Close Your Eyes (23 page)

They walked down the hallway, the silence stretching between them far from the usual comfortable companionship
Meg
so enjoyed.
Trying very hard to be inconspicuous, s
he stole a quick glance at
Matt
’s face. He seemed to be deep in his thoughts
,
given the deep furrow between his eyebrows.

‘I should have been more careful,
Meg
.
’
His
steps slow
ed
down just before they entered the cafeteria. ‘I risked
Ry’s
life
,
and now he is there, on the
operating
table.
Dad
can
try to turn things around to make me feel better, but I know I failed him
completely.’

He pushed the door open
. The
room
was
full of people
,
making it impossible for her to
respond
. She wasn’t sure what to say
,
anyway. At
that
very moment
,
it seemed that
Matt
didn’t really
want
her input
and had
simply
found
relief in saying
aloud
what was on his mind. And as his friend
,
it was her job to listen.

‘You
’
re
Matt
Harper
, right?’ A quiet voice stopped them at the counter
. They both turned
to the slim,
dark-
haired
nurse
. She smiled nervously, her large green eyes shy. She was extraordinarily pretty
, and
her pleasant face
made
it impossible not to
offer a small
smile
in return
.

‘
Yeah
, that’s me,’
Matt
nodded, his blue eyes cautious.
Meg
thought him a bit reserved, but then remembered how often he had to deal with nosy people trying to pull some stories and sell them to trashy magazines.

‘I’m sorry to ask like that,’ the girl
said quickly
, her lovely voice breathless. ‘I just remember you both, your brother and you
. When I was little, my parents stayed at your house once or twice. My dad was involved in a
horse breeding
program back home in Australia. He met your grandfather at a show here
,
and he invited us over. My mom ran a sanctuary for old and abandoned horses
,
and your grandfather was extremely generous
.
He
donated a large sum of money to support the charity fund.
You both were there, very unimpressed
at having
to play with me
.
I was
so
excited to have you show me around,
even though I was just eight and you boys were already in your early teens. I remember you both well.
’

Well, I wonder why
,
Meg
thought acidly, only to feel embarrassed with her own cattiness.
Did it matter
if
Matt
made a big impression on
an
eight-year-old
child?

‘I am Alice Cooper
.
’
The
girl stretched out
a small
hand and smiled as
Matt
shook it. ‘
Yes
,
it’s been mentioned
that I don’t look anything like
the musician with the same name
.’

‘I do recall having a chirpy little cutie hopping around our paddocks
.
’
He
smiled at her apologetically
, though Meg could see that his jaw clenched between sentences
. ‘Sorry I didn’t recognize you, Alice. Now that you say it, there is something vaguely familiar in your smile
.
I am sure
Ry
will notice it
,
too. He has always been better with faces than me.’

Alice
had
managed to bring a ghost of a smile to
Matt
’s lips,
and for that
,
Meg was
grateful. She seemed to be working in the trauma emergency and had already seen Ry
an
. Her soothing words about the
skill of the hospital’s surgeons and the survival rates of certain gunshot wounds were doing wonders for Matt’s mood
. H
is tense shoulders relax
ed
just a fraction.

‘He’ll have to stay here for a few days
,
no matter what,
’ Alice
said
,
the
brisk
,
efficient manner of a nurse shining through. ‘But I am pretty sure you’ll
find him much better
by
tomorrow
,
when the drugs kick in. Painkillers
make
all the difference.’

They chatted for a bit
as they walked back to the waiting area, and Meg was relieved to notice that Matt’s fingers no longer trembled as he held the drinks
. She was grateful to Alice for perking him up
. Megan noticed
the careful glances the other girl cast her way.

Is
she wondering if
I’m
Matt
’s girlfriend?
Megan
could
have set
her
straight
in a subtle way
, without him even noticing a thing.
Women
usually
ha
ve
a
sensitive
radar
for these sorts of details, and it wouldn’t
take
much to make
her
understand
the situation
.
However, f
or some unexplained, almost perverted reason
,
she
hadn’t done anything to establish her relationship to the family
. She didn’t understand herself at all, cringing at her own lack of logic as she
participated in the distracting chatter
until they parted. For
some
weird reason
,
Megan
didn’t want Alice to know that
Matt
didn’t belong to her, however crazy it sounded. Maybe it was her possessive nature,
and
Ry
an
’s younger brother
was
a part of her life she didn’t really want to share
.
Her speculation on the force that had
prompted her to keep mum
would have
to wait for later to be explained and analyzed. For now, they
had arrived at the end of
the hallway,
and
Rupert
’s tall frame folded in one of the
waiting room
chairs distract
ed
her enough to forget her qualms.

Rupert greeted them with a smile, once again surprising Meg with his warmth.
‘He is asleep now.’

Megan
watched
the two men talk
quietly about Ry
an’s
progress. They carried themselves in a similar manner
. T
he way
Rupert
’s head cocked to the left side while he listened
was
mirrored by
a similar
gesture
in
his younger son.

‘Our chauffeur will be here shortly.’
Rupert
smiled at her gently as he sipped his cup of tea. ‘
We’ll
need to get back to the house, if only to talk to the police. They are still there, wrapping up the investigation. I just spoke to Rosemary to let her know
that everything’s going to be okay
,
and she also admitted it would be for the best for us to join
them
as soon as possible.’

‘Couldn’t we see
Ry
first?’ she asked hesitantly, eager to make sure he was all right. She needed closure before
going
home and answer
ing
her parents
’
questions
. The
whole
story
was
certain to land
in
the
local news before she
even
had a chance to set her foot across her home’s threshold.

‘
He’s still heavily sedated,
’
Rupert
explained. ‘
So
right now, he is just resting comfortably. I think we can take a peek before we leave, but it will be hours before he’s awake. The doctor assured me
that
Ry
was very lucky. The
bullet
lodged itself in the soft tissue without causing any permanent damage. No bone or nerve injury, thank goodness.’