Lily’s lip trembled, and suddenly the dam she’d held back so long burst open. Clay listened quietly as she told him everything, just blurted it all out. It occurred to her that she’d had no one to talk to since her early days of college, before she’d met JT. Like when she was little, she told Clay everything. Well, almost everything. Some parts were just too humiliating to share.
“So you left the no-good bastard?”
“Yes. Yesterday. I’m in here because of what he did to me.”
“What happened?” he asked as the nurse returned and administered pain medication into her IV before quietly leaving.
She explained the ectopic pregnancy and JT’s actions that had caused the accident, and Clay’s jaw set in a rigid line. The surgeon had told her that the damage from the rupture had been too severe and she’d lost the use of that Fallopian tube. That cut her chances of having a baby by half, not that she’d ever wanted to bring a baby into the situation she’d been in.
“And now?” he asked, seeming to want to give her the opportunity to let it all out.
“Now? I rebuild my life. I find my parents’ old house, and just…live my life. I’m filing for divorce as soon as I get out of here, and I’m never looking back. I’m going to finish my education, get a job, and move on. I can’t believe I wasted twelve years with him. I’m swearing off marriage, relationships, and men in general. Remember what you used to say?”
Clay chuckled and flushed a bit. “As I recall, it was ‘Girls are disgusting and I’m never getting married.’”
Lily smiled at the memory. “That’s right. You were right all those years ago.”
“Lily, I’d like to help however I can.”
Lily felt like she was levitating and realized the pain medication must be taking effect. “I always felt like I was safe and could be myself with you. I need that kind of safety right now, until I’m on my feet.”
“You’ve got it. I couldn’t believe it when I opened the car door and got a good look at you.”
“You were there?”
“You could say that again,” he replied and explained about her collision with his building. Lily was mortified at that news, but Clay shook his head and said, “Insurance is taking care of it. The situation with your car is even under control, but we’ll talk more about that later. Did you find your house?”
Feeling bleary, Lily replied, “I never did find it. I’d given up and gone in search of someplace to ask for directions when I saw your sign, and…Well you know what happened from there. Oh, shoooot.” She tried to put a little oomph into her exclamation but she was feeling kind of “floaty.”
“What?”
“All my things were in my car.”
“Not anymore. I took them all home for safekeeping. Everything’s fine.”
Lily rubbed her forehead. “Ugh. My car.”
Clay patted her hand and said, “It’ll keep for now. You concentrate on your recovery.”
“Where’s Del?”
“Last I heard, Afghanistan. I don’t get a lot of details from him since he works for a private contractor. He’ll be happy when I tell him you’re back.”
Clay pulled his wallet from his back pocket and sorted through receipts and business cards until he found a folded picture and pulled it out. “He sent this about a year ago.” He handed Lily the creased photo. It said a lot to her that the picture was as worn as it was, most likely from repeated handling.
Clay and Del had been a year apart in age, and Lily knew they had been very close to each other. She unfolded the picture and felt tears prick her eyes when she looked into the smiling, gray-green eyes of her friend. The grin on his face was achingly familiar and made her heart clench with sadness for losing touch with him. In the photograph, he was wearing desert camouflage and looked wind- and sandblown. He was stroking the back of a small kitten that was perched on his shoulder, licking at his ear.
She wanted to ask him more about Del, but exhaustion and drowsiness from the painkillers claimed Lily as Clay bent over and kissed her on the forehead. His scent was clean and spicy and eased her into more peaceful rest as he let himself out. He was right. It would all keep for now.
Chapter Three
Clay woke before dawn the following morning with dreams of Lily in his head. They were an odd mix of her as a little girl and her as a woman now. She was such a contrast from the feisty, spirited, protective little girl he remembered. Sad and brokenhearted, she’d said that love was for fools and it was better to be alone than with the wrong person, claiming that love wasn’t worth the risk. That could have been the pain medication talking, but she’d seemed sincere.