Chapter Twenty-Four
HOW TO SAVE A LIFE
LAKE
We stayed two days with my family, ending with a stunning fireworks display along the lake. I’d seen it a million times, but I’d never watched it with Cage, which made it feel brand-new again. He made my whole life feel brand new again.
Jessica once told me that she really did feel a complete separation from Jillian Knight.
She was always Jessica with Luke. I think she needed that clear distinction to let go of AJ and give her whole life to my brother.
I never truly understood it until Cage. He wasn’t with “Ben’s girlfriend.
” Part of her died the day Ben died. It was a poignant realization.
Survivors sacrificed a piece of themselves to move on, a proverbial shedding of weight to keep from drowning.
Jillian left part of her heart in the past to move forward as Jessica.
The day I accepted the loss of my leg was the day the rest of Ben’s girlfriend died, and in that moment I became a real survivor.
That’s who Cage loved, not the girl who wore a cloak of bitterness and hated the world—hated God.
We blinked and training camp swallowed up Cage’s days and his presence. Minnesota still held their training camp away at a college campus—something to do with “bonding.”
No Cage.
No sex.
No fun.
Even his birthday fell right in the middle of training camp. We talked for twenty minutes on the phone before he was taken away by his buddies.
Once my new layer of skin resembled something human again, I flew back out to L.A.
for the photoshoot—without the beach time.
Our jobs succeeded at keeping us apart. When he was free I was busy and vice versa.
Shayna made claim to some of my free time as well, but the world’s best qualified and hottest nanny still continued to make the news.
Jamie also continued to hold the title of best knocker. Three swift knocks. I grinned, knowing I’d be met with his usual shoulder shrug as Shayna pleaded her case.
Peephole check. Yep, they both stood on the other side of my door with beach towels draped around their necks.
“Lake! You have to come with us!”
I smiled at Shayna then met Jamie’s shrug with the same smile.
“She’s relentless,” he said in his perfect British accent.
My responses to him always had a two-second delay because I enjoyed letting the way he said his words hang in the air.
“Yes, she can be.” I pinched her nose and wiggled it until she scrunched her face.
“To the pool! We have to go!” Shayna clasped her hands under her chin.
I knew if I didn’t answer soon she’d drop to her knees.
Why did my decision have to come after weighing the possible fallout of being seen in public with Jamie? Cage told me never to alter my life for his reputation or the media. Flint? He wasn’t of the same opinion. I fell somewhere in the middle.
“The pool won’t be open much longer …” Jamie cocked his head to the side and pursed his lips.
Great. Just what I needed, both of them with the pleading puppy-dog eyes.
“I’ve been watching my sun exposure since my L.A. incident.”
Shayna stuck out her bottom lip. Jamie looked at her and then at me.
“Wear a big hat and sit under one of the umbrellas. We’ll only be there for two hours at the most.”
Releasing a big sigh, I nodded. “Okay. Which pool?”
“The new natural swimming pool.”
“Fine.” I stepped back. “Come in, give me ten minutes.”
After I packed my bag, I texted Flint.
Lake: FYI I’m going to the new pool with Shayna and Jamie.
Barely a second passed before he texted me back.
Flint: No.
I shook my head.
Lake: Not asking permission. Just telling you out of courtesy.
Flint: Still no. 1st preseason game is coming up. Cage needs his head in it, not distracted by tabloids.
Lake: Haven’t talked to Cage in two days. I think his head is “in it.” I’ll sit on the opposite side of the pool as Jamie.
Flint: Don’t be naive.
I tossed my phone in my bag. “Ready?”
Shayna jumped up. “Yes! Yes! Yes! Lake’s going!” She gave Jamie a can-you-believe-it look.
He grinned at me. “Looks like you made her day.”
“Hmm … yeah, but here’s the deal. We…” I motioned between us “…have to stay on opposite sides of the pool.”
Jamie chuckled. “What? Like a divorced couple taking our daughter swimming.”
“No. Like two people who’ve never met and won’t meet, speak, or even glance at each other today.”
“Deal.”
Aaannnd that was just another reason Jamie was the best nanny. He took instructions without arguing.
“You suck at being part of the team.”
Shutting off my Kindle, I flipped up the wide rim of my sun hat and squinted at Flint.
“You’re overdressed for the pool.” My eyes made a quick inspection of his black suit, no tie, top buttons undone. His expensive cologne announced his presence before his voice.
“You’re underdressed for being in public.”
I laughed. “It’s a swimming pool.”
“You don’t own a one-piece swimsuit … or maybe one of those long swim dresses?”
Narrowing one eye at him, I shook my head. “Sorry. If you’re worried about me getting sunburned again, then I’d like to draw your attention to the big umbrella over my head.”
He adjusted his sunglasses and looked around the crowded pool. “I thought we agreed Cage’s reputation matters.”
“Sure thing, boss. That’s why I’m sitting here by myself.”
“But lover boy is on the other side of the pool, you’re not fooling anyone.”
“Lover boy, huh? Well that explains it.”
“Explains what?”
“Why a good-looking guy like yourself is never with a woman. You have a thing for Shayna’s nanny.”
“Fuck you.”
Flint’s fuck you was nothing like Everson’s. I detected nothing playful or joking in his words.
“I don’t care if you’re gay. It’s none of my business, and unlike some people, I know how to mind my own business.”
Total bullshit. I was queen of the peephole. My favorite hobby was trespassing into other people’s business.
“You don’t know shit, Lake.” Flint walked off. Not another word or even a quick glance back.
Jamie narrowed his eyes at me as he helped Shayna do her back float. I shook my head and flipped my hat back down.
A while later, Shayna called to me. “Lake, we’re leaving now. I want to ride home with you.”
Yes, we even took separate cars. Any bullshit issues Flint had about my outing was complete over-obsession on his part. I nodded and smiled as Shayna walked toward me, wrapped in a big pink towel that dragged along the ground.
Jamie held up his hand. “See ya at home.”
“Ice cream! Please, Lake.” Shayna clasped her hands again under her chin.
My willpower was no match for her adorable begging. “Yes, of course, ice cream.” I took the edge of her towel and squeezed the water from her ponytail.
“Thank you, Lake.”
“You’re welcome. Let’s go.”
We stopped at her favorite place for ice cream, and she got her usual: rainbow ice cream with gumballs.
I shook my head every time. How could she enjoy cold, hard gumballs that she had to spit into a napkin to chew when her ice cream was gone?
I got peanut butter ice cream with chocolate cookie pieces.
“I miss Evson.” Shayna swiped her tongue across her top lip, missing the smearing of pink on the tip of her nose.
“I know, sweetie. Training camp is almost over and you’ll get to see him a little more often.”
“I love Evson.”
Of course she did. Love was all Shayna had to give.
“Have you said, ‘I love you’ to Everson?”
She nodded.
I jabbed my spoon into my ice cream. “Has Everson said ‘I love you’ to you?”
She nodded.
I wanted to cry, but I didn’t. Instead I smiled. Every inch of me smiled. It felt like a huge victory. I knew he’d love her. I knew it would be impossible for him not to love her. It was no longer my illusion that she was going to be OK—that they were going to be OK—they were there.
I blotted a drip of ice cream from her nose.
She giggled then sucked in a breath. Her smile vanished as her eyes widened with panic and her spoon dropped to the floor.
“Shayna?”
Her hand shot to her throat.
“Shayna?” I jumped up, sending my chair crashing to the ground behind me.
She was choking, really choking. Not so much as a cough or any sign of air exchange. Her eyes watered.
“Help!” My shrill voice broke through the air. I didn’t even recognize it as my heart rocketed into my throat. I felt as if I, too, was choking. I’d taken CPR many years earlier, but I just couldn’t think. I patted her back. Her lips turned blue.
“Step aside.” A familiar voice appeared from seemingly nowhere.
“Flint! Oh my God, she’s choking.”
He held her against him, thrusting his fisted hands into her stomach.
“Call 9-1-1!” I screamed to anyone who would listen. My cell phone was a foot away from me at the table, but my brain would not function. Fear robbed me of everything, and I just panicked like when the prototype swimming leg fell off in the pool and Thad had to jump in to get me.
Shayna passed out and tears flooded my cheeks. “Shayna! Flint!”
He lowered her to the ground and I just stood there.
Time slowed. Voices muffled into echoes.
People gathered around. Shayna gasped and Flint rolled her to her side and out of her mouth fell a gumball.
A fucking gumball. Why did I let her get gumballs?
A few seconds later, sirens sounded, lights flashed, and everyone cleared as the paramedics pushed through the door.
I jumped when Flint’s hands wrapped around my arms, pulling me away from Shayna as the paramedics tended to her.
Ben died and I lived.
Shayna almost died and I would have lived. I made bad decisions that put other people in danger.
“Give them space, Lake,” Flint said as he physically had to move me away from her.
I couldn’t speak.
I couldn’t even blink.
“We’ll follow them to the hospital.”
I shook my head. “I’m riding with her.”
“Are you her mother?” One of the paramedics asked.
Flint said, “No,” just as I said, “Yes.”
The paramedic’s eyes flitted between us. There was no way they were going to prevent me from riding with her.