Chapter Eighteen

The Truth Behind Tennis

When the sun rose the following day, it was hidden behind a handful of gray clouds, which seemed to be growing with every moment, giving New Port Beach a strange sort of glow caused by the not quite sunrise. By the time is was mid-morning, the clouds had grown thicker and the sun wasn't visible, another overcast day in paradise.

The first thing Marissa did when she felt herself begin to wake was curl her toes, keeping her eyes closed and holding her breath, making sure that it wasn't just a dream. Her legs responded like they should have, she was nearly normal once again.

Exhaling with a faint smile on her face (she realized she had been doing a lot of smiling lately), Marissa opened her eyes, chasing away the last wisps of sleep and letting herself adjust to her surroundings, which had slowly become more and more familiar. Including the presence of Ryan, who was sleeping soundly beside her, his fingers limply intertwined with hers. As she watched him, Marissa realized just how stupid she was to have ever thought that Ryan would love anyone but her. Teresa was just a good friend; seeing Ryan asleep beside her was further proof of that.

Marissa sighed contently and shifted her gaze away from Ryan and toward the ceiling of her hospital room, counting the grooves and nicks in the plaster. For the first time in days, she felt as though she had nothing to worry about, like a huge burden had been lifted off her heart and everything really was going to be all right after all.

When Dr. Browning quietly entered the room, peeking in to see if she was awake, Marissa looked over at him, a faint smile still on her lips. Browning seemed to brighten at her state. "Good morning, Marissa." He said, tucking his clipboard under his arm. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better." Marissa answered truthfully. There was a beat of silence and she knew that now was as good a time as any to ask the question tugging at her mind since she'd regained the use of her legs. "When do you think I'm going to be able to go home?"

Browning remained silent, taking in her question and letting it settle in his mind; sending patients home was something that had to be debated carefully, all the pros and cons and possible outcomes weighed heavily upon. "Well," he began, "I wanted to start your physical therapy today but if you do as well as I hope, there's a chance you might even be able to go home later this evening." It was a stretch but Marissa seemed completely recovered and though he knew looks could be deceiving, her recovery was something Browning wasn't second-guessing about.

Marissa's smile returned, even bigger then it had been before. "Great." She said and, in truth, it was. It was absolutely fantastic. "When do I start?"

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Hailey squinted her eyes as she read over the nearly printed and quite extensive list her sister had given her earlier that morning. "If I didn't have to work, I'd go to the store myself," Kirsten had said at what had felt like the crack of dawn as she got her briefcase organized. "But you know how dad is. Anyway, I made the list as clear as possible and you can just use the Visa." She had rushed out of the house then, leaving Hailey standing in the kitchen with a shopping list, trying to wake herself up enough to even read it.

And now, as she stood in the fresh produce section, Hailey still couldn't figure out why the list Kirsten had given her was so long. Her sister didn't even cook, what did she need all of this food for? But she wasn't about to say that to Kirsten, now was she?

Tossing the list back into the cart she was not so gently shoving along in front of her, Hailey sighed and continued along the chilled aisles, studying the assorted fruits, trying to figure out which apples were Washington Apples. This is so boring, she thought to herself as she grabbed several apples and tossed them into the cart, not caring whether or not they were Washington. She was never going grocery shopping again.

With the apples crossed off the list, Hailey headed toward the front of the store, wishing that she was one of the lucky ones in the check-out lines. She still had a ways to go, since the apples were the first thing she had been able to cross off her list. She didn't even want to look at what was left, it was too dispiriting.

Hailey was studying a display of different ready-to-make pastas when she felt someone grab her arm with a considerable amount of force, causing her breath to catch in her throat. Even before she turned to look, she knew who she would see standing behind her; only one person would touch her like that. "How-" Hailey whispered, her heart hammering in her chest, mouth too dry to say anything more.

"I told you that I'd find you." Hailey forced herself to look up, heart seeming to skip a beat when she saw the face of Jacob Sanders, the reason she had fled L.A. with her tail between her legs. Until she actually saw his face, his shadowed eyes and greasy bangs, she had tried to let herself believe that it wasn't really him, that it was just some horrible nightmare or misunderstanding. But there was no mistaking the face she was staring into, the hate burning in his seemingly coal-black eyes as he gripped her arm even tighter.

Hailey tried to pull away but Jacob held onto her, his thick fingers pinching her flesh. "Let go of me." She commanded with as much force as she could, which wasn't much. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she was feeling that familiar stomach churning fear that she felt every time Jacob was near her, developing a sickly sweet taste in her mouth. She tugged her arm again but Jacob jerked her closer to him, causing her hip to bump against the nearly empty shopping cart, knocking the cart into the pasta display.

"Come back to L.A. with me, Hailey." Jacob said, his voice low, his face close to hers, breath smelling of stale alcohol. "You belong there with me."

"Bullshit." Hailey hissed, tears pricking the corners of her eyes from the pain in her arm, which was slowly growing numb. "Let go of me. You're hurting me." But, then again, when had that ever stopped him?

Jacob didn't act as though she had even spoken; he pulled her closer to him. "Listen to me, you're coming back to L.A., whether you like it or not." He said, voice deadly low. "You think you can just leave like this, huh?" He jerked her roughly, and Hailey bit her tongue to keep from crying out.

Hailey looked away from Jacob, and saw that several people in the check-out lines were staring at them. She tried to pull away again. "Help me!" She cried, something she had never done before when Jacob was throwing his weight around. It felt good to let him know that she wasn't going to be his punching bag anymore.

Jacob grabbed a fist-full of hair and yanked, forcing Hailey to look back at him; as soon as her face was turned toward him again, he struck her with the back of his hand. Hailey's vision became blurry with tears as a little cry escaped her lips. Without another word, he released her, shoving her away from him and into the crooked shopping cart behind her; the cart skidded away from her and Hailey landed on the cold, tile ground, her head spinning.

Hailey took a deep breath, closing her eyes and forcing herself not to cry, that bastard would not make her cry again. When she finally opened her eyes again, she was surrounded by a gaggle of concerned shoppers, a several people who were just gawking at her, like they had never seen a woman hit before. This is New Port, she reminded herself, they probably haven't.

"Are you all right?" A middle-aged woman was asking her, resting her hand on her knee, a comforting, motherly gesture that Hailey took no solace from.

Hailey nodded, though she was shaking too badly to make the gesture look convincing. "I'm fine." Her voice was shaking as well, tears threatening to spill onto her cheeks. Her face was sore, burning from Jacob's latest punch, and she hoped that she didn't cry; that would just make it worse.

The middle-aged woman and another man from the crowd helped Hailey to her feet and she tried to collect herself, to keep her body from shaking. Mumbling a word of thanks, she shrugged them off and headed for the door, abandoning her shopping cart and Kirsten's list, toward the payphone waiting outside.

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Jimmy was nearly to the hospital when his cell phone went off inside his pocket, startling him since he had become accustomed to the silence that surrounded his car. With one eye still on the road, he retrieved his cell from his pocket and flipped it open, nestling it between his ear and shoulder. "Hello?"

"Jimmy, it's Hailey." The voice on the other line was shaking, nervous and instantly got his attention. There was silence on the line as Hailey sniffed, waiting for him to speak first.

"Hailey, what's the matter?" Jimmy questioned, brow knitting with worry whether she could see him or not. "Are you all right? Where are you?" He felt his shoulders begin to tense as scenarios flashed through his head at lightning speed.

The silence hung for a moment before Hailey pulled herself together enough to answer. "I'm at the grocery store." She answered, her voice shaking just as badly as before. "Can you come and pick me up?" She didn't want Kirsten to see her like this, so suddenly after Jacob had showed up, because she still didn't want her sister to know the truth. To know that she was still too scared of him to do anything about what he did to her, that she still wasn't strong enough to defend herself.

"Of course." Jimmy answered without hesitation, checking his rearview mirrors before performing a U-turn and heading back the way he had come. "I'll be there in five minutes."

Hailey sniffed again, taking a deep breath. "Thanks." She said before hanging up and leaving Jimmy listening to a dial tone.

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Hailey was sitting outside on a bright, white painted bench beside the pay phone when Jimmy pulled his car into the nearest parking space he could find. She had her head bowed, staring down at the ground, wringing her hands, seeming to refuse to look up at him, even when he called her name. Hailey blinked away the few tears that remained in her eyes and lifted her head, forcing herself to smile slightly. "Hi Jimmy." She said, her voice low. "Thanks for coming."

It didn't take Jimmy long to see the tears in her eyes and the bruise forming on her right cheek and he knelt in front of her. "Hailey, what happened?" He questioned, gingerly touching her cheek. She turned her head away, letting several locks of hair fall across her cheek.

Hailey swallowed. "Remember that guy I told you about, the one I was staying with in L.A.?" Jimmy nodded, how could he forget? "Well, he found me; he showed up here and demanded I come back to L.A. with him."

Jimmy's brow knitted once again, this time with anger toward someone who was no longer around. "What?" He said, incredulously and Hailey kept her gaze downward. "That son of a bitch." He pursed his lips, pausing, before asking, "What did you say?"

Hailey sighed and looked up at him. "It doesn't matter." She told him and Jimmy realized she was right, it didn't matter what she said, there were more important things at stake. "He's going to make me go back with him, Jimmy." Her eyes grew wide as her heart started hammering in her chest at the thought. Either that or he was going to kill her, there was no doubt in her mind that those were her two alternatives.

"Like hell he will." Jimmy snapped and Hailey wished that she could have as much confidence as he did. But he didn't know Jacob like she did. "We'll just go to the police."

Hailey shook her head the instant the suggestion left his lips. "No." She said quickly and Jimmy looked at her with a confused expression in his eyes. Getting the police involved would just drag up her past, what she had been doing those few months in L.A., working as a striper to make money to feed her newly developed drug habit, letting Jacob's friend pimp for her whenever she needed money desperately. She didn't even want to think about those things and she sure as hell didn't want Jimmy and Kirsten to know about them. "No, we can handle this."

Jimmy studied her for a long moment, trying to read the emotions in her eyes and figure out what was going on in her head. It was obvious that Hailey was hurting, that she was suffering from some memory that wouldn't leave her alone. Something he couldn't do anything about. But she was trying, trying to move past it, to start over fresh and he wasn't going to force her to remain with her painful memories. "Fine." Jimmy said reluctantly, nodding slowly.

Hailey let out a heavy sigh, of relief Jimmy guessed, and smiled faintly at him. "Thanks Jimmy." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her face against his chest, ignoring the throbbing in her cheek.

Jimmy kissed her on the cheek and sighed as well, quietly, his mind racing. He wasn't going to go to the police, he'd made that promise but that wasn't going to keep him from talking to Sandy. Because, he wasn't entirely sure they could handle Jacob themselves.

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After leaving the grocery store, Jimmy suggested taking Hailey back to the Cohen house so that she could rest or compose herself before going by the hospital to visit Marissa. She agreed almost wordlessly, feeling suddenly so exhausted that she couldn't keep her eyes open, though she had no idea where the sudden bout had come from. During the drive home, she sat in the passenger seat in silence with her knees drawn up and her head resting on the window, eyes shut. Jimmy watched her out of the corner of his eye, seeing how her beauty was only marred by the forming bruise on her freckled cheek; he knew that if he ever got his hands on Jacob, he'd make sure that he knew what it felt like.

The Cohen SUV was in the driveway when Jimmy pulled in, something that surprised him since he was pretty sure that Kirsten had to go to work that morning. When he pulled the key out of the ignition, Hailey opened her eyes and yawned, looking over at Jimmy and smiling. "Thanks again." She said before he had the chance to get out of the car. "For everything."

Jimmy smiled and leaned over to kiss her, hoping that he would be seeing a lot more of her smile in the coming days. Things were going to get better, that was what he'd been telling himself ever since Marissa had been shot and that was what he told Hailey now when the kiss was broken.

"I hope so." Hailey said with a slight sigh in her voice. "I really hope so."

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When Hailey and Jimmy entered the Cohen house, they found Seth and Sandy in the living room attempting to create a large banner out of computer paper. Seth was frowning at his father, holding up a sheet with a large red W that clearly clashed with the sheet Sandy was holding, a smaller, blue E. Sandy looked away from his son and the sheets in their hands when Jimmy and Hailey shut the door and smiled slightly. "You're just in time, we could use all the help we can get."

Hailey cocked her head slightly, studying the papers. "Help with what?" She asked, trying to figure out just what the Cohen men were attempting to do with a box of crayons and several sheets of paper.

Seth turned to look at them. "Ryan just called a few minutes ago." He explained. "He said that the doctors said that Marissa could come home today."

Jimmy brightened instantly. "Really? That's great." A huge smile spread across his face at the thought of his daughter back in the house again. With Marissa home again, everything really would be back to normal. The hours he had spent in his apartment had been much too lonely; it would be good to have his daughter back.

"It was Kirsten's idea to throw her a welcome home party." Sandy added, gesturing toward the makeshift banner that wasn't looking too promising.

Hailey's eyes scanned the room for a moment. "Where is Kirsten?" She questioned, suddenly feeling nervous again. With the new bruise she had on her cheek, her sister was going to demand to know the whole truth behind her months in L.A. and she had remained silent long enough. Kirsten loved her and she had a right to know.

Sandy told her that Kirsten was in the kitchen, trying to find a caterer on such sort notice and Hailey disappeared into the kitchen without another word. Jimmy watched her go and Sandy watched him, trying to read just what he was feeling about his sister-in-law. Jimmy wasn't exactly smiling, his mind seemed stuck on something serious, but the way he felt about Hailey was undeniable anyway. He just hoped things worked out for once.

When Hailey entered the kitchen, Kirsten was thumbing through the phone book, chewing on the end of a pen as she read the list of numbers in front of her. "Kirsten," Hailey's voice was lower then she would have liked and she cleared her throat. "Can I talk to you?"

Kirsten looked up and was about to smile at her sister when she noticed the black and purple bruise forming on her cheek. "Hailey, what happened?" She abandoned her phone book and quickly went to her sister's side. "Are you all right?"

Hailey assured her that she was, taking a deep breath. "When I loved in L.A., I had to stay with this guy because I couldn't afford a place of my own." She began and Kirsten watched her silently. "He's the one that hit me."

Kirsten's brow knitted with concern and she took her sister's hand. "Honey, why didn't you do something? Go to the police? Or come here?" She questioned, feeling Hailey's words tug at her heart. She had known all along that someone had been hitting her sister but it still pained her to hear the words from Hailey, to see the tears well in her sister's eyes and the way her voice shook as she spoke.

"I couldn't go to the police." Hailey answered, looking down at the floor. "And I didn't even have money for bus fare." A tear slipped onto her bruised cheek and Kirsten brushed it away.

"I would have come to get you." Kirsten told her, forcing Hailey to look up at her again. "Why didn't you call? Why didn't you tell me?"

Hailey sighed. "He wouldn't have let me." She told her sister. "But I sent you that postcard." She reminded.

"Right, but that didn't say anything about what was happening." Kirsten pointed out. "If I had I would have been down there in a heartbeat."

Hailey studied her sister for a moment. "I told you I was a tennis instructor." She said and Kirsten nodded, waiting for her to continue. "Remember when we were kids, and I used to say that if I ever became a tennis instructor then I was in real trouble?" She smiled slightly at the memory.

Kirsten nodded slowly, remembering the conversation she and her sister had had during one afternoon after Hailey had made her quitting tennis lessons official by attempting to pelt the instructor with her racquet. That was what had bothered her so much about Hailey's poster card, why her mind had kept worrying over the fact that she had said she was a tennis instructor. "I remember now." She told Hailey. "I'm sorry I didn't then."

"It's all right, I didn't really expect you to anyway." Hailey assured her sister, squeezing her hand. "Hey, I got out didn't I?"

Kirsten smiled slightly and nodded. "Yes, you did." She agreed. "Promise me, if you leave again, you won't hesitate to come here. You always have a place here."

Hailey promised and it felt good to hear those words. For the first time in her life, she really believed them.

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After Ryan got off the phone with the Cohens, giving them the good news about Marissa, he headed down to the gift shop. In the back of his mind, he told himself that he was just going to buy Marissa more flowers to decorate the room she would soon be leaving but he knew that flowers weren't the entire reason he was making the trip. He wanted to see Teresa again, wanted to see that familiar, smiling face.

Luckily, Teresa was working behind the counter, scribbling something in a notebook as she tapped her fingers against the surface of the counter. "Hey Teresa." Ryan greeted when he entered the shop. "What's up?"

Teresa smiled at him, looking up from her notebook. "Just thinking of baby names." She told him, gesturing toward the notebook. "What do you think of the name Benjamin?"

"Definitely a keeper." Ryan smiled and stood in front of the counter. Teresa smiled as well, jotted something down in her notebook and then looked up again.

"How's Marissa?" She asked, hoping that the news was positive like it had been last night.

Ryan's smile grew even wider. "She's great; the doctor's are sending her home today." He told her, feeling even more relief every time he said those words. Marissa was going home, things were going to work out. "That's what I came to tell you, actually." Teresa looked at him with interest. "The Cohens are throwing a party for her and I thought it would be nice if you could come; that way you'd get to meet everyone and see Marissa again."

Teresa didn't look to certain. "I don't know if that's such a good idea, Ryan." She told him.

Ryan frowned slightly. "Why not?" He wanted Teresa to give him one good reason.

"I'm not sure that I'd fit in." Teresa told him. "They're your friends."

Ryan shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah but that doesn't mean they can't be your friends too." He pointed out. "You'd like them. Just please come; for a little while." He gave her his best puppy down look, the one he had practiced many times for the role of Snoopy in middle school.

Teresa smiled and rolled her eyes; she never could resist the Snoopy look. "If you're sure it's all right-" Ryan nodded. "I guess I can stop by for a little while."

Ryan smiled again. "Thanks." Teresa waved her hand dismissively. "It'll be fun, you'll see."