章節 13: Chapter 13
The small air conditioner inside the hotel room did very little to chase away the humidity of Alabama in June. They'd stopped in Montgomery for the night, which was the last major city before Willowsby. Courtney sat in a chair with her bare feet crossed in front of the air unit, trying to hear Austin on the phone over its noise. She had no clue how Serena was willing to take a hot bath in this weather. Courtney was only wearing her pajama top with underwear and she was still sweating.
"so we just finished it today," Austin said, referring to his shop.
She smiled, half guilty she'd only heard part of what he said. "It sounds lovely. I can't wait to see it."
"Serena is doing a mural for me on one of the walls. I have no idea what she's painting, but I suppose I should trust her." His tone was cute when he was self-depreciating.
Courtney stifled a yawn as she pulled the heavy drape aside to peer out into the night. "I didn't know she was an artist. What kind of stuff does she do?"
"I don't know much about art, but she called it surrealism, or something." He laughed into the phone. "I asked her once what that meant and she said she paints her own little world. Real life, with something thrown in to make it her own version. She's very good."
"I believe it. She--" A thud from behind the bathroom door made her shift in her seat, her heart rate leaping. Something was wrong. The hairs on her arms rose and a sudden wave of dizziness swamped her. Not her own. Serena's. She waited to hear another sound, but nothing came.
"Courtney? Hello?"
Austin all but forgotten, she dropped the phone and ran the few feet to the bathroom door. "Serena? Are you all right?" When no answer came, she pounded on the door while viciously pulling on the knob and fought back the panic in her chest. "Answer me! Are you okay? Serena!"
She ran back to the bed and picked up the phone. "I... I heard a thump and she's not answering me. The bathroom door's locked. What do I do?"
"Can you kick down the door?" With no other solution to her fast ramble, his heart pumped hard in his chest. Wondering how long it would take to drive to where they were, he heard her put down the phone and yell for his sister again.
"Serena? Can you hear me?" Courtney pushed the tears away and sniffled. She stroked away the pressure in her chest and called to her again. "If you can hear me, Serena, move away from the door. I'm going to try to break in."
Courtney rattled the doorknob again with no luck and took two steps back. She raised her foot high and stomped with the flat of her foot as hard as she could. The cheap wood splintered and caved a little at the pressure. She backed up again and, with a rush of adrenaline, kicked it again. After two more attempts, the door finally gave way and Courtney pushed her shoulder against it to pry it open.
She found Serena on the floor, leaning against the outside of the tub, paler than a person had a right to be, and her eyes slanted open. The steam billowed out of the room as Courtney knelt beside her, out of breath. Her heart hammered against her rib cage at the sight of her friend, naked, and looking very much
"Serena?" She took Serena's face in her hands, which shook so much it took her two attempts. Serena was warm. Dead bodies weren't warm, right? "Oh, God! Answer me!" She shook her a little until Serena laid a limp hand over Courtney's against her cheek.
"Ijustgot dizzy, is all." Her voice was weak, and Courtney had to strain to hear her. Serena was taking in shallow breaths. Her scar appeared to be protruding from her skin. For a split second, Courtney thought it had a life of its own as it slowly moved with her short pants.
Courtney stood and took a towel from the rack behind the door. After wrapping Serena in it, which was as white as she was, she ran to the bed and pulled down the sheets. She went back to where Serena was slouched against the tub, noting she was getting some of her olive tone back. Thanking God silently, she assisted Serena to her feet with strength she didn't know she had, and helped her slump on bed. Courtney snatched the pills from Serena's bag that she had directed to give her if she got weak.
"Take this," she said to her quietly, as she placed the small blue pill on her tongue.
Serena swallowed it dry and took a sip of water from the cup she held at her mouth. She swallowed again and smiled as she tipped her head back.
Courtney set the cup down on the nightstand. "You scared the crap out of me. No more hot baths in ninety degree weather."
Serena smiled, her eyes still closed and, after only a moment, drifted off to sleep. Since her breathing seemed fine and her color was back, Courtney rose and tucked the sheet up around her friend, placing a kiss to her damp forehead. Reality had slammed its way into the room, giving her a reminder of what was to come. Courtney didn't like it, the pain or the fear. Tears burned her eyes. "You rest. I'll call Austin and--"
She had completely forgotten he was on the phone. Before she could even run to pick the up the receiver, she heard him screaming for her.
"Courtney!"
"It's okay, it's okay." She pushed calm into her voice. "She just got dizzy with all the steam and the heat. I gave her the pills she told me to and she's in bed now."
His sigh of relief seemed to penetrate through the phone line and into her. "Thank God."
"I'm so sorry. I should never have let her--"
"It's not your fault. God, if you weren't there" He had no idea what would have happened. Better yet, he didn't want to think about it. He ran his hand through his hair, fisting the strands, and sagged in his chair. This stranger with the voice of an angel may very well be one after all. "Are you okay?"
Tears rose in the back of her throat. They slipped from her eyes, her body shaking with adrenaline crash. She slipped back into the chair by the air unit before she fell. "I I was so scared. I didn't know what to do." Her voice broke as her chest felt like it had cracked wide open.
It was as if Austin could feel her tears on his cheeks, no matter the distance between them, no matter how irrational. His hands clenched as he fought the helplessness, the urge to pull her into his arms and rock her until the tears passed. Maybe the emotional connection was because of Serena, their twin bond, or maybe Courtney had just scratched her way past his reservations all on her own, but he stopped fighting whatever was at play. She was hurting, and damn it, because she was he hurt too.
He let her sob for a few moments, knowing she probably needed a good cry after her shock. Austin understood. He and scared were interwoven bedmates. Fear for what Serena's end would be like. Hoping she would go quickly, so there wasn't pain. Praying she doesn't die at all so he could be with her always. Relentlessly thinking about what it would be like without her here at all anymore. The fear wraps itself around you, until you can't breathe anymore. Until you can't think of anything else.
Courtney sniffled and gave one of her many apologies. She was always apologizing.
"You have no reason whatsoever to be sorry. You deserve a thank you. For the millionth time since you met my sister, I'm real glad you're with her."
She said nothing in response. If not for her light breathing he would have sworn she'd hung up. Need and interest pulled at him, and he tried to push it away to the back of his mind. It was not possible to feel so much from and for someone he hadn't even seen. It was as if he craved her voice-- in his sleep, waking hours. Constantly.
"Tell me about your parents," she said finally after the long silence.
It was a request, not a demand, but it was something he hadn't expected her to ask. He sat back in his leather chair in the library and thought about all of Grams' stories on the front porch swing. "My mom was a music teacher. She taught piano. She used to play Fur Elise until you could hear every note in your sleep." He smiled as if he could still hear the melody. "My dad owned the shop I have now. He worshiped books, like I do. I bought the store back a few years ago and restored it, but you know that." He rubbed his jaw. "They were on their way back from one of my mom's concerts for her students when they lost control of the car around a curve."
He hadn't thought about this in such a long time. Grams should be the one telling her, since she was the master of story telling. He often wondered which memories were his own and which ones were what Grams' told him, to keep them alive for him and Serena. "We went to live with Grams after that. We were five, almost six."
Her sigh ran silkily up his spine. The very same way it had the other night. "I've never lost anyone that close to me," she said. "But then again, I've never had anyone that close either. I wonder which one of us is worse off."
Talk about struck stupid. He couldn't think of a reasonable response. The sheer simplicity of her statement left him speechless. It dawned on him that Serena was not only right about Courtney being hurt before, but that she had never been cared for either. Pain shot an arrow straight into a place he thought dormant. The need to comfort and hold her was so strong he struggled to get a hold of himself before he said something really asinine.
"Good night, Austin."
He closed his mouth with a snap and resisted the urge to keep her on the line for no apparent reason. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yes, tomorrow," she said, and then hung up with a quiet click.
He cursed that click, but tomorrow? He'd finally meet her.
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