Fitting The Pieces (The Riverdale Series Book 3) (3 page)

           
Her phone rang as she made her way back down the hill.
She reached into her purse and pulled out the phone. She cringed when she saw
it was Luke who was calling her. She declined the call just as she did every
Friday. He’d leave a voicemail telling her he deposited the profits of
Riverdale Ink in her checking account. He’d end the call with “I hope you’re
okay, please call me back.” She had the whole voicemail down pat. Too bad she
never called him back.

* *
* * *

           
“Goddamn it!” Luke said as he threw his phone across the
office and slammed his fist against the desk. He ran his hand threw his hair
and cupped the back of his neck in frustration.

           
“What the hell is with you?” Nick asked, standing in the
doorway of the office they shared. He took a step inside and picked up the
phone Luke had thrown, examining it before handing it back to him.

           
Luke took the phone and let out a breath before shaking
his head. “It’s nothing.”

           
Nick crossed his arms against his chest and cocked an
eyebrow at him, calling bullshit. Luke rolled his eyes at his friend before
shoving the phone into his back pocket.

           
“I’m just stressed out.”

           
“You’re throwing shit and slamming your fist.” Nick said
observantly.

           
 
“Yeah, and? We all
deal with stress differently.” He turned around and began to shove some order
forms for parts around. “Did the transmission come in for the Chevy?”

           
“Yes and it’s installed.” Nick peered at him. “Are you
trying to blame this place on your stress?”

           
Luke looked up and shot Nick a look. “No, but at the
current moment you seem to be raising my stress level.”

           
“Yeah your blood pressure is probably higher too.” He
said as he motioned to his own forehead. “You have veins popping out all up in
this area.” Then he crossed his arms again and cocked his head to the side.
“You might want to get that checked out.”

           
“Are you finished?” Luke asked as his patience wore thin.

           
“I’m not sure.” Nick said and then sat down in the chair
in front of the desk. “Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on with
you? If not I can keep going…”

           
“When did you become so annoying?” Luke asked before
sliding into the chair behind the desk. His shoulders slumped in defeat. He
sighed heavily and glanced over to his friend. “I’m worried about Cara.”

           
“Ah ah… and there it is.” Nick said, leaning forward and
holding Luke’s gaze.

           
“Today is the day she and Jake was supposed to get
married.” Luke felt his hands clench into fists beside him. The significance of
the day coupled with not hearing from her, had him on edge. He couldn’t shake
the feeling in his gut that was telling him that she needed him. “I can’t get a
hold of her.”

           
“She probably wants to be alone.” Nick offered. “She
seemed fine when we went to dinner a couple of weeks ago.”

           
Luke nodded absent-mindedly. She wasn’t fine that night
either, sure he was able to catch a glimpse of the Cara he once knew, but she
disappeared quickly as the night progressed. He saw the change in her after
Nick and Sam had asked them to stand up for them at their wedding. He should’ve
known today was going to be hard on her. He should’ve planned a way to help her
get through it. He kicked himself, as he thought of all the places he could’ve
whisked her away, so she could forget. Luke could’ve been the one to make
things okay for her today. It could’ve been him who made her forget the pain
and not the pills, but instead he was sitting here feeling like helpless fool.

           
“You can’t keep beating yourself up. I know you made a
promise, but sometimes things are just out of our control.” Nick said breaking
Luke from his train of thought.

           
Luke’s eyes met Nick’s and he shook his head slightly. “I
won’t give up… not on her.” He glanced at the clock and pushed out of his
chair. “I’m heading out.”

           
Nick’s eyes widened but he didn’t say a word as he
watched Luke walk out of the office.

 
* * * * *

           
Later that night Luke was sitting across the kitchen
table from Ava, sharing a pizza. Only the slice that sat in his dish was barely
touched. He managed to smile, though when he stared across at his daughter who
was licking the sauce off her thumb.

           
“You love pizza.” He told her as he handed her a napkin.

           
“Yep! It’s my favorite.” She said before she took another
big bite. He laughed and folded his slice before taking a bite. He watched her
enjoy her dinner and knew that Fridays were just as much her favorite night of
the week as it was his.

           
“I bet they don’t have pizza at Melanie’s birthday
party.” She said before taking another bite.

           
Luke’s eyebrows furrowed at her comment. “Was Melanie’s
birthday party today?” She nodded as she chewed.
 
“Well, how come you didn’t tell me?” He put
his pizza down and looked at his daughter with concerned eyes, praying she
hadn’t told him and he forgot.

           
She shrugged her shoulders. “Because Friday night is our
night and besides it was a spa party and all the other girls moms were going.”
She looked up at her dad. “Can I have another slice of pizza?”

           
Luke swiped his hands over his face before he placed another
slice in her dish. He looked at her for a moment, trying to get his words
right. “It would’ve been okay if you wanted to go to Melanie’s birthday party.
We could’ve had our pizza date another night.”

           
“But then what would you have done? Eat pizza by yourself?”
She stared down at the slice he had just put into her dish. “That isn’t nice.”
She glanced up, her blue eyes meeting his.

           
He smiled at her as he pushed out his chair and patted
his lap. “C’mere.” She slid off her chair and walked around the table jumping
into her father’s waiting arms. Luke placed a kiss on her forehead. “I love
you, Ava, more than anything in this whole world.” He said as he tucked some of
her hair behind her ears. “I don’t want you to worry about me. You’re a kid you
shouldn’t be worrying about anything. I want you to have fun and always smile.”
He paused for a moment. “You could’ve told me about Melanie’s birthday party
and we could’ve asked Aunt Sam to go with you. She loves spas and parties.” He
winked at his little girl.

           
Ava looked up at her dad and she sucked in her bottom lip
before she spoke. “Is it too late to go now?”

           
Luke glanced at the clock and then back towards Ava. “I
tell you what. I’ll call Melanie’s mom and tell her you would like to go to the
party, but the party will probably be over before Aunt Sam gets dressed and
ready to take you. I can go with you if you’d like.”

           
Ava’s eyes widened and she wrapped her arms around Luke’s
neck. “Dad, I love you, but I can’t take you to a spa party.” She kissed his
cheek. “It’s okay, I can go by myself.”

           
Luke smiled at her and lifted her off his lap, settling
her down on her own feet, before standing himself. “Okay then. Go get ready
while I call Melanie’s mom.”

           
“Thanks daddy! You’re the best.” She said in a singing
tone as she hurried out of the kitchen.

 
* * * * *

           
The Emergency Room was bustling and Leah felt as if she
had been on the clock for two days straight. She placed the last chart on top
of the nurse’s station and was just about to remove her stethoscope and call it
a night when the head of the E.R. called over to her.

           
“Leah we have a trauma coming in.” The doctor called.
Leah took a deep breath so much for going home and raiding her stock of ice
cream. She ran to the door beside the doctor as the E.M.T.’s wheeled a patient
on a stretcher.

           
“What do we got here?” asked the doctor beside Leah.

           
“Female Caucasian. Twenty-nine years old. Breathing on
her own, but unconscious. She may be bleeding internally. She was the driver of
the vehicle you might want to do a toxicology report.”

           
Leah stared down at the female body that was bruised and
battered. She gasped when her eyes landed on her face. Cara laid on the gurney
unresponsive. Her head was cradled by a brace and she was bleeding from her
temple.

           
“Leah can you grab her identification and see if you can
contact a next of kin.” The doctor ordered, forcing her out of her trance. She
watched as a team of doctors wheeled her into the nearest trauma room and began
to work on her.

           
‘Here Miss, this is what we were able to recover from the
crash.” An officer said as he held Cara’s pocketbook out towards her. Leah
wondered for a moment where he had come from before she took the purse from
him. “License says her name is Cara Sloane.”

           
“Thank you.” She said before she found her footing and
made her way to the nurse’s station. She typed in Cara’s name into the
registration log and listed as her next of kin was Jake Lanza. Leah closed her
eyes, of course Jake would be her emergency contact person. She picked up the
phone and as much as she hated the position she was in, she dialed the one
person who came to her mind. Luke hadn’t really left her mind since the night
she called him out on having feelings for Cara. The moment the words had
escaped her mouth, she had regretted it and now she was about to call him and
tell him Cara needed him. He’d come running, of course, because as much as she
regretted accusing him of caring for Cara, she knew it was undeniably true,
even if he didn’t realize it.

           
“Hello?” Luke’s familiar voice spoke into the phone.

           
“Luke, it's Leah.” She said with a hoarse voice and
cleared her throat before she began again. “Cara was in a car accident. They
just brought her into the E.R. and Jake was her emergency contact…”

           
“I’m on my way…” He said exasperated and then the line
went dead.

           
Luke sat in the waiting room of the hospital alone,
feeling numb. The second hand ticking of the clock on the wall, reminding him
he’d been there for hours waiting on word from the doctors that were working on
Cara. He looked up when he heard the door open and his shoulders slumped when
he saw Leah. She walked over to him, offering him a cup of coffee from the
cafeteria. Her shift had ended a while ago, but she had lingered around the
hospital. She sat next to him as he took the cup of coffee from her hand.

           
“Thanks.” He said flatly.

           
“I’m guessing the doctor didn’t come find you yet?” She
said beside him. All he could do was shake his head as he stared at the coffee cup
in his hands. “Is there someone else you want me to call?”

           
“No.” He replied, sighing heavily as he worked the lid of
the cup and took a sip.

           
“She’s going to be okay, Luke. They’ll be able to stop
the bleeding, that is the biggest concern.”

           
Luke nodded as he slowly stood to his feet. He couldn’t
sit still any longer and he began to pace the small area of the waiting room.
He hated this place more than anything. The last time he had set foot in this
building was the day his brother died. The day he carried Cara out of here and
promised he’d take care of her. He’d done a shit job of that, and now it was
his fault she was here.

           
“I’m going to go see if I can get an update.” Leah said,
feeling useless as she watched Luke slip into his own world. He didn’t say a
word as she left the room. He combed his fingers through his hair and stared up
at the ceiling. He was no good at this and asked his heavenly father for help.
Not for himself, but for Cara. He prayed he’d spare her so he could have one
more shot at doing right by her. He would get it right, he vowed. He’d get her
help and she’d go on to live the life she was meant to. He silently apologized
to his brother as the image of his Jake’s worried face haunted him.

           
The coffee slipped from his hands spilling onto the
floor, startling him. He turned around and saw a box of tissues on the table
and grabbed the box. He knelt down and began to clean the mess with the
tissues, shoving the wet ones into the now empty Styrofoam cup.

           
“Luke?”

           
He looked over his shoulder and saw his mother and father
standing in the doorway of the waiting room. Concern etched along his mother’s
tired features. He bit the inside of his cheek and forced himself to reign in
his emotions. Deb made her way to her eldest son, bending down to help him. He
held up his hand and shook his head.

           
“I’ve got it.” He said hoarsely and finished cleaning the
mess before rising to his full height. His mother’s arms enveloped him and he
closed his eyes, hating himself even more, because his mother had to return to
the place where her son had died.

           
“Oh, Luke…” She whispered as she clung to him. He opened
his eyes and looked up at his father. Joe stood solemnly wearing a blank
expression on his face. He pulled back slowly from his mother, his eyes finding
hers. They were tired and full of questions.

           
“Sam called us and told us that Cara was in a car
accident.” She explained.

           
“She picked up Ava?” Luke asked.

           
“Yes, she and Nick picked her up from the birthday
party.” She brushed a fallen strand of hair out of Luke’s face and stilled her
hand on his cheek. “What happened?”

           
“Her car veered off the interstate and into a guard rail.
They brought her in hours ago and from what Leah says the biggest concern is to
stop her from bleeding internally…” His voice caught and he couldn’t finish.

           
“Has a doctor come out to see you yet?” Joe asked as he
sat down on one of the couches.

           
Luke shook his head and took in a deep breath.

           
“How did you know she was in an accident?” Deb asked.

           
“When she was brought in Leah looked up her emergency
contact on record with the hospital.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “She
figured I’d be a close second I guess.”

           
“Jake.” Joe whispered, understanding that Leah had called
him instead.

           
Luke nodded and stared at his father for a moment,
watching as he looked around the room taking in his surroundings.

           
“Christ, they should name a wing in this place after us
or something.” Joe said, meaning to defuse the tension and eeriness felt in the
room. Silence filled the air and Deb took a seat next to her husband. Luke
leaned against the wall with one of his shoes planted against the wall, and
they waited together.

           
His parents surprised him. They were obviously
uncomfortable sitting there, no doubt flooded with memories of the months they had
all spent in and out of this place. Yet there they were pillars of strength
sitting there again waiting for word of another one they considered one of
their own. Joe took Deb’s hand and squeezed it slightly, a sign of unity.

           
Seconds turned into minutes and when the clock struck the
new hour the door opened. Two doctors shuffled inside along with Leah, who took
a step to the side and watched her colleagues. The first doctor lifted the mask
off of his face and glanced around the room at the family.

           
“Are you all here for Cara Sloane?”

           
“Yes.” Luke said as he pushed off the wall and took a few
steps to meet the doctor. “Is she okay?” He asked, his voice rich with despair
as he looked between the two doctors.

           
“She’s stable. We were able to stop the bleeding. She has
a concussion. We expect her to recover from the injuries sustained in the
accident.” He said and then paused. He looked at the other doctor in the room.

           
Luke watched the exchange between the two and felt his
gut clench. “What aren’t you saying?”

           
Deb and Joe stood on either side of Luke and looked at
the doctors with the same expectant expression as their son.

           
The second doctor stepped forward. “Due to the nature of
why Ms. Sloane was brought in we were required to do a full work up on her. Her
toxicology results came back that she had consumed an extreme amount of pain
medication. While she was undergoing the surgery, she began to choke on her own
vomit, we had to pump her stomach to get all the drugs out of her.”

           
Luke closed his eyes briefly when he heard his mother
gasp beside him.

           
“The report showed she had oxycodone and morphine in her
system. Has she had any medical issues in which she would be prescribed these
medications?” The first doctor asked.

           
“No.” Luke said solemnly.

           
The doctors knowingly glanced at one another before
turning back to the family.

           
“We’ve inserted I.V. fluids to rehydrate her and she may
be in some pain when she initially wakes up.
 
Due to her dependency we would like to refrain from giving her pain
medication.
 
But if she is in any real
pain we will administer the proper dosage and monitor her pain management while
she is here.”

           
“We will have a social worker come and discuss treatment
options with her when she’s coherent.” The other doctor offered.

           
“Addiction is a powerful disease and one that is an
ongoing struggle. If Cara decides to seek treatment for her addiction, she will
need a support system. I take it you are her family?”

           
“Yes, we are.” Joe said firmly. “We’ll do whatever she
needs us to.”

           
“Can we see her?” Deb asked as she brushed away the tears
that fell from her eyes.

           
“She’s still unconscious so only one visitor at a time. I
should warn you all though, when she wakes she may be hostile and seeking
another fix. She more than likely won’t be receptive to treatment and strung
out. If she agrees to treatment her body will be detoxing over the next few
days.
  
I caution you it will not be easy
to see her like that.”

           
Luke took a step back feeling as if the words spoken by
the doctor smacked him in the face.

He couldn’t make out
what his father said to the doctors or what they had said in return, all he
could hear was the sound of his brother’s voice.

 
“Promise me, I need to hear you say it, Luke.”

Luke swallowed.
“I promise I’ll take care of Cara, you don’t have to worry about her.” A tear
slipped down his cheek as he finished his vow to his little brother.

Jake smiled slightly and closed his
eyes. “I could always count on you.”

           
“Luke?” He heard his mother say as he snapped out of it
turning his head to face her.

           
“I’m sorry, what?” He asked, barely audible.

           
“I’m going to go in first. Okay?” She asked as she looked
up at him concerned.

           
He nodded automatically and watched as she glanced back
at her husband. Her eyes communicating with Joe’s and then he nodded in
response to her. Deb followed the doctors out of the waiting room. Leah glanced
at Luke before she exited the room herself leaving father and son alone.

           
“This is all, my fault.” Luke said once the door closed.
He didn’t mean to say it out loud, but he couldn’t help it.

           
Joe stared at his son for a moment, choosing his words
carefully. “Did you give her the pills?”

           
Luke turned abruptly to face his father, anger spread
across his features. “Of course I didn’t.”

           
Joe didn’t skip a beat unfazed by his son’s fury. “Did
you shove the pills down her throat?”

           
“No!” He said a little louder than he planned.

           
“Then I’m confused. How is this, your fault?” Joe said as
he crossed his arms against his chest and peered at Luke.

           
“I knew she was taking the pills.” Luke admitted roughly.
His fists clenched at his sides and he suddenly found himself wanting to punch
something. He looked at the wall. That would suffice, he thought. His father
remained silent as he watched him pace the room frantically looking for an
outlet to unleash his anger.

           
“I caught her taking Jake’s pain medication and instead
of taking the bottle and forcing her to stop I let her drive herself into that guardrail.”
His fist collided with the wall, giving into his rage. “I could’ve stopped her.
I should’ve stopped her. Instead, I…” He trailed off. Why hadn’t he? Was he too
consumed by their night together that he allowed it to cloud his thoughts? He
had been tied up in knots since that night at Rudy’s when she took him into the
office. He couldn’t allow himself to think one clear thought afterwards. He’d
been struggling with the fact that while having her for one night was all he
could think about, she couldn’t even remember it. Their tryst replayed over and
over in his mind and didn’t even cross hers once. She was too busy grieving his
brother. Too busy trying not to live. And he was too busy dreaming of her.
 
What kind of person did that make him?

           
“You what?” Joe probed as he cocked his head to the side
and studied the angst in his son’s eyes.

           
“I failed her.” Luke whispered and looked up at his
father. Joe straightened his shoulders and exhaled heavily. He took a step
towards his son and slung his arm around his shoulders.

           
“You know what I always thought was amazing?” He asked.
“That God gave your mother and I two sons, who were complete opposites of one
another. It was as if he gave us the best of both worlds. Jake was a free
spirit and kept us on our toes. He used to say you have to take life by the
balls, and by God did he ever.” Joe smiled fondly as he remembered his son.
“And then we have you, my son, that is level-headed and takes on the world’s
problems as if they’re all his own. When you’re passionate about something you
claim it as your responsibility. Your life’s goal is to fix what’s broken.
You’re honorable and it makes me proud to think I had a hand in creating
something so wonderful.” He patted him on the back and then grabbed Luke by his
shoulders and turned him so their eyes met. “Son, you are not the reason Cara
is lying in that bed battling her demons.”