Paige?” I asked, trying to keep my voice even when my sister continued to cry. Paige was upset enough; she didn’t need me to get hysterical as well. “Is Abby okay?”
“She’s … alive.” Another sniffle sounded. “Does that count?” Paige’s flippant remark was followed by another pain-filled sob, and I knew my sister was struggling to keep it together.
But that one word—alive—struck me like a lightning bolt, drawing me up short.
Fuck. Shit. Damn. Please, please, please let this be a horrible dream.
“Oh, God, Jake. It’s...” A mumbled cry sounded in my ear.
Definitely not a dream.
“Was she in an accident?” I knew she hadn’t been, but I had to ask, anyway, though I could feel it in my bones that this … this was much, much worse.
“Jake.” Paige took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “Abby tried to kill herself last night. She… Oh, shit, Jake… She slit her wrists.”
Son of a bitch. “Where is she now?”
“St. David’s,” Paige said, sounding a little calmer. “The cuts … they weren’t too deep. They said she lost a lot of blood, and she’s stable now, but they’ve admitted her for observation. I need you to come home.”
“They’re keeping an eye on her, right?”
“Yes. She’s under suicide watch. They think she might try it again.”
I closed my eyes and tried to calm my nerves. “Don’t let them leave her alone for a second, Paige.”
“Jake, come home, please.”
“Of course,” I told her. “I’ll be there on the first flight I can get.”
“No, Jake. I need you to come home. Not just for a visit. I… I can’t do this… Not by myself.”
I swallowed hard, glancing around my New York apartment, the one I’d come to like in recent years. My sister and my niece were back in Texas, as was my mother, while I was seventeen hundred miles away, unable to do a damn thing to help them.
And Paige wanted me to come home.
For good.
I sighed, trying to figure out how that was going to work, how I was supposed to pick up and start over again. I’d been living here for five years, had built somewhat of a life for myself, and my career was off and running.
Going back to Texas now…
Doesn’t matter, the voice in my head said, drowning out the fierce throb in my temple.
Right. It didn’t. Nothing mattered except getting home to help Paige and Abby. Family first. They were what was important. And I could write from anywhere. I had a good team. My publisher would take care of everything. I knew that. The only thing I was obligated to do was write; the rest they would have to assist with.
“Jake? You still there?”
I scraped my palm over my scruffy jaw and took a deep breath. “I’m still here.”
“Will you come home? Please?”
Switching the phone to my other ear, I inhaled deeply, then let it out. “Yeah. I’ll come home.”
“What about the movie?” she questioned.
“I can do everything I need to do from Texas,” I assured her, hoping that was true. A lot had gone into gearing up for the release of the movie that was based on one of my best-selling novels, but these things happened. They would just have to adapt. “Tell Abby I’ll be there soon, okay?”
Another heart-wrenching sob echoed in the phone, and I could feel my sister’s pain as though it were my own. I knew Paige had been having a hard time lately with Abby. My fourteen-year-old niece was going through a rough spot, but we’d all just thought it was normal teenage drama. Abby was a good kid. A smart kid. How could this be happening? Why hadn’t we seen it coming?
“Do you know why she did it?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know.
Paige’s voice lowered. “Last week, she told me she hated school. Said she never wanted to go back and that I couldn’t make her.”
“Did she say why?”
“Just that the kids were assholes and she couldn’t take it anymore.” Another sob. “But she’s said that so many times. I didn’t think…” More sniffling. “God, Jake, I figured it was hormones. I never thought…”
“Of course you didn’t,” I said reassuringly. “It’s okay, Paige. We’ll get her through this, I promise.”
“We’re gonna move in with Mom for a little while.”
Oh, shit. That didn’t sound like a good idea. “Why?”
“I… Terry’s back in jail and I can’t pay the rent on my own.”
“No,” I insisted. “I’ll pay your rent, Paige. I don’t want you to worry about that.”