Chapter Twenty
I spent another week in the hospital, but I didn’t mind it. Having Jax with me all day long made the days go by quicker. Once they allowed more visitors, Mr. Greg came, and we played chess. He let me win, and he didn’t realize I knew what he was doing. I spoke with Jessica on the phone several times, and she seemed happy and more like herself. She also desperately wanted to see Sam. She was really having a hard time dealing with what she’d done to him. Jax assured me she would be getting help for her guilt as well. Ms. Mary brought me chicken fingers and mashed potatoes and apple pie, which came as a wonderful relief from the hospital food. Jax continued to sing to me. The nurses peeked in the door and sighed at the sight of him. I understood. The guy I loved also happened to be the world’s heartthrob. I had accepted it.
Jax refused to let me go back to my apartment, and Ms. Mary refused to let Jax take me home with him. So I ended up going home with Ms. Mary. I was anxious to see Sam. He had managed to wedge his little self deep inside my heart. I had to keep reminding myself the roll I played in his life every time I began to think about his future and worry over things that were not my place to worry about. Holding him again and letting his chubby, little fingers curl tightly around my finger made everything seem right.
Jax sat down beside me on Ms. Mary’s couch and looked down at Sam. “He’s a cute kid. He has your eyes.”
I smiled up at Jax and nodded. “Apparently, Jessica has really strong genes.”
Jax touched Sam’s nose gently. “Well, fella, you’re going to be one of the prettiest guys I have ever seen, then.”
I laughed, and so did Ms. Mary.
“All right, you’ve seen him, now, you need to say your goodbyes to Jax and get some rest.” She stared at Jax.
“You’ve been with her for two weeks straight. She needs a break.”
I started to argue, and Jax shook his head. “No, she’s right. You need some rest. Monday you will be able to go back to school, and I want you rested up before then.”
I didn’t think I could be any more rested. I’d been in a bed for two weeks. “Okay, fine,” I muttered and sank back against the couch.
Jax chuckled and leaned down to kiss my forehead. “I have cancelled two concerts on my tour, and I need to go get them rescheduled. I won’t stay gone long. I just need to go home and deal with the thousand phone calls I have put off.”
I didn’t want him to leave, but I knew he had given up everything to stay by my side the past two weeks. “All right.” I forced a smile.
He sighed. “Come on, Sadie, don’t look like that. You’re making this so hard. You have school on Monday, and I am going to have to be on a plane to New York by tomorrow evening.”
I knew this. We had already talked about his schedule the next few months. I was not going to make this any harder. I had sworn to myself to make things as easy as possible for him.
“I know, you’re right. I won’t sulk anymore, I promise.”
He laughed, leaned down, and kissed my lips this time. I instantly responded, and he moaned and broke the kiss.
“Come on, don’t do that to me in Ms. Mary’s house. I will get all the blame if she catches us.”
I grinned. “Sorry.”
He raised his eyebrows and smirked. “Sure you are.”
He stood up and walked toward the door where he stopped and said, “I am going to be back as soon as I can. In the mean time, sleep, so when I get back we can talk without Ms. Mary breathing down my neck.”
I nodded, and he blew me a kiss, turned, and continued out the door.
Our last day together went fast. Before I knew it, Jax was gone again, and I was getting ready to go back to high school.
I woke before the sun came up and took a shower. Facing high school after being with Jax so much was depressing. By the time I dressed and made it to the kitchen, Ms. Mary had a plate of pancakes and bacon on the table.
“You got up early enough. What’s taking you so long? Come eat this before it gets cold.”
I had never had a hot breakfast made for me before I went to school. I couldn’t help but smile at her through my sadness. “Thank you, Ms. Mary. I’m sorry it took me so long.”
I didn’t elaborate, and she turned from washing the dishes in the sink and put a soapy hand on her hip. “Now, I know you miss that boy. I can completely understand it. However, you’ve done promised him you’d enjoy your last year in high school, and you ain’t gonna be able to do that if you’re moping around.” Her Aunt Bee frown was back, and I nodded.
“You’re right, of course. I have so much to be happy about. Starting with you.”
Her cheeks blushed and she waved her soapy hand at me. “Oh, you, goin’ and saying stuff like that. You’re special, girl, ain’t no doubt about it.”
She turned around and finished washing dishes. I ate as much of my breakfast as I could and took it over to the sink.
“Now, you go on and have a good day.”
I nodded and grabbed my book bag. Sam let out a cry, and I walked over to him, bent down, and kissed his sweet little bald head.
“You be good for Ms. Mary, squirt. I’ll see you after school.”
His fat arms slapped at the air, and he kicked his feet. It was his favorite pastime. I walked into the kitchen and waved on my way out the door.
Kane stood leaning against the Hummer. When he saw me, he glanced down at his watch as if I was late. I had stopped moving, confused as to his presence here. It was then that my phone rang. I reached into my pocket and pulled it out.
“Hello?”
“Good morning, beautiful. Now, I want you to do me a favor and go get into the vehicle for Kane. Do not argue with me. I happen to have doctors orders that you are not to ride your bicycle for at least another two months.”
I stood staring at the now grinning Kane. “Doctor’s orders, huh? You wouldn’t happened to have paid the doctor for the orders would you?” I challenged.
He chuckled. “Never, now go get in that Hummer before Kane does what he was instructed to do.”
I froze and stared at the giant in front of me. “What were his instructions?”
“To get you in that vehicle no matter what,” he countered.
I grinned, shrugged in defeat, and walked to the Hummer. Kane opened the door, and I had to take his hand to step up into it. “Okay, Rock Star, I’m in your Hummer.”
“Thank you.”
I had been expecting him to gloat, so his simple thank you made my heart flutter. “You’re welcome.”
“I miss you,” he said softly.
“I miss you too.”
“I have a concert Thursday night, and then one on Saturday, but after that, I am coming home to you for Sunday at least.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“Have fun at school today for me, please. Remember, you’re experiencing high school for both of us.”
I sighed. “I’ll keep that in mind when I am being picked on in the halls and eating bad cafeteria food.”
He chuckled, and then his voice got very serious. “If anyone picks on you threaten them with me.”
This time I laughed. “Sure thing, that will help me fit in real nicely.”
“I love you, Sadie.”
My heart still raced when he said those words. “I love you too.”
“I am going to let you go because Kane should be pulling up at school.”
I glanced outside the window and realized he was right. “Yes, he just stopped. Bye, have a good day.”
“You, too, bye.”
I pressed end on the phone and sighed. I reached for my backpack as Kane opened my door.
Smiling at him, I said, “Thank you, Kane.”
He nodded, and I could have sworn I saw him smile. I headed for my locker. I was going to have tons of makeup work. I needed to empty my book bag so it could hold it all.
“Sadie, I’m glad you’re back at school. Bum thing that happened.” Dylan McCovey had come up beside me. He glanced back at Kane leaving and grinned. “You sure got a sweeter set of wheels now.”
I had to try hard not to roll my eyes. Instead, I nodded. “I can’t ride my bike for a while.”
Dylan laughed. “Yeah, well, I doubt you’re going to be riding your bike again ever. The whole town’s talking about the way Jax Stone sat in your hospital room and sang to you until you came out of your coma. Then he apparently wouldn’t leave you alone for a minute. The boy sounds hooked.”
I smiled at Dylan’s words, but I didn’t respond. We stepped inside the school building.
“I have to get to class. See ya later, Dylan,” I called over my shoulder as I walked away from him. I didn’t want to talk about my private life to anyone.
The moment I stepped into the hallway, people stopped and stared. I wanted to turn around and run back outside. Instead, I forced my feet to walk to my locker. I didn’t make eye contact with anyone, but it didn’t seem to matter. Before
I got five steps, people began to attack.
“I’m so glad you’re better, Sadie.”
“Sadie, is it true Jax Stone was with you in the hospital?”
“Was that Jax’s Hummer that brought you to school?”
“Are you living with him?”
“Is Jax Stone going to move here?”
I wanted to put my hands over my ears and scream for them all to go away. More voices joined in, and people kept asking questions that I didn’t want to answer since it was none of their business.
“Move! You all have classes to be at, so I suggest you get to them,” Principal Farmer called over the vultures.
They moved away, but they all did so reluctantly. I turned back to my locker and got what I needed.
“Miss White, we are glad you’re back and doing well,” Mr. Farmer said from behind me.
I turned and smiled at him. “Thank you.”
He nodded and cleared his throat. “I want you to know, if you need anything or you are having problems like the one I just encountered, you can let me know, and I will fix it. I want your experience here at Sea Breeze High to be a great one.”
He had never spoken to me before, so his sudden desire to make sure I was happy was strange.
“Thank you, sir,” I said, despite my confusion.
“Yes, well, I also want you to know that if your, uh, boyfriend wants to attend any of our functions here, we would love to have him. He is more than welcome.”
It all made sense to me then, and I wanted to burst out laughing. Mr. Farmer was just as star crazed as everyone else. I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I nodded and headed toward class. I was probably already late.
Lunch in the cafeteria was some sort of tomato and pasta mixture that was hard to swallow. I did the best I could, but, after a few bites, I just resigned myself to drink my water. I found Amanda and sat with her. We were surrounded by her friends and people who wanted to know about Jax. I didn’t say much. I managed to ignore most everyone’s questions, and Amanda worked hard to get them to leave me alone.
“So, who’s ready for Homecoming this Friday night?” Amanda asked trying to get everyone’s mind on something else.
“I found the cutest dress last week in Mobile,” a girl on the other side of Amanda gushed. Several other girls started talking about their dresses and how they planned to wear their hair. I listened, but didn’t have anything to add to the conversation since I wasn’t going to go.
“Sadie, are you coming to the game?” Amanda asked me before she bit into her apple.
I started to say no, but then I remembered my promise to Jax and his wanting me to go to football games. “Um, I don’t know,” I said over my bottle of water.
Amanda swallowed. “Please come with me. I am going to the dance afterwards with Jeff Garner, but he is on the football team, so I will be dateless during the game.”
That sounded good to me. I could go to the game and tell Jax and maybe that would satisfy him for a while.
“Sure sounds good.”
Amanda beamed. “Great! You can come over to my house after school, and we can play around with those amazing curls I’m so jealous of, and we’ll find a way to style your hair, and then you can help me with my straight as a board head of hair!”
I frowned. “Um, does it matter how my hair looks for the football game?”
She grinned and nodded. “Yes, because you’re not going to have time to do anything but change before the dance.”
“Oh, well I’m not going to the dance, so that isn’t a big deal.”
Amanda frowned at me. “Why not?”
Well, because I didn’t want to dance without Jax. I shrugged my shoulders instead of telling her the truth.