Merry Christmas! It is literally a little past two in the morning on this delightful day, but made it just in time for this chapter to be published.
Gillian walked into the kitchen, just as Emily bookmarked her place and set her book on the table. "What are you reading?"
"The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. It's for my English class."
"You know, I think I read that book when I was your age."
Picking up the book, she opened to the very first page. "I just started it last night, so all I know is that a man arrives at the railway station in town, and now I just got to the part where his luggage arrived at the inn. I told a friend that we could compare notes after we finish reading."
"When do you have to read it by?"
"We have to read the book by May 6th, then most likely we'll either discuss the book with the class, or the partner we were assigned with at the beginning of the semester."
"Speaking of May. . . I was trying to think of something you would you like for your birthday?"
Emily thought about it. "I actually haven't given it much thought. I guess If I could, I would love to learn how to drive so my parents don't always have to pick me up all the time. Seeing how we're minus a car right now, I'm guessing that won't be happening for awhile."
"Probably not right away." Her tone seemed to present her guilt. "Although I feel slightly responsible for that one."
"What happened that night?" Emily hesitated slightly, slowly drawing out her words.
"That night your father talked me into taking me out for dinner. I believe I told him that as long as it was near the hospital, I would agree to it."
"I must have been at mom's house. What place is this?"
"The noodle place that was a couple blocks away from the hospital. After we left the restaurant, your father and I were talking and were headed back to the hospital when someone ran into us in the intersection."
"Did you ever figure out who it was? Nevermind. You told me at the hospital that there was a five year old girl and her mother?"
Gillian nodded solemnly. "I found Elena in the back seat, scared and worried about her mother-" Gillian paused, momentarily overwhelmed by the memories and the echoes of shattering glass, screams of Elena yelling for her dying mother and her own muffled terror when Cal's car blew up. "I meant to grab Elena's mother but I knew it was too late; the way she was slumped over and her fading pulse, I knew there was nothing that I could do."
"She died at the scene, right?"
"From what I remember, she was pinned against the steering wheel. There was no way that I could have gotten her out, like I had wanted to." Gillian deliberately left out the details of how she thought that Cal was dead after the explosion, the five year old's mother being pried by the jaws of death as they were all being checked out by paramedics. "Your father refused to be put on the stretcher."
"Sounds like something he would do." Emily stared just past her shoulder. "Mom was so freaked out when we received the call. I still don't think she knows exactly what happened, except for what I found out while we were at the hospital. Dad still won't talk about it."
"Give him some time. He'll come around."
"Thanks for being honest about it, I guess. I was starting to drive myself crazy not knowing what happened that night. I only heard bits and pieces of what happened at the hospital, before the police officer interviewed you. After I went to visit you, Mom made me go home because I had school the next day and I never found out what happened after that. It was like she was deliberately leaving things out that she didn't want me to know about the crash." Gillian looked momentarily uncomfortable, knowing that she was doing the same thing. However, some things were just better left unsaid. "Anyway, I should probably finish getting my homework done. It's getting late."
"Of course."
Disappearing upstairs, Gillian was left with the dilemma of what was for dinner and waking Cal. It took her another minute after Emily's bedroom door closed to make the decision to go upstairs, and figure out dinner later.
"Cal." She softly shook his shoulder like earlier. It seemed like history repeated itself as Cal didn't move from his slumber; possible that he could still be in a deep slumber from the medication that he was on. "Cal!"
"Ten more minutes." Cal muttered, his tone laced with annoyance and a thick English accent. The next time he opened his eyes, he noticed who he was talking to. "How long have you been sitting there?"
"Ten minutes. We need to talk."
He gave her a sloppy grin as he struggled to sit up; finally succeeding after his third try. "Do you start or do I?"
"You start."
"How about we start at the beginning?" He didn't wait for her answer, other than a short nod from her. The wheels were spinning in his heads-questions forming with great precision as they sat there in silence. "First thought-there's so much to talk about since we've put everything on the backburner for the last couple of months."
"Hard to believe it's only been a couple of months."
A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Emily turns sixteen in a couple of weeks."
"Just a little over a week. Her birthday is on the second, isn't it?"
"It is." He untangled himself from the covers and stretched out his legs. " I guess I'll have to go shopping soon."
"I couldn't get her to say what she wanted, other than that she wanted to learn how to drive." Cal didn't look happy about it. His only child was growing up and there wasn't a lot that he could do about that.
"I feel like I was just holding her in my arms. She had this head of dark hair that would stick up for the longest time, until she was older and it started to grow out."
"Just because she's growing up, doesn't mean she won't still love you." He gave her a peculiar look, one reserved from when she read his thoughts. "I think she's trying so hard to get us together because she doesn't want you to be lonely when she does go."
"I know." He blew out a puff of air. "I promised myself that she wouldn't let her out of the house until she's twenty." He groaned, finally allowing himself to relax against the pillows. "How long have I been asleep?"
"Probably just a little over a couple hours. From the looks of it, you needed it."
"You staying over at the house. . . is this some kind of payback for the last time I brought you here?"
"If you recall what happened at the office-"
"Still fuzzy." Cal noted, rubbing at his forehead as if he were warding off a potential headache. "You don't trust me being here alone with my daughter."
"I'd rather know that you're safe. Besides, you would have used the father card on her and done it anyway."
"Maybe, maybe not. This medicine has a way of making a person feel lousy, so who's to say that I don't like my bed more?"
She patted his knee with a sigh. "Why don't you try and get some more sleep? I'll wake you when dinner's ready."