A Long Time Coming (26 page)

* * *

Harley’s shoulders shook from
sobbing, and Abigail did the only thing she knew how to do in that moment—she
hugged her close and cried right along with her. Mrs. A was on the other side,
equally as tearful as she stroked her daughter’s head. Why in the hell did all
the good things have to come with such crappy side–effects anymore?

For one thing, she was
pregnant, but she was also young and clueless about how to be a mother. And
another? She and David… Dammit, they were finally together, after so many years
of being
just friends
. But now their relationship was taking a beating
by her pregnancy and his mother’s cancer. And now, here sat Harley, getting the
job opportunity of a lifetime, but the poor thing couldn’t revel in her
happiness due to the fact that she’d be leaving the one person who completed
her. Abigail understood her best friend’s fear—the regret of letting Mason come
with her, only for him to say down the road possibly, that he regretted not
following through with his own dreams. She felt that way with David in a way,
with the whole preggo thing. But life was about chances, and taking them was
the only way to find that happily ever after.

A throat cleared, and her gaze
immediately found David’s in the threshold of the living room. Surprisingly he’d
gone after Mason before coming to his sister’s side, but she knew why that was.
Mason and David were a lot alike in the sense that the two of them had no idea
how to deal with emotional women. Really though, what guy did? She grinned at
the thought, wiping her tears with her palms just as Harley settled into her
mom’s arms.

Mr. A sat in his chair next to
the couch. His elbows were on his knees—his mouth and chin were lowered into
his palms. She had no idea what went on in that man’s head. He was always so
quiet, never said much of anything unless he was asked. But tonight, she could
clearly see the strain in his body as he sat across from her—it was identical
to the look David got whenever he was worried or upset about something.

“So I want to go, you guys, so
badly. But I can’t expect Mason to drop his own life to be with me. I just
can’t
—
”

“Be responsible for the loss
of someone else’s dreams? I can relate.” David’s sad gaze found Abigail’s and
she froze. Damn him. She hated that he still felt that way, even after she
declared that he was it for her—everything she ever wanted and needed in life.
Life without David would always be pointless, and hopefully someday he’d quit
with the guilty feeling.

“You know, Harley, when your
dad and I met, he was working over two hours away, living in a different town
from where I lived. We made the distance thing work for a while, until we were
ready to make it official, until we both decided what we really and truly
wanted. So maybe a little time apart would just solidify how the two of you
feel about each other. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, you know…”

Blinking away the sad tears
that threatened her once more, Abigail smiled down at Mrs. A as she continued
on with her story. Hearing about their romance was so comforting, so exactly
what she needed to hear. The two of them were eighteen when they met, and then
they wound up having David and Abigail only two years after that. They were the
epitome of a perfect couple—the one thing that made her believe in that true
love kind of stuff.

“I didn’t want your mom to
move away from her family and her life to move here to Hillsdale with a guy who
worked as a mechanic, fixing up old bikes. I wasn’t good enough for the pretty,
city girl.”

“But you were, honey…” Mrs. A
smiled, releasing Harley to stand up and move into her husband’s lap. “You were
always meant for me—grease under the fingernails and across the face only made
me want you that much more.”

Electricity burned between the
pair, like they were still so young and freshly in love. Then David was there,
sitting next to her, pulling her back into his arms, kissing her temple. She
smiled up at him, before staring back over at Harley. Her best friend’s eyes
were red and swollen, but she was smiling at least. That was a start.

“You were meant to be mine and
I was meant to be yours.”

Groaning, obviously annoyed by
his mother’s romanticized words, David pulled Abigail tighter to him,
whispering into her ear, “Ignore their mush. It sort of grosses me out.”

Closing her eyes, she settled
deeper into his arms, loving the way his warm breath sifted over her skin as he
spoke. She tilted her chin up and found his gaze, smiling at him. “I find it
rather sweet. It makes the possibility of success in a marriage actually real
to me. I obviously haven’t had my fair share of romantic role models, you
know…”

“Harley, honey, I know how
much you love Mason and want the best for him. But you also need to trust the
boy to make the right decisions for himself. If he feels the best thing to do
is to come with you to Chicago, then you need to let him.” David’s arm sat
locked and unmoving around Abigail’s shoulders, his body stiffening; his breath
almost impossible to make out against her ear. Abigail had never known Mr.
Anderson to give advice, but tonight, that’s exactly what he did. But for him
to sit there and dish out love advice to his nineteen–year–old daughter? Well
that went way beyond any kind of norm for the man.

“Who are you…and where is my
dad?” Harley chuckled from beside her; eyes wide, a small smirk sat upon her
lips.

“I’m a man who knows what it’s
like to love someone so much you’d give your own life to be with them.”

“Excuse me for a second,” and
then Mrs. Anderson was up, running to the kitchen, the sobs echoing like poison
through the air behind her. Mr. Anderson whitened, his eyes growing sad with
every second that passed. His throat bobbed up and down as he stood to follow
her.

Brows dipped together in what
was probably confusion, Harley turned to face Abigail and David on the couch
after he cleared out of the room. “Umm, is Mom having an emotional breakdown
again or something?”

“Harley, just…don’t. Please.”
Pulling his arm out from behind Abigail, David shook his head and stood.

“Jesus, David. I figured you,
of all people, would be laughing at her random emotional meltdown.
Sorry…
”

“No… Fuck, Har, you have no
idea what’s really going on here.” He swiped the crutch from the couch and
tucked it under his arm before glancing back at her. His hair stood as he
yanked at the ends with his trembling fingers.

“Uh, I kind of thought we were
discussing
my
dilemma, but then all of a sudden everyone just went
cryptic on me.”

She shouldn’t have been here.
She should just leave. This wasn’t her family technically so what gave her the
right to sit and play referee between these two stubborn twins? But dammit,
that’s exactly what Abigail was about to do.

“Try me here, David. Tell me
what’s got Mom’s panties in a bunch
this
time.” Sitting back against the
sofa, Harley crossed her arms as her brows rose even higher in challenge.

“She’s
—
”

“David!” Abigail hollered,
standing in front of him, her hands pressed against the solidity that was his
chest. His heart thundered under her fingertips, but he didn’t move, nor did he
stare down at her. Swallowing hard, Abigail sent off a quiet warning under her
breath. “Don’t do it, David. Please…this is not your secret.”

“Well why the fuck can’t we
just get it out there now, huh? I know…
you
know…everyone knows but
Harley. And now it’s time that she knew too, that way we can all discuss it
together—discuss the options. Fix this shit. Make her better. Make it so our
child can meet its grandmother someday.” Anger lit his brown eyes, and for the
first time since knowing him, David both scared her and pissed her off at the
same time. It was like this beast was building in him the longer he stood
there, like the anger was turning him into someone he wasn’t. He needed to
breathe, but he didn’t. And Abigail had no idea how to get him to do just that.

“Jesus, David, what in the
hell are you spouting off about?” Harley rose, standing at Abigail’s back.
Braving a look back towards her best friend was impossible. If she did, then
David would let the truth out. “I mean, talk about cryptic here. You, my lovely
brother, are not making sense. And to be honest, I have far too big of a
headache to deal with it anyways.”

“Don’t walk away, Harley. Not
tonight. This has to happen tonight.” Nostrils flaring, veins popping from his
neck, David looked ready to fight death with his bare hands and take it down.
“Mom…Dad…get in here. You brought her here. Tell her dammit. Tell your daughter
the truth.”

“David, please baby…you don’t
want to do this.” Pleading was the answer, and Abigail did just that, digging
her nails into his t–shirt the entire time. His gaze—completely unfocused—found
hers for a brief moment before he focused it back towards the kitchen.

“Abigail,” Harley’s hand was
on her shoulder, it trembled as she spoke. “What’s wrong with him? He’s never
—
”

“Acted this way? Well, I’ve
got good reason for being an ass, if that’s what you mean. You’re not the only
one with issues you know. I’ve got a fucked up brain, Harley. My head, it’s not
the same. The accident…it did something to me.”

Okay, yeah, so apparently he
was going to let
all
of the secrets come out tonight. Back in Santa Cruz
they’d gotten by with not telling her, but now, here he was, letting it all
hang out. An Anderson share all, tell all was in place. Dammit, this was one
big mess. The worst part was that there wasn’t anything Abigail could do to
make him stop now. He was out of control; his voice and mind no longer matched.
David was not David. She swallowed, moving towards his side. She interlocked their
fingers and surprisingly, he didn’t move away. If anything, he gripped them
harder, like he was using her touch to keep going. If the secrets were going to
come out, then she’d be there to help him release them, even if she stayed
silent in the process.

“What do you mean by that?”
Tears poked at the corner of Harley’s eyes, but they didn’t fall. Just sat
there—puddling. Abigail just wanted to catch them. Take the pain that
accompanied them as well.

“I
mean
…ever since my
accident, I’ve been dealing with migraines, and seizures. The doctors tell me
that my
condition
won’t ever go away.”

“W–why didn’t I know about
this?” Abigail turned to face her best friend, seeing her eyes widen the longer
they stood there. “Did you know about this?” The look was accusing, and aimed
at Abigail. Should she reach for her? Hug her? Tell her she was sorry for not
telling her what she knew? Or was she in the right for keeping such a secret
from her best friend for these past couple years? It was in Harley’s best
interest anyways. The girl had gone through so much. She didn’t need any
additional guilt added to her already broken heart and soul.

“I didn’t tell you, Harley,
because you didn’t need to know. You didn’t need to worry. I wasn’t dying and I
knew all the guilt you carried anyways. There was no point. I’ve been this way
for more than two years now, so it’s not a big deal. But maybe now, you can see
why I hardly went anywhere, or wanted to be around people. It wasn’t just
because of my leg.”

“Shit, David. Are you for real?”

“Yes, sweetie, he is,” the
soft voice of Mrs. A sounded from the threshold. Her voice cracked, and Abigail
watched as Mr. A sidled up next to her, wrapping his arm around his wife’s
shoulders. “And I have something I need to tell you too.”

And with those words, Abigail
knew it was time she stood at her best friend’s side. She’d need her more than
anyone. So she took those two steps, grabbed her hand, and held on for dear
life, because this might just kill her again. Over and over, like a roller coaster
of visual confusion, Harley studied them all. Looking both lost and confused,
like a scared child who’d been separated from her parents in a big department
store.

“Honey…I’m dying.”

Bluntness, in her opinion was
not the way to go, but apparently Mrs. Anderson didn’t feel there were any
other options.

“Funny Mom, but you’re fine…”

“No, honey, I’m
not
fine. I have cancer. Terminal cancer.”

Shutting her eyes to keep her
tears from falling, Abigail wondered what was going on in Harley’s mind. Was
she in denial? Was she on the verge of crying like she was? Call her a chicken
shit, but she couldn’t let her gaze find the light to see what version of
Harley she would see before her. But from the laxness of her hand in Abigail’s,
she knew shock was at the top of that emotional list.

“No. You’re not dying. Dad?
Tell me this is a sick joke. Tell me Mom’s just joking. Tell me…” She fell to
her knees, her arms shaking as she pressed them against her thighs. Unable to
stop herself, Abigail did the same, finally glancing at the whiteness of her
best friend’s face. “David? Abigail? Tell me I’m hearing things.”

“You’re not, honey,” her
mother was crying, as were David and his dad now too. Harley’s head was
shaking, back and forth, over and over. And then Mrs. A was on the floor next
to them both, wrapping an arm around her back and Harley’s. She didn’t deserve
to be in that hug, it should have just been between a mother and a daughter,
but she was selfish. She needed it too.