Chapter Twelve
J ackson dragged both his hands through his hair as he paced the waiting room area of County General Hospital’s ER.
In the half hour since they’d arrived, a couple patients had come in with Halloween injuries—a little boy who’d gotten burned when a jack-o’-lantern tipped over during trick-or-treating, and a young mom with a pumpkin-related laceration.
Otherwise, the place had been eerily quiet, which made waiting on news about Tommy all the more excruciating.
There wasn’t a single person sitting in the rows of plastic visitor chairs opposite the nurse’s station.
Jackson’s bad knee felt stiff and achy after standing all day at the school Halloween carnival, but he couldn’t sit still.
“I brought more coffee.” Calla handed him a limp paper cup from the hospital cafeteria. “It’s nowhere near as good as Huddle Up, but it might do in a pinch.”
He took the drink from her and frowned down at the brown liquid before taking a sip. Just as he suspected, it was only one step up from the sludge that the coffee maker at his rental house spewed out, but Calla was right. It would do in a pinch.
“Is there any more news?” she asked quietly. Then she held up a hand. “Off the record, I mean.”
He appreciated the distinction. Although, with the way gossip traveled at the speed of light in this town, it probably didn’t matter.
Jackson shook his head. “Nothing new. The deputies are still back there questioning Tommy while he waits to be admitted to a regular room.”
Calla nodded and as she glanced around the vacant waiting room, he took in her colorless cheeks and the haunted look in her eyes. She’d been awfully quiet since they’d left the school.
“Are you okay?” He dipped his head until their eyes locked. “Being here can’t be easy for you.”
“It’s not.” She shook her head until sadness pooled in her eyes, threatening to overflow.
“But I’m okay. I can’t imagine being anyplace else right now.
Dad will want to know that Tommy is going to be okay.
I can’t go home until I can give him some detailed news when he wakes up in the morning.
He adores that kid. I want him to hear about this from me, not from someone else. ”
“You’re a good daughter,” Jackson said.
He envied the closeness between her and her dad.
He’d never had anything like that with either of his own parents.
His brother, Ryan, had been the only real family he’d ever had, and their relationship had never been smooth sailing.
Looking back, Jackson could appreciate the fact that Ryan was only a few years older than him.
Being saddled with a sullen teenager, bills to pay and a house that was falling down around them due to their parents’ neglect couldn’t have been easy.
At the time, he’d been too self-centered to see it.
The only thing they’d seemed to have in common was that no one wanted them.
He cleared his throat, swallowing hard against the memories.
“I really love my dad, and I know he loves me, too.” She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Sometimes, though, I think he secretly would be happier if it was Ethan who was still around instead of me.”
Her words were an arrow straight to Jackson’s heart, especially coming from someone as confident and self-assured as Calla. All families were screwed up in their own way, though, weren’t they? Some simply hid it better than others.
“Sweetheart, you know that’s not true,” he said quietly.
She exhaled slowly, gaze never straying from his. “Thanks. Deep down, I know you’re right. Being here, though…” Her eyes darted around the emergency room. “This place just messes with my head, I think. Even after all these years.”
“There’s no expiration date on trauma,” he said with quiet confidence. He ought to know. In many ways, it was his upbringing that had brought him to Bishop Falls in the first place.
“You sound like you have personal experience in that department.”
“Maybe I do.” He sipped his coffee. Jackson never talked about his family. This was the closest he’d come to opening up about it in years—possibly ever.
Calla was right. Hospitals just had a way of stripping a person bare, didn’t they?
“Besides, there’s no way your dad is disappointed in you in any way, shape or form. Surely he’s seen the way you throw a ball.” He gave her shoulder a little nudge.
She laughed under her breath, and it was so good to see her smile that for a second, he almost forgot why they were there.
But then the two deputies came through the door that separated the treatment area from the waiting room, looking unmistakably grim.
A cold sweat prickled the back of Jackson’s neck. “Officers?”
“Coach Knight.” The taller one nodded as the pair approached him and Calla. His name badge identified him as Deputy Willis.
“We’re glad you’re here,” the other officer said. “I’m Deputy Shaw. Deputy Willis and I will be taking the lead on this investigation. Unfortunately, we’ve still got a lot to figure out about what happened this evening.”
“How’s Tommy?” Jackson asked. That was the most important question of all. Once he knew the teen was going to be okay, he could deal with the rest.
“He’s pretty banged up. Those boys really did a number on him, but he’s sitting up and talking. He’s going to be okay.”
Jackson’s knees nearly buckled with relief, even as his attention caught on one particular phrase. Those boys really did a number on him…
“He’s got a few bruised ribs and a moderate concussion, but the doctor’s assured us he’ll be right as rain in a few weeks.” Deputy Willis cleared his throat. “So long as his spleen isn’t bruised. That’s the main concern right now. The kid is set to get a CT scan in the next hour or so.”
Calla’s hand trembled as it flitted to her throat. “A bruised spleen ? This is really serious, isn’t it? Did the other players plan for this to happen?”
The officer slung his hands on his kit belt. “We don’t know if it’s bruised quite yet. Before you go printing that in the paper, we need to wait for the CT scan results. Is that clear?”
Calla’s face burned as red as her cowboy boots. “You didn’t answer my question. This was a serious, premeditated attack on Tommy, wasn’t it?”
Jackson’s jaw clenched so hard that he got an instant migraine.
This was all his fault. He’d seen Tommy with the older kids earlier, and he’d thought something felt off, but he’d ignored his instincts.
A real educator wouldn’t have done that.
Someone who was good with kids and knew what it meant to have their best interests at heart would’ve listened to that small, still voice inside.
They would’ve intervened before someone got hurt.
The officers exchanged a hesitant glance.
“It was,” Jackson said, spilling the truth since they couldn’t seem to do it. “You don’t have to say it. I already know, and I know exactly who was involved.”
Stokes, Collier and Brown. Jackson knew it with as much certainty as he knew his own name.
“Tommy’s not talking, so I’m afraid we can’t say who caused the boy’s injuries.” Deputy Willis shook his head and sighed.
“We were actually hoping you might talk to him and see what you can find out.” Deputy Shaw cleared his throat. “You know, so the proper parties can be disciplined.”
Why did that sound so disingenuous?
“I’m happy to talk to Tommy,” Jackson said.
It felt like far too little, far too late.
But he’d do whatever he could to fix this mess.
Not because it was his job, and not because he had a sports agent breathing down his neck and threatening his career, but because he wanted to.
Because it was important. Because it was right .
“Will they, though?” Calla’s eyes narrowed at the officers. “Be disciplined, that is?”
“Like I said before, there’s still a lot about this situation that needs to be figured out. It’s going to take some time,” Deputy Willis said.
“Let me guess—until the end of football season?” Calla said crisply. Jackson could feel the indignation rolling off of her in waves.
And unlike the other times she’d disparaged the sport that was his lifeblood, Jackson understood. He got it this time.
It’s only a game.
At least that’s how it was supposed to be.
“We never said that,” Deputy Willis countered.
“You didn’t have to,” Jackson ground out as he strode past him. He couldn’t take any more of this conversation. He needed to set eyes on Tommy, he needed to see for himself that the kid was okay, and he needed to get his own priorities straight…
Before Harper, SportsSphere, Principal Dean and the greater population of Bishop Falls all had their say and tried to do it for him.
* * *
Calla stayed in the visiting room for over an hour after the law enforcement officers left, holding her breath as she waited for Jackson to finish talking to Tommy.
He hadn’t expressly asked her to stay, and part of her wondered if she might be overstepping.
She just couldn’t leave, though. She hoped to get an update on the scan of Tommy’s spleen before she talked to her dad.
But as much as Calla tried to tell herself the scan results were her sole reason for sticking around, she knew it wasn’t true.
She wanted to be there for Jackson. And sure, theoretically , she was supposed to be at the hospital on behalf of the Gazette , but Calla had lived in Bishop Falls long enough to know what was going to happen next.