasped her hands to her heart. “Not many brides are that chill,” she sighed. “I can’t stand it! You two are so perfect together!”

  * * *

  Chapter

  Chapter Seventeen

  Cooper

  She had a ring now. A cheap piece of crap I'd snagged for $29.99 on clearance. A little joke that was the icing on the giant lie-cake I'd baked without realizing. I'd just run into the jewelry store without thinking and grabbed the least expensive ring I could find.

  And it fit her perfectly.

  The rest of the visit just glanced off of me, barely registering because I was too distracted by the sight of it winking there on her right hand - her right because her left one was caught in the cast. My "proposal" was supposed to be a gag, but the act of slipping it onto her finger made me antsy. Even if Liam hadn't charged me with watching out for her to make sure she took the time needed to recover, I realized I would have charged myself with it. I’d saved her life... and then I’d put a ring on her finger. Gag gift or not, it felt like it meant something. Bit by bit I was making myself responsible for her in ways I wasn't even aware of until after they happened. It felt like the time I'd waded too far out into the creek as a kid. The water was shallow, but moving fast enough that it swept my feet right out from under me. I'd landed flat on my back with the wind knocked out of me, staring up at the sky and wondering what the hell had just happened... but not so confused that I didn’t just get right up and make the same mistake again a few minutes later.