“Did you know that he knew we dated?”
“No.” Bridget raised her eyebrows. “Not a clue, and I’m not sure he actually knows we did or not, but this is a small town. Maybe he heard a rumor?”
“We were so careful.”
“We were, but your parents knew, and your sister knew. We didn’t hide it in school.”
“No, but we did here.”
“It’s a small town,” Bridget tried again. “Rumors are just rumors.”
“But these ones are true.”
“Yeah.” Bridget trailed off, not sure how to continue arguing. “Thank you, for staying through that. I didn’t think they’d start attacking you.”
“I had a pretty good idea.” Eli stood up sharply. “I’ve got to check the cattle.”
“Right.” The silence was loud as Eli left the house and loneliness seeped into her chest, an unwelcome companion.
* * *
She’d sat on the sofa in the den for hours before managing to make her way into the kitchen for lunch. It wasn’t easy to maneuver around, but she was able to. The worst part was holding onto the plate while trying to find a place to sit down. It took everything in her to make it to the head of the dining room table.
She was halfway through her meal when her phone rang. She recognized the number even though she hadn’t input a contact for it. Jerica. She’d called and texted several times over the last week, and Bridget hadn’t answered any of them. Then they’d seen her the day before at the hospital, and Bridget had missed her call later that night, unable to get her to her phone in time.
Honestly, she couldn’t say why she was avoiding. Eli had asked her that very question, but she hadn’t been able to find an answer. Her heart thundered as she reached for her phone, once again locked in a great debate of whether to answer or not. After the incident with her parents that morning, and Eli’s sudden departure from the house, she really needed someone to talk to, someone so she wasn’t alone in this massive house.
Bridget lifted the phone to her ear, hesitation filling her voice. “Hello?”
“I wasn’t sure if you’d answer.” There was happiness in Jerica’s tone, filling each word, but also an underlying hesitation and worry. “You haven’t answered yet.”
“I missed your call last night. My phone was not nearby, and as you may well know, I don’t move as quickly as I used to.” Bridget locked the phone against her shoulder and ear, moving the half of her sandwich around her plate.
“But you didn’t call back.”
Bridget frowned. Jerica was right about that. All the phone calls and texts and she hadn’t returned a single one of them. Yet, for some reason, Jerica kept trying to get hold of her.
“I didn’t. I’m sorry. I should have. I wanted to.” The jumble of words fell from her lips. She sighed and pushed back into the chair before putting the phone on speaker and setting in on the table. Talking on the phone was not super comfortable when she was already restricted in her movements.
“Why?”
“Why what?” Bridget looked out the window, wondering if she could see Eli coming in for a meal.
“Why didn’t you call me back?”
She wasn’t sure she could answer that, even if she wanted to. “I don’t know.”
“Bridget, if you don’t want to go on a date with me—”
“I do. I do want to go on a date with you. I just…it might be bad timing.” Bridget fiddled with her plate.
“You do have a lot going on.” Disappointment echoed through the line. “But life isn’t generally full of good timing. If you hadn’t landed yourself in the ER, I would have never met you.”
“You’re right about that. I still don’t even know what happened.”
“You haven’t read the report yet?”
“They’re withholding it, unofficially, I think, and I don’t have access to a computer to get it.” Bridget picked up her phone. “It’s not just the accident, though.”