My Best Friend's Brother (A Bashir Family Romance Book 1) (11 page)

I sat clutching the door-rest in the passenger seat of Mrs. Bashir’s Wimbledon white Mercedes as we drove toward the supermarket. After a few minutes, she broke the cold silence.

“It’s been nice having you in our home, Scarlett.”

“It’s been nice staying with you. Thank you again for…your hospitality.”

What was she getting at?

“You’re eighteen now, an adult.”

Ah, I get it now.

“Yes, I am.”

Silence. Was that it? Did she ask me to drive to the market with her so she could remind me that I was now old enough to live alone? Mrs. Bashir wasn’t known for being subtle. Something more was coming.

We shopped for dinner at the store and then drove home. During the ride back, she finally got down to business.

“Scarlett, this is hard for me to say.”

“Okay.”

“I used to think you were a good example for Annika. But that’s changed now.”

Would she say it? I decided to beat her to the punch.

“Because I slept with your son?”

Her face turned red. I instantly regretted my brazen approach.

“I thought you were better than that, Scarlett.”

I wanted to explain everything to her and maybe gain some compassion.

“He told me he loved me.”

She looked at me like I was the biggest fool in the universe.

“Dev is going through some…personal things right now. He’s not thinking with a clear head. In a few years, he’ll marry someone who… shares his values.”

Several minutes passed, the two of us with nothing else to say. I wanted to jump out of the car and run away, but I knew what I had to do.

“I’ll move out.”

I half expected her to correct me.

To tell me that wouldn’t be necessary.

That she and her family loved me.

That I was always welcomed in their house.

When she said nothing, I had my answer.

That afternoon I assessed my belongings and made sure I still had my key to dad’s trailer. It would be fine, I told myself. I would live there until school was out, and then, if all the stars aligned, I would be going away to school and I could forget about all this.

I would make myself forget.

I was surprised when Annika stumbled in while I was emptying my drawers.

“I guess you’re leaving, huh?”

I didn’t look up.

“Yep.”

She sat down on my bed, her anxiety palpable.

“I just don’t get it, Scarlett. Why do you have to have
every
guy around?” Her voice was angry, bitter.

I looked at her, puzzled.

“What are you talking about?”

“Everyone I ever liked, you always seem to catch their eye. I could live with that, but I
really liked Rhett
. I told you that, and I thought you would back off of him for my sake. And then, to top things off, you sleep with my brother and turn my mother into a basket case. You couldn’t even leave
my own brother
alone!”

For a moment, I thought I would tell her about everything: Rhett’s attempted rape, the letters and phone calls between me and Dev, how I never meant to hurt anyone…how, at the heart of it all, I was just looking for someone to love me.

Instead, I said nothing. I just stacked my clothes in neat piles, my back to her, in stony silence.

After a few minutes, I heard the door shut behind her.

L
iving back in the mobile home was harder than I thought it would be. I was now used to the clean luxury of the Bashir’s stately house, and the trailer seemed gross and tiny in comparison. I gave the trailer a good scrubbing and washed all the linens, but I couldn’t wash away the dowdy, discount store décor.

With both of our efforts together, Annika and I managed to avoid each other completely at school. It was better that way since I would be tempted to ask about Dev.

It was hard enough that he called me every day for two weeks after I left, and that I had to constantly delete his emails so I wouldn’t be tempted to read them and obsess over the whole situation more than I was already. I made myself promise to ignore him, and by the third week, the calls and emails stopped abruptly.

Sometimes at night I wondered if I had made a mistake. If I should at least give him a chance to explain. But then I would quickly remember Mrs. Bashir’s words…that he would marry someone who “shares his values.” And how Annika pointed out that he was just using me to get to his mother.

It made sense. At least, it made more sense to me than any other explanation for his attention.

I told my dad I was back at the trailer on my own, but didn’t mention why. And he didn’t ask. He tried to be supportive, but he had enough of his own problems.

“I’ll send you some money,” he offered during one of his weekly phone calls.

“I have some saved up, dad. So I’m fine. Remember, I worked all summer?”

He coughed in response. It sounded worse than before. Why wasn’t he getting better?

“Dad, you’re still sick. I want to come out and see you for spring break. I’ll make you some chicken soup.”

“Oh,” he answered, guilty. “Renee’s got me taking her on some Las Vegas trip, to see the circus del something.”

“That’s cirque du soleil, dad.”

I wondered why he was traveling when it was obvious he was still sick.

“You should stay home and get better. Go see another doctor. The antibiotics are obviously not working.”

He coughed again in reply, validating my concern.

“Don’t worry about me, hon. You just focus on your studies. You’re graduatin’ soon, smarty-pants.”

“And
you
better be there for the ceremony.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything. You can finally meet Renee.”

I sighed in defeat. I guess that chick was never going away.

After we hung up, I shuffled into the tiny kitchen and made myself a peanut butter sandwich for dinner. I noticed the pile of mail on the counter and decided to go ahead and pay whatever bills were due. I could carry my weight now that I was an adult, as Mrs. Bashir had so sharply pointed out.

I noticed a thick envelope from the University of Washington. I knew without looking that it was another acceptance letter. It was bittersweet, like winning the lottery while stuck on a deserted island. I had a pile of acceptance letters to the top schools in the country, but no way to pay for them.

I licked the peanut butter off of my fingers and opened it. My heart stopped when I read the first sentence.

We are pleased to inform you that you’ve been accepted into the University of Washington with a full-tuition scholarship.

I almost choked on the sandwich. I was going to college! I wanted to hug someone, celebrate with champagne, dance around the room. I looked around the empty trailer and noted the bitter irony: I had the greatest news in the world…and no one to share it with.

I finished my sandwich and tried to imagine how much better my life would be in Seattle. Seattle was as far away from New York as one could get— a sign, surely, that Dev was a mistake.
I would easily forget him with 3000 miles between us
, I lied to myself.

The day of graduation, I began to feel a spark of hope for my future. I wanted more than anything to leave this town and start a new life.

Dad and Renee would fly in that morning and meet me at the ceremony, and we planned to have dinner afterwards.
I just had to get through the day knowing Annika would be there with her entire family watching.

I can handle this
, I told myself, while wrestling with my hair in the mirror.

When I found my seat at the auditorium I scanned the crowd for my dad. Surely he was out there. As I searched for him, I spotted the Bashir family surrounded by their relatives…no doubt flown in from all over the world just to see Annika walk across a stage and grab a blank piece of paper.

She had no idea what it was like to be alone.

After we were officially graduated, I ran into the crowd looking for my dad. He wasn’t anywhere. I checked my cell phone.

No calls.

No texts.

When I looked up from my phone, Annika was standing there in her robe, her face distressed.

“Scarlett…can I talk to you?”

I wanted to find my dad. I almost felt in my bones if I didn’t find him, I would collapse in tears.

“Sorry Annika, I’m trying to find my dad. He’s here somewhere.”

“I just wanted to say…I’m sorry.”

She got my attention now. She looked tortured, so I listened as she spilled her guts.

“I was so cruel to you. And I didn’t know what was really going on. I’m just so sorry, Scarlett. Can you please forgive me? Can we please be friends again?”

I was dumbfounded. It was my turn now. The words came out fast.

“I’m sorry I went on a walk with Rhett. I don’t know what I was thinking. And about your brother…”

“You don’t have to say anything about my brother. I shouldn’t have interfered. It’s so weird, he’s harassed me for months, asking about you. He sent me this letter to give you…but I stupidly held onto it…for a while.”

She pulled out a sealed envelope. A letter from Dev. Curse the fates for doing this to me!

She placed it in my hand and hugged me tightly.

“I’m so glad we’re friends again…there’s so much to tell you.”

Before she could fill me in on what boy she now had a crush on, or what paint color she picked for her dorm room, my cell phone rang.

“It’s probably my dad.”

I answered. “Dad?”

“Hello, Scarlett?”

The voice was female, middle aged, and from the sound of it, fifteen years this side of a severe smoking habit.

“Yes, this is Scarlett.”

“This is Renee, your dad’s friend.”

Relief. They were here!

“Oh good, where are you guys? I’m down by the stage.” I looked around the bleachers for a woman talking on a cell phone and undoubtedly holding a cigarette.

“Scarlett, your dad is in the hospital. We rushed to ER early this morning and missed the flight. I got your number from his cell.”

My world stopped in that moment.

Hospital?

“What do you mean? What’s wrong? Where is he?” I demanded.

“He has pneumonia and it’s pretty bad. They’ve got him in some kind of coma so they can work on his lungs.”

“What?”

Annika put her hand on my shoulder to let me know she was there as I rambled into the phone, frantic.

“Why didn’t you call sooner?!” I screamed into the phone. I was losing it. “I could have been there by now!”

Her reply came back as a cold sneer. “Well, hon, this is me telling you as soon as I could. He’s at Franklin General. You have my number if you need anything.”

“So you’re not at the hospital with him?”

Silence.

“I can’t take those places,” she answered, feebly.

I guess she wanted me to console her and say, “No problem, Renee! Leave my dad alone in a coma because gray paint and bed pans give you the
heebie-jeebies
. You poor thing!”

I tried to control myself. I just needed to get to him.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can get a flight.”

After I hung up and filled in Annika on the situation, she hugged me and this time I hugged her back. It felt good to have a friend again.

“Let me go with you. My parents will just have to suck it up at the graduation party.”

It was a gracious offer, but there was no way I was going to incur more of Mrs. Bashir’s wrath by stealing away her precious daughter on this special day.

“No, it’s fine. I’d rather go alone.”

S
even hours later and $654.35 charged to my credit card, I was at Franklin General Hospital. I was moving so fast, I nearly knocked over a pregnant lady on my way to my dad’s room. But I made it. I was there. I would be with me dad, finally, after all these months. It was a reunion long overdue, and now it could be too late.

I wouldn’t let my mind go there until it had to.

An overly made-up woman of about 45 hard-lived years met me outside his door. Her eyes were wide and scared beneath her helmet of dyed and stiffly styled red hair, and I knew in an instant…

He was gone.

She had the same look my dad had on his face when I first asked him about where my mother was. I was five. I could never forget it.

“She’s gone, Scarlett,” he uttered, his voice strangled, tortured, as he buttoned up my coat.

I turned the door handle to his hospital room, afraid of what I would find behind it.

“I’m sorry, Scarlett,” she uttered, her voice strangled and tortured in just the same way.