The House on Hope Street - By Danielle Steel Page 0,26

it that I don't get the feeling it's good news?” she said with a sigh, as she sat down and picked up the rest of Jamie's cookie. Her lunch had sat untouched all afternoon in her office.

“I had an accident on the way home from school.”

“Did you hurt anyone?” She looked calm, but she was numb, and her perspective had changed in the last week. Anything less than death was something she could live with.

“Just the car. I hit a parked car, and crumpled the front fender.”

“Did you leave a note for the owner of the other car?” He nodded in answer.

“It didn't do anything to them, but I left a note anyway. I'm sorry, Mom.”

“It's okay, sweetheart. I ran two red lights on the way to work this morning, if that makes you feel any better. The officer who stopped me said I shouldn't be driving. Maybe you shouldn't either, for a while.”

“I can't get anywhere if I don't, Mom.”

“I know, neither can I. We'll just both have to be careful.” He drove an old Volvo station wagon that Jack had bought for him that year because it was safe and solid, and she was glad for it now. She drove a newer model of the same car, and Carole had her own car, an old Ford that she'd had for ten years and kept in mint condition. It got her where she wanted to go, and she picked the children up from school in it. There was Jack's car now too, a new Lexus he had splurged on that year, but Liz didn't have the heart to drive it herself or sell it. Maybe they'd just keep it. She couldn't bear the thought of disposing of his things. She'd already spent several nights holding his clothes close to her, and smelling the familiar aftershave on them, as she stood in his closet. She couldn't bear to part with any of his belongings, and had no intention of giving away anything. She still needed to keep his things near her. Several people had told her to get rid of everything as soon as possible, and she had thanked them for their concern, and had every intention of ignoring what they told her.

The girls came downstairs for dinner shortly after that, and they were a somber group as they sat at the kitchen table. And for at least half the meal, no one said a word. They looked and felt like survivors of the Titanic. Just getting through the days now was gruelling, particularly now that they were back at school and she was back in the office.

“Do I dare ask how everyone's first day back at school was?” she finally asked them, as she looked at the uneaten food on everyone's plates. Only Peter had made a vague effort to eat anything, and even he wasn't up to his usual standards. He usually had seconds of everything, and ice cream on whatever was served for dessert, regardless of what it was. But no one could eat, and they looked relieved when their mother asked them how their day was.

“It sucked,” Rachel volunteered first, and Annie seconded the opinion.

“Everyone kept asking how it happened, if I saw him afterwards, if we cried at the funeral. It was sick,” Megan said, as the others heaved a sigh of agreement.

“They mean well, probably,” Liz gave them the benefit of the doubt, “they're just curious and they don't know what to say to us. We just have to keep trucking and get through it.”

“I don't want to go back to school,” Jamie said firmly, and Liz was about to tell him he had to, when she decided he didn't. If he needed some time at home to heal, what difference did it make, particularly for Jamie.

“Maybe you can keep Carole company for a few days,” Liz said quietly, and Rachel immediately looked at her with a question.

“Can I stay home too?”

“Can I?” Annie echoed.

“I think you guys need to try and work through it. Maybe Jamie can give it another try next week.” Peter didn't tell anyone at the table he had cut his last two classes and sat in the gym alone, but he just couldn't face more of what his sisters had been describing. The coach had found him there, and they had talked for a long time. He had lost his father when he was the same age as Peter, and they had talked about what it felt like. It