46. Epilogue
Rina
Two weeks later…
Arlo and I are getting ready for family dinner when my phone rings. When I see Willow’s name, I don’t hesitate to answer.
“What’s up, sis?”
“I need help.” Her panicked tone sets me on edge, and I make eye contact with Arlo, who furrows his eyebrows as I set the phone on speakerphone.
“Arlo’s here. What’s going on?”
“Lennox went for a hike and fell on one of the harder trails. He called me, downplaying everything, but Rina, his leg is definitely fucked,” she whispers.
“What the fuck?”
“Where are you guys?” Arlo says at the same time.
Willow tells us the trail they’re on, and I look at Arlo with concern. He matches my gaze. Both of us know the trail that Lennox was hiking is too advanced for someone who hasn’t gotten a ton of physical activity while healing and had really deep cuts on his legs.
“We’ll be right there, Will. Is it bad enough that we need to take him to Rosedale?” Arlo asks .
“I think taking him to Doc Grant first is a good idea. I don’t know what actually happened, so maybe he can at least give us an idea first and tell us we need to go to Rosedale,” Willow says quietly.
“We’re headed out now. I’ll text Ledger and let him know family dinner is on pause.”
Arlo takes over the conversation while I slip on some hiking boots and a hoodie before we head out to the truck.
It takes us ten minutes to reach where they both are, and when we walk up to them, Lennox looks too pale.
Arlo jumps in with his first aid knowledge and has Lennox answer some basic questions while I pull Willow to the side.
“What the fuck was he thinking?” I hiss.
“I don’t know. I think we need to have a family discussion about how to help him because he knows better than to come out on this trail when he hasn’t done more than hike to the falls. And it’s fucking freezing today. It’s like he doesn’t care what happens to him.”
“Can y’all help me get him up? We’re going to hobble to the truck,” Arlo calls out to us. It’s a damn good thing we’re only five minutes from the trailhead because there’s no way we’d be able to get Lennox to the truck otherwise. We’d have to call in search and rescue, which he would have fucking hated.
It takes all three of us to get him up and to the truck. The whole time, Lennox doesn’t say a word. He’s pale and a little green, so I know he’s in pain, but even prompted questions get no reply.
When we finally reach the doctor’s office, everyone in the family is there to meet us. Arlo gets Lennox set up in the room before coming out to the small waiting room with the rest of us.
“We’ve got to do something for him,” Ledger says .
“We told him we’d give him space to figure it out,” Willow says weakly.
“That was before he messed his fucking leg because he tried a trail he wasn’t in shape for!” I throw my hands up.
“Marina…” Arlo warns.
“No. Are we going to just let him be self-destructive? Hide away in his cabin until he’s no longer someone we recognize? We have to help him.”
Ledger drops into one of the visitor chairs and puts his head in his hands. Ainsley sits next to him, running her hand along his back.
“Have we failed him? Should we have done more after everything happened?” Ledger asks.
“We didn’t fail him. We were giving him the space to figure out how to heal. Now, we need to step in because the path he’s going down is … scary,” Oakley murmurs.
“He’s going to hate this,” Willow adds.
“What choice do we have, though? Are we just going to let our brother downslide and get worse? He’s only come to family dinner a handful of times since being in the hospital and rarely says anything in our group chat. At what point do we step in, even if he’ll be pissed about it?” I ask.
The six of us think on my words. We’re all adults, and none of us want to step into Lennox’s life and make him do anything, but if we are truly this worried about him, then what other option do we have?
A throat clears behind us, and we turn around to see Dr. Grant with a weary smile on his face.
“I just wanted to update you. He tore his quadricep, and there’s nothing I can really do here. I can’t tell how bad the tear is, so I can’t tell if he needs surgery, but my best guess is he does. I splinted it, and he’ll be fine until he gets to the hospital. I also gave him some pain meds, even though he was refusing. I know this injury is painful as all get-out. He’ll need physical therapy and possibly look into a counselor or therapist. He’s very closed off and isn’t telling much beyond the basics of what happened. I also called ahead to the hospital, so they know to expect you.”
“Thanks for getting that splinted. We’ll get him in one of trucks and get him to the hospital.” Ledger takes charge.
Dr. Grant nods and heads back to Lennox as we attempt to figure out a game plan.
“Okay, so Oakley and Arlo can help me get him in the truck. Do we all want to head over there or just a couple of us?” Ledger says.
“I need to put food away, so if you guys go ahead, I can head there shortly after,” Ainsley says.
Willow and I agree to help Ainsley while the men take Lennox right away.
The men nod, standing up to go help Ledger as us women hang back.
“I’m worried about him,” I say.
“I am too, but I don’t want to force him into things and push him away further,” Willow says.
“What if I put an ad on the employment site we use for Bluebell Landscaping and see if we can get someone to check on him and help with his physical therapy or regular therapy? With the tear, he’ll be down for a while, but maybe we can get a jump with physical therapy to get him stronger,” Ainsley throws out there.
“He’s going to hate that,” Willow says.
“Maybe we need to worry less about him hating us and worry more about getting him through this hard time. So far, giving him time and space has not proven to help,” I say.
“Fuck,” Willow groans .
The sound of crutches on the floor, followed by multiple boots, makes the three of us look up as we watch Lennox struggle to get to the front door. I make eye contact with Arlo as he subtly shakes his head.
By the time they get him into Ledger’s truck, I’m exhausted at the thought of intervening in Lennox’s life.
“Hey, Emmerdeur, you okay?” Arlo asks as I stop in front of Ainsley’s car.
“I don’t know. I know we need to help him, but I can’t help but feel this will push him away even more. I just hope, eventually, he sees that we just wanted to help and not hold that against us.”
“Between the six of us, I think we’ll be able to figure out things without overwhelming him. Let’s worry about his leg and then go from there.”
“I can’t believe he tore his freaking quad. What else does that poor guy need to be hit with?” I sigh.
“It’s totally fucked up, but maybe this is the eye-opener he needs.”
“I hope so.”
One thing I’ve learned recently is that you have to be willing to change. Opening yourself up to the possibility that life isn’t what you thought I’d be is a hard pill to swallow. But looking at Arlo, I know real happiness is possible.
I just hope we can help get Lennox to that point.