Chance Encounters (17 page)

The tension in her face subsided. She threw her arms around Alex’s neck and hugged him tightly. “Thank you so much, Alex. For everything.”

Alex’s cheeks turned bright red. “This is what Jackson would want. Make yourself at home. Goodnight, Caroline.”

“Goodnight.”

Alex stopped in the hallway and shouted, “Oh yeah. Hey, we leave here between seven and seven thirty.”

“Thanks,” she yelled through the closed door.

Once in the silence of Jackson’s bedroom, she looked around, taking note of everything that surrounded her. There was simplicity that Caroline felt suited him perfectly. The color scheme was earthy, in natural tones of deep, dark browns and tans. His room was clean and uncluttered, aside from the two shirts that lay crumpled on the floor.

A small bookcase filled with books on history, farming, and even some classic literature sat against the wall. The dresser was tall and housed a large flat screen television on top. A simple nightstand with one drawer resided next to his queen-sized bed. A lone burgundy-colored candle sat on top of it, along with his alarm clock and iPod player.

She noted the candle’s wick was still perfectly white. “Never been lit,” she mumbled to no one as her hand ran across the still even top.

She sat down on the edge of his bed as the scent of him instantly surrounded her. She grabbed at the pillows, pulled them to her face and breathed him in. There would be no escaping him tonight.

Her mind wandered to impure thoughts of Sally and Jackson when a knock on the door broke her concentration. “Come in.” She sighed, uncertain who would be there.

Alex poked his head around the door. “Sorry, Caroline, I just wanted to let you know that the sheets are clean.”

Caroline let out a huge sigh of relief. “I was actually
just
thinking about that,” she admitted.

“Sally hasn’t been here for a while. Jackson went to her place mostly.” Alex stopped short of revealing any more.

Caroline understood. “Thank you, Alex.”

“Good night.” He shut the door behind him.

Caroline washed her face and brushed her teeth before crawling into Jackson’s bed and allowing the smell of him to engulf her. Once in his bed her eyes fell upon his nightstand. She thought briefly about lighting the candle, but knew it wasn’t her place.

She noticed something barely peeking out from the drawer. She knew better than to snoop, but curiosity got the best of her. She pulled it open without a sound and the picture of her and Jackson from the plane fell back inside. She ran a finger across the image of his face, as her passion surged.

The flashing light on Caroline’s cell phone drew her attention away from the picture. Her heart instantly felt like it weighed a thousand pounds inside her chest. She scrolled through her text messages and missed phone calls, her burden deepening with each one. Slowly, she pressed the digits to her mom’s cell phone. Her mom answered immediately, her voice filled with concern.

“I know, Mom. I’m so sorry for leaving like that. Yes, I’m in New York. Of course I’ll be back soon. I know. I’ll apologize to Clay’s parents, as well.”

She took a deep breath. “I can’t explain it all right now, Mom, but I promise to fill you in. I know, I’m sorry. No, I’m not in any trouble. No, I haven’t talked to Clay yet. I know…,I’ll call him.”

She took another deep breath. “Yes, I’m okay. I’m really sorry, Mom. I know. I’ll call you soon. I love you too. ’Bye.”

Unable to fathom having another conversation, she set her phone to “alarm only” and fell asleep wrapped in Jackson’s essence.

****

Caroline, Sally, Alex, and Tommy sat in various chairs around the hospital room when Jackson’s parents walked through the door. Jackson’s mom instantly started crying at the sight of her only son and his father reached his arms around his wife to comfort her. His mother looked up in Caroline’s direction and gathered her composure. “Oh, hello there. I don’t think we’ve met?”

Caroline stood up with a smile and reached out her hand. She noticed the same heart charm that Jackson had sent to her, fashioned on top of a ring his mother wore. “I’m Caroline. I’m a friend of Jackson’s,” Caroline said politely.

Tommy cleared his throat and Caroline shot him a nasty glare. “Do you know Jackson from school? Or the city or something?” his mother inquired.

Caroline felt her face flush with embarrassment. “No, ma’am. We met on a flight almost a year ago.” Caroline felt like a complete idiot at the admission.

Mrs. Parks’ expression reflected shock and confusion. “Oh. Well, thank you for coming.”

She walked over to Sally with a huge grin on her face. “Oh, Sally. Thank you so much for being here. I know it will mean the world to Jackson when he wakes up.” The two hugged like old friends.

Tommy could barely contain his laughter as he attempted to hide the devilish grin on his face with his hands. And Alex’s face, in his discomfort, had turned bright red. Neither had realized that Jackson’s parents didn’t know who Caroline was.

Caroline desperately wanted out of that room. “If you’ll excuse me, I really need to use the restroom.” She jerked open the door, practically busting it off its hinges on her way out.

Caroline ran around the corner and threw the bathroom door open with an exasperated breath. She flung open a stall door and quickly locked it behind her. She sat on top of the seat, buried her face in her hands and gasped for air. Tears spilled over her fingers as she berated herself. What was she doing there? His parents didn’t even know who she was! She didn’t belong there. She wasn’t his best friend, or the girl he was dating, or anything to him. How could she have been so stupid?

“Oh my God,” she said out loud as the most awful of realizations slammed down on top of her.

What if Jackson didn’t want her there?

Caroline realized at that moment she had to go back to San Francisco. Her ego had allowed her to simply assume that Jackson could never get over her the same way she couldn’t get over him. She had convinced herself that he still wanted her, when she didn’t know that to be the truth at all.

She wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands and pulled herself together. She exhaled and walked out of the bathroom toward the nurse’s station. “Excuse me?” Caroline spoke to the middle-aged woman behind the counter.

“Yes?” the nurse asked, her eyes weary. “Can I help you?”

“Do you have a pad of paper and a pen I can borrow? I’ll give it right back as soon as I’m done.”

The nurse smiled. “Of course. Here you go.” She handed her a legal-sized notepad and a pen with yellow smiley faces.

Caroline walked over to the empty seats along the wall across from the nurses’ station and sat down to write Jackson a letter, just like he had once done for her all those months ago. Tears fell onto the paper, but she never stopped. Her heart spilled into her words. Everything came out on that page.

When she was done writing, she handed the notepad back to the nurse and asked if she could trouble her for an envelope. The nurse handed her one and Caroline carefully wrote “Jackson” on it with a small heart at the end. “Thank you so much,” she said to the nurse before she returned the pen and walked toward Jackson’s room.

Alex waited outside the door for her return. “I’m sorry about that, Caroline. You okay?”

Caroline forced a smile. “I will be. Random question for you…”

“Shoot,” Alex said.

“The ring his mom is wearing—the one with the heart—where’s it from?”

“Oh, the separated heart?”

Caroline nodded.

“It’s cool, right? It’s been in his family for generations. I think it was his great, great, great grandfather who made the first one. I think the story goes, if I’m remembering it right, that his grandfather kept trying to make his girlfriend a heart design, but he couldn’t get the two halves to match up perfectly. No matter what he did, the right half was always longer than the left half. And he was never happy with the top of the heart where the halves came together. He couldn’t weld the pieces just right and it always got like this big clump at the top.

“So one day, he took the latest heart he had made, where the top didn’t quite come together and the right side hung lower than the left, and gave it to her anyway. He told her that it was better than a regular heart because it was separated and separated hearts were stronger than hearts that weren’t. Apparently she thought it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen and asked if he could make a ring with it. And the design has been in their family ever since.”

Caroline’s face softened, picturing the scene in her mind. “That’s a great story.”

Alex smiled. “I think so, too. Why do you ask?”

“I was just wondering,” Caroline evaded.

“Wait, did Jackson make one for you?” Alex asked with wide eyes. Caroline looked at him without answering. “He did, didn’t he?” Alex asked again as Caroline reached for the chain buried under her shirt.

“He sent me the heart for my birthday. But I added the chain,” she admitted.

“Wow,” Alex responded. “That’s a big deal.”

“It is?” she questioned.

“Yeah,” he told her. “It’s tradition that each one of the Parks men put the heart on something, but they don’t ever give it to just any girl. It’s usually the girl they want to marry. And it doesn’t have to be a ring, but I think that’s what they all normally do. I know that all the women in his family have similar rings.”

Caroline caressed the charm. She basked in the warmth she felt inside with the charm’s newfound meaning.

“Jackson had to make that for you, you know? That’s part of the tradition, too. If any Parks man wants to give the design to someone, they have to forge it themselves.”

“That just makes it even more special,” Caroline said, glowing. Knowing that Jackson had made it with his own two hands definitely changed the way she saw it. Not to mention, the way she felt about it.

Alex looked down and noticed the note in her hand. “You’re going to leave, aren’t you,” he asked, more a statement than a question, breaking Caroline’s train of thought.

“Let’s just go back inside,” she suggested.

“I’m going to grab some water. I’ll be right back. Want anything?” Alex asked before he headed down the hall.

“No, thank you.”

Caroline walked through the doors and only Sally remained inside. She held onto Jackson’s hand and caressed it, but stopped when she saw Caroline.

“I think I’m going to go back home.”

“When?” A slight smile escaped from Sally’s lips as her eyes lifted.

“Today.”

“So soon?”

“I need to get back to work. And I really need to talk to my fiancé and tell him everything that’s going on. I’ve been avoiding him since I got here and that’s not fair to him.” Thinking about Clay made Caroline feel doubly worse.

“I have no right to ask you this, but when he wakes up, can you make sure he gets this?” Caroline held out the envelope.

Sally smiled and took it in her hand. “Of course.”

“Thank you, Sally. I understand why he likes you, too.”

The girls hugged briefly. Caroline walked to Jackson’s bedside and was suddenly afraid to touch him. He looked so damaged. She gently lifted one of his hands and kissed the top of it. Then she bent toward his ear and whispered, “I love you. Please get better,” softly enough that no one else could hear.

With one last look in Sally’s direction, Caroline waved and quickly headed into the hallway. She almost ran smack into Alex, who was holding a tray filled with donuts and bagels.

“Where are you going?” His voice dropped.

“I’ve got to head back. I shouldn’t be here,” she confessed.

“Don’t let his mom upset you. He doesn’t tell her everything about his life, especially when he’s brokenhearted.” Alex tried to help her understand.

Caroline smiled, grateful for Alex and the kind of friend he was to Jackson. “I need to go home. Explain everything to Clay and stuff. If he opens his eyes, will you please let me know?”

He hugged her awkwardly, trying not to tip over the tray. “Of course.”

Tommy rounded the corner and let out an annoyed grunt. “Isn’t this cute?”

“I was just leaving, so you can go back to being your usual happy self,” Caroline snapped back and walked out of the lobby.

Chapter Sixteen