Ring of Truth (A Silver Script Novel Book 1) (17 page)

“I didn’t want you to be alone. And I wanted to give you these.” He set the bouquet on her lap and pulled her closer.

“Thank you for coming.” She let go of him and wiped her eyes. “We’re still waiting for him to get out of surgery. I just … I don’t know what I’ll do if something happens to him.”

Jake took her hand and squeezed it. “He’ll be fine. They’ll find what’s wrong and fix him. In the meantime, I’m here for you. Is there anything you need?”

Erin shook her head, but her mom jumped in. “You can take her to get some food. She hasn’t eaten since she got here.”

Jake stood and pulled Erin up as well. “I’ll take care of that. Do you need anything?”

Suzanne shook her head. “I’ll be fine.”

“Great. We’ll be back.” Jake put his arm around Erin and led her toward the cafeteria. He couldn’t imagine what she was going through right now.. He just hoped what he said was true, and that her dad would be okay.

“So how did you know where to find me?” Erin rubbed her eyes.

“Carissa. She had me help find your cat and told me what had happened. When she showed up at the set, I knew I couldn’t just stay there.”

Erin’s eyes widened. “I’d forgotten that was today. How did it go?”

“Good. I think. They seemed to be happy with it.” Jake went into the cafeteria and stood in line to order. He put his arm around her, and she laid her head on his shoulder.

“That’s great. I’m sure it turned out really well. You’re a natural.” Erin moved forward in the line and ordered a chicken sandwich and a milkshake.

Jake ordered his burger, fries, and drink, realizing he hadn’t eaten since that morning. He waited until they were sitting before he continued.

“I’m only a natural because you were there to help cheer me on. I was so nervous for the soda audition, but I knew I’d be fine as long as you were right there. When I found out what had happened, and that you were here dealing with this, I wanted to leave my job and come straight here. For all I know, I totally flopped the commercial since I spent the whole time wanting to just get through it and leave.”

Erin played with the straw of her shake. “I felt the same way while we were shooting those commercials. But then when you left without saying good-bye, I figured I’d upset you somehow. I thought we had something.” She wiped a tear that escaped down her cheek.

Jake chuckled. “If you mean the night of the shoot, I thought you left me. I’d gone into the bathroom and almost everyone was gone when I left. We had such a great connection both days that I figured we could make things work. When you weren’t there, I figured you were over me.”

“That will never happen.” Erin pushed away her plate. Just then, her phone buzzed. “Oh, Dad’s out of surgery. I need to get back up there.”

Jake stood and followed her out of the cafeteria, dumping their plates in the garbage on the way out. He took her hand as they walked, hoping to bring her some comfort.

The doctor was still talking to Erin’s mom when they entered the waiting room. “… looks promising.”

“What’s promising?” Erin asked.

The doctor turned. “We found the cause of the bleeding and were able to close it up. Your father has a long road ahead of him, but he’s very lucky.”

Erin teared up. “Thank you so much.”

He nodded and walked back through the door to the OR. Suzanne stood and hugged her daughter tightly, then turned to Jake and hugged him as well.

“Thank you both for coming. I couldn’t have done this without you.” She wiped her tears. “I just hope he’s doing better for the wedding. It would be a shame if he can’t walk you down the aisle.”

Jake looked at Erin in surprise. “You didn’t tell her?”

Erin blushed and shook her head. “I couldn’t. Not with what was going on.”

“What’s going on?” Erin’s mom looked between them. “Don’t tell me you called it off.”

“There … there never was an engagement.” Erin dropped into a chair. “Jake and I made a deal to pretend we were dating so our parents wouldn’t worry about us. But then you saw the ring from a photo shoot and thought we were engaged, and it just escalated from there.”

Suzanne stared at her, but didn’t say anything. Her eyes narrowed as she turned to look at Jake. “How could you?”

“I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean it to go this far.”

“Get out.” She sat next to her daughter.

Erin jerked back in shock. “Mom, he just got here. You can’t just make him leave.”

“I don’t care. I want him out. Go.”

“I’m sorry. I feel horrible—”

Suzanne stood up. “I don’t want to see you near my daughter again.”

“Mom—” Erin stood and grabbed her mom’s arm.

Erin’s mom turned on her. “Don’t think I’m letting you off so easily …”

“Fine, I’ll leave. But I want to wish you the best. I loved getting to know your family, and I hope you can forgive me at some point. He turned and headed down the hallway. He could hear Erin and her mom yelling as he walked out of the hospital. It was probably good that he’d left when he did, but he couldn’t help feeling sorry for Erin.

Jake couldn’t help being frustrated that Erin hadn’t told them yet, but could he blame her after what happened to her dad? Hopefully it would just take a few days for them to calm down, and then he could try to apologize again. Jake pulled out his phone and called his parents.

“Hi, Jake. Is everything okay?” his mom asked.

Jake ran his fingers through his hair. “Yes, he’ll be fine.”

There was a sigh of relief. “Oh, I’m so glad. We’d like to visit them. Are you still at the hospital?”

“No. Well, yes, but I’m outside. I got kicked out by Erin’s mom.” Jake sat down on a bench.” So, I was hoping to head over home to visit for a while before flying back to New York. If that’s okay.”

“Kicked out? After you went all that way?” His mom’s indignation almost made Jake laugh.

“She just found out Erin and I lied. Look, if I can’t come, I’ll just head back to New York. I can’t just sit here or someone’s going to think I’m loitering.” He stood and walked toward a bus stop.

“Of course you can. Your Uncle Robert should be there soon to pick you up. I sent him as soon as I heard you were coming. I’ll see you in a few hours. Come hungry.” She hung up.

Jake walked back into the hospital and found a different waiting room to sit in. It was another hour before Robert showed up, and Jake climbed into the truck.

“Hey, thanks for coming.”

“No problem. I had to get a few things while I was here anyway.” He pulled out onto the freeway.

Jake stared out the window as they drove to his parents’ house in Savannah, answering the questions Robert threw at him in one or two word sentences. It wasn’t long before Robert gave up and drove the rest of the way in silence. It was late, so he couldn’t see anything, but it was better than staring at his phone, hoping Erin would call.

Robert pulled up the long circular drive to the white colonial style home lit up by bright lights and stopped. “Tell your mom ‘hi’ for me.”

“Will do. Thanks again. I appreciate it.” Jake climbed out of the truck, breathing in the familiar farm smells before heading toward the house. He wanted to go see his horse, but figured his parents would want to see him first. He climbed the stairs to the front door and peeked in.

His mom dropped the blanket she was crocheting and hurried over to give him a hug. “Welcome home, sweetie. Let me dish you up some dinner.”

Jake pulled off his shoes and sat down at the table he’d eaten at since he was born. “Where’s Dad?”

“Some cows got loose at the Johnson’s so he went to go help.” She pulled a steak and baked potato out of the oven and put them on the plate, then added corn on the cob and a roll. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” He took a bite and groaned. “Just as good as I remember.”

His mom sat at the table and watched him eat. “So Erin’s mom is pretty mad at you, huh?”

“Yeah. I just hope she’s not too angry with Erin. They were yelling pretty loudly when I left.” Jake took a drink before continuing. “Look, I’m sorry. It was stupid, and the last thing I wanted to do was hurt anyone. I just wanted you two to lay off a little.”

She grimaced. “I suppose we should leave you alone about your relationships. I have to admit that I wish it had been real. She’s a wonderful woman.”

“I know. I mean, I just flew three hours for her.” He attacked the potato and mashed it up so he could add toppings.

“You’re a romantic, just like your father. And impulsive, like me. Things will work out. You two belong together.” She stood and cleared off the table.

Jake smiled and took another bite of food. He just wished he had his mom’s optimism. When he was done, he took his dishes to the sink and rinsed them off. “Oh, do you have a toothbrush? I kinda left New York without anything.”

His mom laughed. “See? Impulsive. There should be everything you need in the storage room.”

“Thanks.” He went into the storage room and found some toothpaste and a toothbrush before heading up to his old bedroom. It looked like his mom had recently dusted and cleaned, and there was a fresh linen scent.

He opened the window and stared out, enjoying the late summer sounds. In the distance he heard cows. He hadn’t heard his dad come in, and wondered if they’d finished rounding up the cattle. He grabbed an old jacket from the closet and searched for some jeans. Lucky for him, his mom never got rid of anything, and there were some tucked away in the closet. He went downstairs to find his mom.

“I’m going to go find Dad.”

“Okay, be safe. They should be out in the north field.” She never looked up from her crochet as Jake pulled on his shoes and went out to the barn.

“Hey, Blue. I missed you old buddy.” Jake brushed his horse and put on the saddle. “Let’s go find Dad.”

They left the barn and Jake guided Blue to the north before allowing him to get up to a gallop. Soon he could see the flashlights from his dad and the Johnson’s. He was about a hundred yards away from them when he heard a movement from the left. He went to investigate and found a cow tangled up in some barbed wire. He climbed off his horse and moved over to the cow. It fought to get out, but it was only making things worse.

“Hey, buddy, calm down and I’ll get you out.” He knelt down and pulled the wire away from the cow’s legs and body. The barbs had cut into its legs in a few places, but otherwise it seemed fine. He guided it back to the Johnson’s barn, where everyone else was getting the rest of the cattle back into the pen.

Frank Johnson turned and saw Jake coming. “Hey, the last cow has been found. We were just about to come and find her. Wait, is that you, Jake?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Figured you could use some help. She needs to be looked at because she was caught, but she should be fine.”

“I’m impressed. The big city didn’t make you forget everything about living on a ranch.” Frank laughed. He turned to the rest of the men. “Okay, we got them all. Thanks again for your help.”

The men wandered off toward their homes, and Jake’s dad headed over to Jake, then continued toward the house.

“When did you get here?” his dad asked.

“About an hour ago. Mom told me where you were so I figured I’d help out.”

“I appreciate that. Especially since you found the cow. We’d looked all over for it.”

Jake nodded even though his dad wouldn’t be able to see it. “Glad I could help. Race you?”

His dad laughed. “Okay, city boy. Go.” His horse took off at a gallop and Jake encouraged his horse to catch up.

They arrived at their barn at about the same time, but his dad had won. Jake brushed down the horses as part of losing the race—something the loser had done for as long as Jake could remember.

His mom had gone to bed by the time they got home, so Jake went to his room. That night as he lay in bed, he decided to stay one more day to help where he could. After that he needed to get back to New York. He went to sleep with the vision of Erin in his mind. If only he hadn’t messed up the best thing that had happened since he’d left home.

Erin sat next to her dad’s bed, watching the monitors. She could have left to get some sleep, but she knew she wouldn’t get rest anyway. She hadn’t been able to sleep since the day her mom had kicked Jake out of the hospital. It had been two days since her dad had pulled out of danger and he’d been conscious more and more since then. It was time to get home and fix a disastrous account, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to leave her dad yet.

She should have run after him. She should have told her mom that while it had started as false, she’d since fallen in love with him. And now he probably hated her.

Her dad stirred, and Erin quickly wiped her tears away. She stood and took his hand. “Hey, Dad.”

He cleared his throat. “Hi, sweetie. Can I get some water?”

“Of course.” She jumped up and helped him get a drink. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve felt better.” He laughed and coughed. “Can you help me up? I’m sick of lying down all day.”

She handed him the remote to the bed so he could push himself up to where he wanted. “The doctor says you’re healing well.”