83. Chapter 83
“It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way.”
Lindsey answered Helen’s latest call in the driveway.
“What happened?” she asked.
“He’ll never forgive me.”
“Helen, what happened?” Lindsey pressed. She rummaged through her purse for a bottle of aspirin and popped a few into her mouth.
“My job, my, my—” Helen stammered. She took a few deep breaths in Lindsey’s ear. “I got fired.”
Lindsey choked on the aspirin in her throat.
“I thought going back was supposed to keep that from happening,” she said.
“So did I. They already made the decision. Apparently, they wanted to tell me in person for legal reasons,” she said with a snort, her voice shaky and thick. “I can’t believe it. I really thought I could do it. I was so sure I could have everything. Now I’ve lost it all.”
“Hold on. You haven’t lost everything.”
“I have. Or I will. I can’t—” she choked off. Helen, who’d left Graham at a storage unit in Santa Cruz without a single tear, was sobbing into the phone. “I can’t get back in time.”
Though it’s what Lindsey gathered from the desperate texts, it was sobering to hear confirmed. The interior of her Jeep spun around her, and she didn’t think it was the Submarino hangover.
“You’re sure?” Lindsey asked.
“I went straight to the airport. The flight I booked this morning was delayed after some other flight had mechanical issues. Now there’s a wait list and I’m on standby. I didn’t even know they could put me on standby. I bought the ticket so late…” She let out a ragged sigh. “I messed up.”
“Does Graham—” Lindsey started to say, then swallowed a wave of nausea and the aspirin still lodged in her throat with a swig of hot water from a bottle she fished off the floor. “What did Graham say?”
“Nothing,” Helen said quietly. “He won’t talk to me. I called and told him, and he didn’t say a word. He just hung up, and now he won’t take my calls.”
“Oh.”
“I never wanted him to lose the money. Or Jase. Or, or, or—”
“I know.”
“I just wanted something of my own, you know?”
“I do.”
Lindsey squeezed her eyes shut against the drumbeat in her temples. Today was the wrong day to drink in the morning.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Have you…have you tried other airlines? Other flights to Columbus or something? You could rent a car, or we could pick you up. We can make it happen.”
“I’ve been looking. They’re trying to get people onto other flights, but everything’s booked. They’re giving out hotel vouchers to get us out of here and let them catch up. It’s hopeless.”
“What if you drive to Dallas, and then—”
“I’ve tried, Lindsey. There’s nothing. The soonest I’ll get back to Dayton is 7:00 a.m.”
“Tomorrow,” Lindsey whispered.
Graham’s Volvo was the only vehicle in the driveway. No one else—besides Luke, who wouldn’t be much help—was home to absorb some of Graham’s rage.
“I’m sorry, Lindsey. I’m so, so sorry.”
“I know,” she said. Not it’ll be okay, because if Graham wasn’t taking Helen’s calls, it probably wouldn’t be.
“If you talk to Graham, will you tell him? Tell him I’ll do anything. I can’t lose him.”
Lindsey knew the feeling. Jase’s bike was gone, and she didn’t know just how gone he was either.
“I’ve already lost everything else,” Helen said.