A Long Time Coming by Heather Van Fleet Page A

intended socialization had just turned into a
night of insanity instead.
    But it wasn’t the girls that
worried her, or the part about seeing David either. It was his passing out and
mini seizure thing that had her freaking. His face had been white, his eyes
half–opened and his mouth clenched shut as his body shuddered in a back and
forth motion on the carpet. In that moment she knew, without a doubt, that he
hadn’t been taking his meds; the meds that only his mom, dad, and she knew
about.
    His accident had not only
caused his amputation, but it had also caused some long–term brain and skull
damage as well. It wasn’t anything major—according to Mrs. A, that is—but it
was enough of an issue that the doctors required him to go on meds for several
years afterwards to help with the migraines and seizures. She’d only just
recently found this out, but it was still hard to take and even harder to
fathom that after all this time, he was suffering continuing effects from that
horrid accident.
    The hardest part about the
whole situation was not being able to tell Harley about the head issues her
brother was dealing with, especially since she was his twin and they were so
close. But Abigail had sworn up and down on her grandfather’s grave that the
secret was theirs to keep. David didn’t want to worry Harley more than she
already did. It just reaffirmed what she already knew: David was one hell of a
standup guy. And that idea added fuel to the fire, making her love him even more
than she already did.
    She’d immediately gone into
healing–nurse mode when she saw him lying there, pushing tramp–alicious one and
two out of her way so she could get to his side. They obliged, looking all too
freaked out when she demanded one or both of them to get her a cold rag. They’d
done what she’d told them to do and then thankfully scooted their denim asses
out of there, taking the crowd of onlookers that had started to hover with
them. David would have freaked the hell out if all those people had been around
when he’d awakened.
    It scared her seeing him like
that though—terrified was a better word for it actually. The last thing she’d
wanted was to meet up with him again in that sort of way. She’d had all
sorts of awesome reuniting visions going on in her loony brain, but in all of
her dreams, both awake and asleep, this was not the way she pictured
them back together again after a two month long hiatus.
    She would have preferred
keeping his head in her lap all night, just so she could tangle her fingers in
his dark curls. But she also knew how adamant he was about keeping a distance
from her. He’d said that before though, and then their relationship had changed
for good.
    But as she drove him home, the
silence between them consumed her completely. She didn’t know if she should
talk, or cry, or scream. This thing between them was tearing her into tiny bits
of emotional shrapnel, delving so deep into her skin that she couldn’t possibly
dig it out if she tried. She wanted their old relationship back. The one
that hadn’t been messed up by one night of kick–ass, too–good–to–ever–pass–up
sex.
    That night had been the best
of her life. But it had obviously been her worst mistake, too, because now, he
would barely even look at her, let alone speak to her.
    “So,” he finally cleared his
throat, leaning his head against the window. The dark shadows of the car
covered his cheeks, but the outline of his sculpted jaw was just as perfect as
ever, as the lights from the dashboard reflected against his face. He was so beautiful,
even in the dark. And guys were never beautiful to her—hot, sexy, sinful—but
nobody took the title of beautiful like David did. “Have you talked to Harley
lately?”
    She smiled. Safe subjects were
good. She could deal with safe. Anything beyond that was off limits. “Um, not
for a week or so, but I am going out there over Labor Day weekend,” she
shrugged, flipping on her