Chapter 45
Summer
Wednesday morning I wake holding Bay’s hand.
Huh. Tilting my head back, I see he’s still asleep on the couch, as is Seb on the mattress.
Gently extracting my fingers, I sit up and stretch.
Alex and E are both in the kitchen already.
I get up and wave to them before using the bathroom and getting dressed.
When I get back to the kitchen, E is cooking up a storm while Alex and Zander are sipping coffee. A phone beeps in the living room as Seb blindly starts whacking his hand around, trying to turn it off. Smiling, I go over and hand him his phone. “Morning, Hurry,” I say.
“Morning Sunshine. Damn, I hate alarms,” he mumbles.
I walk back to the kitchen to help E with breakfast as Bay and Seb get up.
Bay hits the powder room and then gives me a hug, saying he’ll see me at lunch.
E hands him a burrito, and he’s off to work this morning for Finn.
“Where’s Nick?” I ask. “Never mind,” I say in the next breath, as he comes in through the front door, obviously having been on a run. “Morning, Grumpy,” I say.
He nods at me, heading down the hall.
We dish up bowls of eggs, meats, toast, and wraps and set them on the island so everybody can grab what they want.
The guys eat it all, and Zander and I clean up the kitchen while the guys get the bedrooms back together.
When everyone is ready, we drive to the courthouse.
I keep reminding myself it’s only one day, then it’s over, as Zander drives.
Seb drove with us, so he keeps a running commentary to distract me, which helps.
Mr. MacLeod is waiting for us again this morning as we settle into the room across the hall. All his witnesses have arrived or are in the air. He’s feeling good about today and isn’t expecting any surprises.
Just before 9am, we file into the courtroom and take our seats.
Mr. MacLeod calls Mr. Bancroft’s current boss to the stand, who has a less than stellar review of him.
He also calls a local bar owner, who is very familiar with him, stating he’s there almost every night drinking himself into a stupor and complaining about losing money from gambling.
Belinda, my old neighbor and my mom’s best friend, takes the stand.
She looks good, older. From her account, they met two men at the bar, both tall with dark brown hair.
Mom left with one of them for a few hours but came home and spent the night at her house.
Strange. That’s a different account than Mr. Bancroft's yesterday.
Next, my lawyer asks her about the birth certificate, and she says that Mom would've put the father’s name down if she had known who he was, but they didn’t exchange any personal information.
When questioned, she describes our life as happy and full.
We didn’t have a lot of money, but I was very close to Mom and Lily, and we did everything together.
I was kind and sweet, happy and loving. I loved flowers and was always helping Mom with things, and Lily was the sun I revolved around.
A few tears escape as she talks about my old life.
I feel bad for not reaching out after the accident, but I couldn’t mentally do that at the time.
When asked to describe what happened after the accident, she sheds a few tears too.
She was listed as Mom’s emergency contact, which I didn’t know, and was at the hospital when I arrived.
I was barely recognizable when I was wheeled in, and she describes waiting there for 6 hours while they tried to save my life.
She had to fight to stay with me since she wasn’t family, but Jake’s dad helped her.
I was in the ICU for a long time, but when I was stable, they called CPS since there were no provisions in Mom’s will for what to do with me.
She was told to leave when CPS got involved, but applied to foster me, but her job demanded too much travel, so they didn't approve her application.
She got updates from Jake’s dad and took care of our house.
Between her and Jake’s dad, they paid the bills while she cleaned the house, threw out the food in the kitchen, cut the grass and did anything else that was needed.
When asked her opinion on whether I deserve the settlement money, she is absolute in her response.
“That poor girl has been through the most horrific thing imaginable. She lost everything in her life, absolutely everything. Her home, her family, her best friend, and her entire life. She barely survived the accident and will never, ever be the same. Of course, she deserves the money. It cannot replace what she's lost, but at least she will be able to take care of herself. As for Mr. Bancroft, he deserves nothing. He didn’t give Vanessa any information for her to find him. I wouldn’t even call him a one-night stand since they were only together for a few hours at best. I was at the bar when he offered a no strings attached hookup.
He wasn’t interested in anything more, which suited Vanessa perfectly.
He has no right to ask for Summer’s money now when he didn’t even know he had a daughter and wasn’t in her life. ”
Go Belinda! She is cross-examined and questioned about her account of their meeting, but she sticks to her story.
Next up is Jake’s dad, who smiles at me as he enters the courtroom.
He looks older, but has the same smile I remember.
Mr. MacLeod asks similar questions to Belinda but has Ray expand on the aftermath of the accident and the details of the court case against the driving company responsible for the accident.
Next, my old lawyer from the settlement explains the reasoning behind the financial compensation and presents comparable case outcomes, proving my entitlement to the full amount awarded.
During the cross examination, Mr. Donaldson asks him for a breakdown of how much I was awarded for my injuries and how much I was awarded as a survivor.
Although my case didn’t break down that way, he believes approximately 80% of the award is because of my injuries and 20% is due to me being a survivor.
Mr. Bancroft wants 50% of my settlement, so the 20% survivor award may cap the amount he gets.
Breaking the money down that way feels like an opening for Mr. Bancroft, though.
The judge breaks for lunch after the cross examination is done. Bay is waiting in the hall when we exit, along with Ray. I give Bay a quick hug and then go immediately over to Ray. “Summer, you look wonderful,” he smiles.
“Ray, you look older,” I jibe.
He laughs. “It’s good to see you. I stopped in to see Jake yesterday. He looks so grown up,” he says, as sadness enters his eyes.
“Mal told me. I’m glad you visited. How are you?”
“I’m doing okay. Working too much, but it keeps me sane. How are you besides this mess?” He asks, gesturing around the courtroom.
“I’m good. Running track again and gardening. I’m happy here,” I tell him, gesturing for Zander to come over. “This is my father, Zander,” I say.
Zander shakes his offered hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Ray. Thanks for taking care of her after the accident and flying down for this.”
“Anything for Summer,” he responds. “Well, I’ve got another flight to catch. Take care of yourself, Summer,” he smiles and waves as he walks away.
“He seems nice,” Zander says.
“He’s great. He’s just not the same since the accident. Like with me, reminders are painful. He tries to avoid anything having to do with that time.”
“That day affected so many people,” he says, shaking his head. “Come on, darling, you need to eat something.”
I follow him into the room, and E hands me a sandwich and a brownie.
Everyone is already eating, so I sit down and start on my food.
Mr. MacLeod checks in with me before we have to return to court.
There’s only Sarah and me left to testify.
I ask where she is, but he assures me she’s here already, waiting to be called upon.
When the judge and jury are back, Sarah is called in.
She’s beautiful, wearing a sand colored sleeveless shift dress and nude pumps with her hair up in a fancy ponytail.
She’s a little taller than I am, with curves for days.
I realize I’ve never seen more than her head and shoulders before.
It’s strange to feel so close to someone, but don’t know what they look like or how tall they are.
She takes the stand as Mr. MacLeod goes through her qualifications.
Wow! She’s one of the top psychiatrists in the South, but I can’t say I’m surprised.
When she's asked to comment on my mental state when we met, she looks over at me and nods, so I nod back. Hearing someone describe how messed up you were to everyone in attendance isn’t pleasant.
She’s very professional about it, but it’s damn hard to hear.
Sarah covers the nightmares, the depression, PTSD, the inability to face my scars, isolation, bullying, touch aversion, and me basically giving up on life at Mr. MacLeod’s prompting.
She ends by explaining that I am still in therapy from the trauma of the accident.
When her cross-examination starts, Mr. Donaldson insinuates our relationship isn’t strictly professional and we are too close for her to be unbiased.
“Incorrect,” she says, interrupting him.
“I have never met Summer. In fact, walking into this courtroom is the first time I have seen her in person, so whatever inappropriate relationship you are alluding to is false. Second, I am the top adolescent psychiatrist in the states of Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama. I did not get that distinction by having inappropriate relationships with my patients. Unless you have proof, I suggest you drop the insinuations.”
“The accident happened a year and a half ago. Don’t you think it’s time for Summer to move on? She shouldn’t need therapy after that amount of time,” he says.