AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll be over, I just need a few minutes to wake up,” I reply wishing I could’ve slept for several more hours.
“Come as soon as you can,” she reiterates. “And then we can discuss this article on the front page of the Times.”
“I’m sorry, Mom.” I cringe at the thought of her seeing it. “I had no idea Perry was going to use them in such a public way.”
“Where did they come from?” she asks with increasing irritation in her voice.
“Some are from your cedar chest and others are from Ray’s filing cabinet,” I admit, instantly feeling ashamed that we had gone behind their backs. “I just wanted to get the feds off my back. I had no idea that Perry would make them public like that.”
“You’re just lucky that Ty woke up today,” she says curtly. “Otherwise I probably would’ve raised holy hell with you two.”
“Actually, this probably makes us even,” I reply wanting to turn this back on her a little bit. “For ruining my relationship with Dad.”
After a moment of silence, she says, “Let’s focus on your brother.”
“I agree. I’ll be up there within the hour.” I hang up the phone and toss it on the bed. Glancing over at Mandy, I can see that she is once again stewing about the fact that the letters were made public.
“Dad’s going to kill me,” she says, shaking her head and looking fearful.
“I would handle him the same way as I handled Mom. Put it back on him,” I tell her. “They are the ones who created the mess, we just accidentally exposed them.”
“You are probably right,” she replies with a somber look.
“Let’s get ready, Ty is awake,” I tell her before hopping out of bed.
Chapter 17
Trey
After rushing to the hospital, Mandy and I get off the elevator and head directly to Tyler’s room. As we approach the door I can hear Vanessa’s voice. I stop short and glance back at Mandy to let her know that I want to hold back for a moment.
“I have always loved you Tyler and I hope we will be able to get back to how things used to be,” she says in a tone that almost sounds like she is pleading with him. Feelings of Déjà vu wash over me as I stand outside the doorway listening to her profession of love for him. I might be the shoulder that she prefers to cry upon, but he has always had her heart.
“I’ll try my best,” Tyler responds. “But it might take me a while to piece all of this back together.”
“You are doing just fine,” Mom interjects, walking up to his bedside. “Everything will come back to you in time.”
Vanessa bends down and kisses him on the forehead, before turning back toward us. In that split second, my immediate impulse is to duck around the corner just as I did a decade ago, but I realize there is no longer any reason to do that.
“He’s awake!” I exclaim, taking a step forward into the doorway with Mandy’s hand in mine. “How are you doing buddy?”
“He doesn’t even remember me,” Vanessa answers on his behalf with tears streaming down her face. “He doesn’t remember anything.”
“It could just be temporary,” Mom adds, seeming happy to simply have him out of the coma. “The doctor said it mainly affected his short term memory.”
I think back to the conversation with Dr. Novacek when he told us that his short-term memory was certainly going to be disrupted, but there was also a fifty-fifty chance that his long-term memory would be affected.
“I’m just glad to see you awake,” I tell him as I approach the bed.
“Hi.” he greets me with a blank stare. “You’re pretty,” he says looking past me and toward Mandy.
“Thank you,” she replies holding out her hand. “I’m Mandy.”
“She’s my girlfriend,” I explain to him, hoping he won’t say anything more about her with Vanessa still in the room.
“You and Vanessa are engaged,” I tell him, reaching for her arm and pulling her back to the bed. “Here is the ring you gave her,” I explain, holding her hand up so he can see it.
“Wow, that’s huge,” he gasps. “How much did that cost?” He looks back and forth between the four of us with wide eyes.
“Oh, it wasn’t that much,” Vanessa retorts, with her cheeks turning a flushed red.
“Well, it sure is a big ring,” he says shaking his head back and forth.
“Do you remember me?” I ask him, crouching down to give him a better look.
