"The door's opening," Summer said quickly as she looked at Nick. "Can we talk about this later?"
"No. I think we need to talk about this now," Nick answered. "Right now … right now before I use my time for something else." His eyes fell on Billy again. "I need you to tell me that I misunderstood or that you were messing with Kyle or that you and Billy cooked up this stupid story to mess with your Mom or …"
Summer looked down at her feet, unable to come up with any way to make this sound better. "I …"
"Summer?" He stared at her, his eyes searching her face. When had this happened? When had the little girl that he helped raise become so reckless? "You aren't saying anything. You can't honestly be trying to tell me that you and Billy …"
"It was just one time and …"
"Oh my God …" He turned his back to her, an action he didn't think he'd ever do. No matter what his children had done in their lives, he'd always vowed to support them. His father had disowned him more than once when he hadn't been willing to kiss the ring so to speak and he'd made his own internal promise in those moments that he'd never require such strict adherence from his own children. He'd let them be whoever they were … mistakes and all and he'd love them even if he didn't agree with them. But this … This was beyond anything he'd ever imagined. "How could you do this, Summer? Billy? Your mother's boyfriend? I don't … I can't." There were no words he could say. Everything he considered sounded too much like judgment and everything else sounded suspiciously like condemnation. He shook his head and slowly walked away.
"So she's gonna be okay?" Jack let out a relieved sigh.
"We can't say anything for sure until we get all the test results back, but based on what we've seen so far …" The doctor stopped as Billy joined the group.
"How is she?" His voice was stressed as his eyes met Jack's "Is she awake? Is she okay?"
Jack held up his hand to stop the barrage of questions. "The doctor was just telling us what they've found out so far." He looked up at the doctor again. "Please go ahead."
"I was just saying that we need to wait and get all of the test results back before we can say anything for sure, but based on what we know right now, it appears a concussion and a few cracked ribs will be the worst of it."
"Can we see her?" Lauren asked.
"You can," the doctor answered with a terse nod, "but keep it brief. We want her to get some rest."
"Of course." Jack's eyes moved back to Billy's. "Are you gonna go in there?"
"Just for a second," he answered. "I just want her to know I was here and I need to see for myself that she's alright, but I'm not gonna stay. I don't think it'll do anybody any good."
Phyllis managed a weak smile as she saw the friendly faces enter the room.
"If you didn't want to come to a stuffy old board meeting, you could have just said so," Jack smiled. "You didn't have to go and wrap that fancy little car around a tree."
"You're right," she groaned. "I guess you figured me out. I was just …" Her eyes narrowed as she glared at him. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Jack watched as her face instantly changed, the gentle smile that was there just moments before now a thing of the past. In its place was a rage he hadn't seen in years.
"Get him out of here," she hissed as she looked towards Jack. "I want him out of here now!" She breathed in deeply, the pain it caused nothing next to the seething anger that ripped through her.
"Hey. Hey. Take it easy." Jack turned around, his eyes on Billy for a second before he returned his attention to her. "Listen, I know you and Billy are having some problems, but I think you should know that he's been here the entire time and …"
"Has he now?" Her voice shook as she stared at him. "And has he used any of that time to explain why we're having some problems?" She looked at him, here eyes fixed on his now nervous face. "Have you, Billy? Have you told your brother what you did?"
"Phyllis …" He shook his head as he looked at her, his eyes almost pleading. "Now really isn't …"
"Oh and why not? Why shouldn't we put it all out in the open? You're proud of yourself aren't you? You bested Phyllis Summers. You beat her at her own game. You got the ultimate revenge. Tell everyone. Tell your brother how you won. Tell him how you managed to get back at me, at Nick, at Summer at everyone …. Tell him how you slept with your girlfriend's daughter."
"I …" Jack's face was filled with the same disgust he'd seen on Phyllis' earlier that day.
"What did she say?" Jack looked at him, not at Phyllis, not at anyone else. He didn't want their input, didn't want their answers. He only wanted to hear it from him. "You tell me what she's talking about, Billy. You tell me she's wrong. You tell me you lied to her to hurt her or to get back at her for what she did with Nick, but you better not tell me that you actually did something as despicable as …"
"Mom?" Summer pushed the door open as she stepped into the room. "Nobody told me you were awake. I would have been here. I'm sorry. I …" The room was quiet … too quiet. "What's …"
"And there she is," Phyllis managed, her voice breaking as she looked at her daughter. "There's the sweet, beautiful little girl that I would lay down my own life for … she's come here to make sure that I'm okay, to show me how much she cares and yet she's was perfectly willing to get into bed with the man I love a little over a week ago. I tell you what … that's the kind of daughter every mother dreams of."
Summer's eyes were wide as she looked around the room. She stopped as her eyes met Billy's. "You told everyone?"
He shook his head. "Your Mom. She told them. I …"
"Oh because now you two want some discretion?" Her voice came out as a bit of a laugh as she watched their discomfort. "I'm terribly sorry if I revealed your little coup de grace at an inconvenient time. Life really sucks sometimes, doesn't it?"