Isabella
The ride from the hospital to the school was silent.
They were late.
Isabella was horrified she’d fallen asleep.
Now they were late picking up Jason so Prentice couldn’t drop her off at Fergus’s first. And Jason would be waiting for Prentice and likely worried. And Isabella hadn’t given herself time to think about what she would do or say when she saw Prentice again (or Jason). Even though it took ages to get there, all her thoughts had been centered on getting to Sally. She hadn’t let herself think of Prentice or, she knew, she would have lost what little courage she had and she would never have come.
And more, she was sleep-deprived, jetlagged, her short nap had exacerbated that and she felt muddled.
Not muddled enough not to want to push Annie off the nearest cliff for getting Isabella stuck in a car with a weary, unhappy Prentice who hated her again though.
On this thought, the school came in sight.
Jason was outside with some boys, unenthusiastically kicking around a soccer ball.
One of his friends saw Prentice’s Range Rover and jerked his chin to Jason.
Jason’s head turned, he caught sight of his father’s car, started to wave to his friends and then his eyes locked on Isabella.
His arm dropped and he started running to the car.
Oh dear.
She didn’t know what to expect.
Whatever it was, she had no choice but to tough it out and she had Annie to thank for that too.
When Prentice stopped the car, Isabella got out.
Jason skidded to a halt in front of her and shouted, “You came back!”
This was an interesting greeting, one, in her muddled state, she couldn’t quite decipher.
“Jason,” she said softly.
He dashed forward and threw his arms around her, giving her a fierce hug right in front of his friends.
This was a far better greeting.
Isabella relaxed, let his hug warm away some of the coldness that had imprisoned her heart since she drove away from Jason’s father three weeks ago, put a hand to the back of his neck and closed her eyes.
She opened them when he pulled away and proclaimed, “I knew you’d come back. I knew it when you sent me that book.”
“Jason,” she repeated, wanting to say something. She had no earthly clue what but she knew she should say something.
Jason interrupted her by jerking his head to the side and announcing, “Dad, she’s back!”
“I know, Jace,” Prentice’s deep voice answered and Isabella looked toward the sound to see he’d joined them.
The happiness in Jason’s face faded and he looked back at Isabella.
“Do you know about Sally?”
She nodded. “Yes, honey, we’ve just been at the hospital.”
“Did you come to see her?” Jason asked.