Bonds Of The Heart (18 page)

              “Mom I’m not broken. I can walk to the door by myself.”

              “You still have some bruising. The doctor said you should rest a few more days before you get on that plane. I still think you should stay here. I’m sure your job would understand.”

              “Mom, the doctor said he preferred if I rested but that I was perfectly okay to travel.” Erika sighed. “I have to go back, mom.”

              “You get your stubbornness from me. Your father always said so. Are you going to see Blake?”

              Of course she thought about it. It’s was practically all she thought about the past two days sitting in the hospital. Not sure if he wanted to see her or talk to her after the way she'd treated him. But she had to say thank you. She owed him her life. He risked his to save her.

              “I’m going to try. I’ll go by Blackie’s.”

              Erika who sat down on the couch. Brianne brought a blanket over to her. “You just rest here a bit. I’ll make you something to eat.”

              Erika nodded. She didn't want to talk anymore about Blake. Or anything else. She wanted to visit her daddy’s grave. If she could only talk to her daddy now. Why did everything have to get so complicated? Why couldn’t it have been simple? All Blake had to do was show her the picture instead of hiding it from her. All she had to do was forgive Blake for something that wasn’t even his fault.

              Erika knew, deep down, that Blake didn’t hide the picture from her on purpose. She had made him feel that way. She was too overcome with her own emotions and still harboring anger toward her father’s choice to stay with the Marines, so she put all the blame on Blake because it was easier to do. She was wrong. Yes, she’d try to find Blake tomorrow and apologize. If she could just find him, maybe they could work everything out. Maybe he’d ask her to stay. Who was she kidding? She’d be damn lucky if he forgave her for the way she treated him. He didn’t even love her. And for that, her heart would always ache.

Twenty

***

“Hand me that socket wrench, Robbie?” Blake asked from under the hood of Erika’s Jeep.

              “Have you even eaten today?” Maureen asked, her arms folded in front of her chest.

              “Mom? What are you doing here? Where did Robbie go?”

              “He’s playing video games. You didn’t answer me. Have you eaten today?”

              “I had coffee.”

              “That’s not food, Blake.”

              “I’ll grab something in a bit. I just need to get the new engine in.” Blake stuck his hand back down into the belly of the Jeep and fiddled with nuts and bolts.

              “Blake you’ve spent practically every day over the past month and a half fixing this Jeep. If you aren’t at the garage or at one of those fields or helping Robbie with his schoolwork, you’re here. You need to give yourself a rest.”

              “I’m almost done.”

              Maureen walked over to the radio in the garage and turned it off. She walked back to the Jeep and took all the tools from the hood and placed them on the workbench behind her.

              “Mom. I need those.”

              “Blake, I refuse to let you do this to yourself a second time. First was the drinking. Now you’re drowning yourself in work. You need to eat. You take a break now.”

              “Shit.”

              “Excuse me?”

              “I’m not repeating the past. If I can fix Erika’s Jeep I can…”

              “Can what?”

              “Nothing.”

              Maureen squinted her eyes at him. A move Blake knew all too well when his mother wasn’t going to budge from something she’d made her mind up on.

              “Once I fix her Jeep I’m going to drive it out to California. I’m going to find her and bring her back.”

              “Just like that? Have you even thought about what you’d say to her? How she feels or what she might want? Why don’t you tell her before she leaves? Then maybe she’ll stay.”

              “No. She needs time to cool off. I love her mom. I don’t need anything else. Right now I need to just wait for the right moment.”

              Maureen sighed.
Why do men always think there’s a ‘right moment’
? “Come get something to eat, Blake.”

              Blake followed his mother into the house. He only had a few more things to fix on the Jeep, the axles and the engine being the biggest on the list. Once he was done under the hood he’d replace the seats and steering wheel. Then he’d bang out the dents, affix the front bumper, and replace the tires.

              Sitting down at the kitchen table, he finally gave his thoughts time to settle. What exactly would he say to Erika when he saw her, when he got to California? What if she didn’t love him back? He’d have to come back home, alone. She’d have stolen his heart and taken it with her to California. He knew he’d never get it back, he didn’t want it back. It was where it belonged, with Erika.

***

              The sun streamed through the bedroom windows. The sounds of the city blared through the open windows—car and truck horns blasting, kids and adults walking on the street in conversations, the rare, occasional chirp of a bird in the distance. Smells from the restaurant on the corner drifted in the air of various fried foods. Erika groaned as she turned over in her bed.

              It had been two months since the accident. Two months since waking up in the hospital to her mother and Blake’s mother. Two months since she had come back to L.A. and left her mother back in Virginia. Two months since she left Blake. But in that time she never stopped loving him. Her mother had told her how Blake saved her life by pulling her from the Jeep after it was blown off the bridge and into the riverbank. How Blake risked his own life to save hers after he almost got swept under the Jeep and down the river. But she had spent two long nights in the hospital, but he never came to see her. Not once.

              She reached out to her nightstand where the picture of her father and Blake’s brother stared back at her every day and every night. She had lost her father’s dog tags in the accident. Now all she had left of her father were pictures, memories and some of his clothing. She didn’t even have her Jeep anymore. Still she knew there would be too much water damage for it to be salvaged. She told her mom to get rid of it when they said her goodbyes at the airport.

              Blake hadn't come to say goodbye. Then again, she didn’t expect him too. After the way she'd treated him, he should have left her in the Jeep. She had tried to find him, to thank him but never could. She went to the garage but he wasn’t there. Ben said he had taken a few days off. She checked to see if he was at home. Instead she found his mother and Robbie only to be told he wasn’t home.
In a small town you’d think it wouldn’t be so hard to find someone.

              Erika sat up in her bed as the phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID she forced a smile in place before answering.

              “Hi, Mags.”

              “Are you still in bed? It’s been less than two months since you got home and three weeks since you left me all alone to fend for myself in the office.”

              Maggie’s voice rang in her ears. She knew that coming back was the right thing to do. If only it didn’t hurt so much. She had taken the job in D.C. on the whim that she’d move back home and find Blake. She’d tell him how sorry she was and that she loved him. She had tried calling and every time he was ‘out’. She left messages for him to call her back. He never did. So, he didn’t want to see her. Now what was she supposed to do? She gripped the stuffed dog she slept with every night for almost two months.

              Erika sighed into the phone. “I know Mags. I just wanted the time off before I found something new.”

              “Erika, I’ve known you for what seems like forever. Not once have I seen you this upset, aside from when you received the news about…” Maggie let her voice trail at the memory of Erika’s crumpled body in the corner of her office crying when she got the call about her father.

              “I’m okay, Mags. Really.”

              Maggie sighed into the phone. She may not believe in love anymore but she knew when her best friend was in love and nursing heartbreak. Maggie tried a change of subject and hoped it would do the trick to get Erika back to Blake. “You remember my friend Chris? The one who had you testing that game for him?”

              Erika remembered the name. She also remembered the night she played for hours with Robbie while Blake had re-heated her mom’s lasagna, when they’d had dinner like a family. “Yes I remember.”

              “He’s heading out to New York next month for some big convention or something. He’s going to be out there for about two weeks. When he gets back, he wanted to know if you’d test the new game out for him again.”
Penny in the air.

              Thinking of Robbie, Erika remembered how she had promised him if he did well with his school she’d introduce him to Chris. When Erika spoke with her mother the night before, she had told her how good Robbie was doing in school now and how proud Maureen was, how proud Blake was.

              “Sure. Hey, Mags, you think he’d do me a favor?”

             
Penny drops.
“I think he could. What’s the favor?”

Twenty-One

***

October was cool in the northeast. The humid summer heat had died. Leaves would soon be turning beautiful shades of red, burnt orange, and fading yellow. Children had gone back to school and school buses had dominated the small town back roads.

              The drive from Dulles International wasn’t short, but breathtaking. Crossing through small cities and even smaller towns, with their quaint cookie cutter houses or large Victorian’s aged from history or refurbished to bring back their charm, scenery whipped past the car windows. Erika rolled down her window and took in a breath of fresh air. She was back in Virginia for good this time—she prayed anyway.

              “Chris, thank you so much for doing this. I know it’s a little out of the ordinary. Maybe even a little crazy.”

              “It’s no problem at all. The convention just ended and I had some business to deal with in D.C. Besides, after all the testing of the games you’d done for me, there had to be
something
I could do for you.” He smiled.

              “I really appreciate it. Robbie is going to be beside himself when he meets you. I think if it were possible for video games to have fans, he’s probably the biggest one you’ve got.”

              “Ah. I love those types of fans.” Chris laughed and sat back in his seat admiring the view. “This is a nice area.”

              “Yeah, it is isn’t it?”

              “You grew up here?”

              “Not really. We moved here when my dad was stationed at Quantico. It was the last place he was stationed before the accident.”

              “I’m sorry about that.”

              “Thank you. I’m doing a lot better with it all. It helps being back here, close to my mom and him.” She smiled warmly.

              Erika pulled into Blake’s driveway. She frowned briefly when she didn’t see his. Shaking her head, she exited Chris’s rental car, gave him the keys, and led him to the front door. She knew Robbie would be home‒‒she had her mother plan it with Maureen. She pressed her finger to the doorbell and waited. She heard the quick pace of footsteps running from behind the door before it jerked open.

              “Erika!”

              “Hi Robbie.”

              “You’re back!”

              “I’m back. And I brought a friend.”

              Robbie looked the guy over. His smiled faded immediately. “Who’s he?”

              “Robbie, this is my friend Chris.”

              “Is he your boyfriend?”

              She didn't answer.

              “I thought Uncle Blake was your boyfriend.” Robbie’s voice was betrayed and angry.

              A fist clenched her heart—tight. How would she handle this one?

              “No, I’m not her boyfriend. I’m just her friend. Erika here tells me you like my game.”

              Thank you Chris!

              “Your…game?” Robbie’s confused expression was priceless. Then his eyes rounded and his smile crawled back across his face.

              “Yeah. I thought I’d bring you the latest one that’s in testing now. Erika said you were a fan.”

              “You…”

              Erika smiled. “I heard from a little birdie that you were doing really well in school and I promised you that I would introduce you to my friend who designs the game. I always keep my promises. Robbie, this is Chris Pentonix. He’s the artist for the game.”

              “Holy cow! Grands!” Robbie screamed and swung the door open. He dragged Chris by the hand into the living room where he proceeded to show him his collection of ‘Gears of War’ video games, toys, and posters. Erika laughed.  Robbie had done the same with her not too long ago.