Free Straight From The Heart by Janelle Taylor Page B

let her, numb to the core.
    “What happened?” Kim demanded. “Chad, where’s your mother? Who went to the emergency room? Where’s Bobby?”
    “Jason and Bobby were in an accident,” Chad blubbered. “Mom and Dad are at the hospital. Nobody could reach you guys. Matt’s with ’em, too,” he added, referring to his older brother.
    “What kind of accident?” Kim asked faintly.
    “Car accident. They were just going down the driveway. Jason was taking them out for a Coke. Mom said it was okay, since Jason’s got his license now. A car just smashed ’em, but Matt’s okay.”
    “What about Bobby? And Jason?” Her knees were quaking. Dimly, Kim realized Stephen was holding her up.
    “They’re at the hospital. I don’t know.”
    Stephen pulled the phone from Kim’s unresisting fingers. Still holding her close, he asked Chad for further details. Finally, he hung up the phone and led Kim to the love seat where they both collapsed against each other.
    “Betsy will call as soon as she knows something,” Stephen said woodenly.
    Kim couldn’t think. She was consumed with fear. If she lost Bobby  . . . “What was he doing in the car with Jason?” she asked, her voice trembling. “He shouldn’t have been there.”
    Stephen didn’t respond.
    Inside Kim an unfair voice told her that she should have stuck with her first instincts. She should never have gotten involved with Stephen at any level. It was bad karma. Some misalignment of the stars. Somehow, being connected to this man was a threat to her and Bobby.
    “I wish we’d never gotten this far,” she cried half-hysterically. “Bobby and I were fine without you in our lives!”
    Stephen turned his head as if her words physically struck him. Tears welled in Kim’s eyes. How stupid she was! But she couldn’t shake the feeling. It was a pall, and it wrapped around her and fed her most basic fears.
    Romance, which had been thick in the air a few moments earlier, vanished completely. She couldn’t think of anything to say to Stephen, and clearly, he felt the same way. They drew apart from each other and took turns pacing and waiting. In a dull fog Kim walked to the kitchen and made a pot of coffee that neither of them felt like drinking.
    Near midnight Stephen’s cell phone purred. He snatched it up and listened intently. As hot as it was, Kim shivered uncontrollably, and after a few terse words that told her nothing, he handed the phone to her.
    “Hello?” Kim said shakily.
    “Hey, Kimmy.” Betsy’s tired voice brought a new surge of pent up emotion. Kim closed her eyes, fighting new tears and a sense of complete fright. She felt like she was about to self-destruct. “Everything’s going to be okay,” Betsy assured her. “Bobby bumped his head against the dash, but he was seat-belted in. He’s bruised from where the seatbelt yanked against him.”
    “Is he—all right, then?” she choked.
    “Perfectly fine. He’s home with us tonight and waiting to talk to you. Here  . . . ”
    “Mom  . . . ?”
    The sound of her son’s voice closed Kim’s throat. She could scarcely answer. “Hey, you,” she whispered.
    “I’m sorry,” he said.
    “What? It’s okay. You’re okay, and that’s what matters.”
    “Yeah, but Jason’s still in the hospital.”
    Kim’s heart jerked hard. “He is?” Guilt raged through her. She hadn’t even asked about Jason, she’d been so immersed in her own worry and pain.
    “His arm broke, and the bone was all mangled.” Bobby sounded sick. “They had to operate.”
    She shot Stephen a look. He was staring into the charred remains of the fire, his expression stern. His fingers gripped the coffee cup as if it were a lifeline.
    “How is Jason?” she asked Bobby.
    “Okay, I guess. When are you going to be back?”
    “Tomorrow. As soon as the roads are clear.”
    “You’re not mad?”
    “Mad?”
    “Because I was in the car with Jason? I know you don’t want me to ride with teenage drivers, but