“Who are you?”
And just like, that the cloak of stress was draped back over their lives.
“Ellie,” I addressed her, “I’m John’s friend, Sloane.”
“Where’s John?” She glanced around the room as the phone rang on the counter. Kelly slowly excused herself from the table.
“He’s not here right now, Ellie.” Oliver’s face slipped back into his normal checked out stare. I didn’t judge him for that. It was a coping mechanism that happened a lot, especially with men. Asking for help just didn’t seem to be in his DNA, nor was showing any kind of real emotion when the stress took over.
“Nothing, dear.” Kelly’s worried tone made all of us tune in to her telephone conversation, and I suspected it was John. “I met Sloane for lunch, and then we…” She stopped when Ellie started to get upset over a commercial on TV.
“That’s not true!” Ellie yelled, and I knew another meltdown was about to happen. “That never happened! Dad, the TV is lying again.”
I hated that we went from one hundred to zero in a millisecond. I would have done anything to have heard them laugh again.
I texted Dell and asked him to come get me, and he said he was five minutes away. I grabbed my coat and watched from the porch for the headlights. I didn’t want to be in the way or embarrass them as shit was about to hit the fan.
“I’m sorry, dear.” Oliver joined me on the porch. “Our life isn’t much fun to be around these days.”
“I disagree, Oliver. I had a lot of fun tonight. I just hope I didn’t,” I fought my own emotions, “upset Ellie by coming over without John. I know it’s confusing for her.”
“You tried to help, and that’s what counts. That’s more than anyone else has done for a long time.” He tucked his hands in his pockets and leaned on the railing. “We lost a lot of people when Ellie became like this. I think we’re both holding on to some miracle that one morning everything will be right again.”
Headlights lit us up, and I hugged Oliver a goodbye. “Please let Kelly know I’m sorry, and anytime she wants to meet for lunch, she’s got a date.”
“She’d love that, but don’t forget about me,” he whispered. “I need to laugh too.”
“Anytime.” I hurried down the stairs and gave him a wave before I disappeared into the black SUV.
I was pleased Dell was on the phone when I got inside. I really needed to check out and preserve the wonderful moments I witnessed this afternoon. Maybe, just maybe, I had helped Kelly and gained a new friend.
Back at the house, I decided after such an emotional day to hit the bed early. I dug through my purse and retrieved my phone. I walked up the stairs and went to reach for the door, only to have it whipped open, and there stood a fuming John. He took a heavy step toward me, and I took a step back.
Wow, what was going on?
“What the hell were you thinking?” His eyes were bright with anger, and it was directly at me.
“What?” I took another step back.
“Do you understand the damage you just caused?”
“John, I’m honestly totally lost. What are you talking about?”
“Weren’t you just at my parents’ place? Did you not just take my mother to some crazy brain AA meeting?”
“Not quite, but I did take your mother to a brain injury support group meeting. After we spoke about it at lunch—that she initiated, by the way—and we enjoyed—”
“She enjoyed it, did she?” he interrupted. “Because the phone call I just had…sounded completely different.”
“I was just trying to help. I—”
“And who gave you the right to step into my life and show my mother that life will never be the same again? You had no right.”
I stood in shock, trying to recall the sequence of events that had happened. We cried, we laughed, we learned, but not once did I feel I had overstepped. After all, Kelly called me and seemed to appreciate my taking her there. Hell, even Oliver seemed to enjoy my company tonight.
His arms fell to his sides, and I saw his walls fly up tight.
“John?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. We had made such progress. What the hell just happened? “Could we maybe just take a second and talk about this?”
“I can’t.” I could see this was much bigger than I had realized. “I let you into a part of my life that I hadn’t