“Um… I know I asked you not to come before, but I needed to be able to focus on my family and keeping Paige together. It seems like Lainey will be home soon, though. I know you have things to do there, but do you think you could come here instead? I mean, can you get out of the events you have to go to?”
“Oh,” she said. “I can, yeah. I just need to talk to a few people.”
“So, you’ll come?” Dana asked.
Samara thought about the pictures again and said, “I’ll book something for after Christmas. That should give you a few more days with your family, and hopefully, Lainey will be home. Is that okay?”
“Oh, okay. Yeah, that’s good,” Dana replied, but Samara wasn’t sure whether she was telling the whole truth.
???
“You know you’re an idiot, right?” Kyla said.
“I’m not an idiot,” Samara replied. “I’m respecting her wishes.”
“Her wishes? Her sister was in an awful car accident a week ago, and you’re here in my bed, watching me eat way too much food, instead of being with your girlfriend in the hospital.”
“Her sister is out of the hospital. Dana texted me this morning that she was released.”
“That’s good,” Kyla said and finished her third slice of pizza. “But why are you stillhere, exactly?”
“Well, she insisted I stay, so I did. Then, she didn’t call me for two days. All I got were sporadic texts where she told me that Lainey was out of surgery or still not awake and talking yet. When I finallydidtalk to her, she asked me to go there.”
“You didn’t tell me that. Why are you still here, Samara?” Kyla asked.
Samara crossed her legs on Kyla’s bed and replied, “She described the accident, and I guess there were pictures. Paige had them and sent them to her.”
“Oh,” Kyla said. “You saw them, and it made you…”
“Go back to the day I lost my mom, yeah,” she replied. “I told her I’d book something for after Christmas and that I had an event to go to, which was true.”
“You could have skipped that party. Hell, you can skip any party to go be with your girlfriend.”
“Also true. But I don’t know, Kyla. It’s hard. She didn’t want me there. She was so adamant that she didn’t want me around. She started talking about how bad stuff only seems to happen whenever she’s not at home, as if she’s the only one keeping her family alive and safe, which is total bullshit, but that’s Dana. It’s a part of her somehow that she’s got to be that person, and if she’s not close by, something bad will happen.”
“She reminds me of that girl you told me about once.”
“What girl?”
“The one from therapy or something. She watched the lock on the door because she was so worried about the house or her family being hurt if someone got in because she didn’t lock it.”
Samara turned her face to Kyla’s and replied, “Oh, my God. You’re right. There was this guy I read something about who lived in New York and had never left the island because he had a fear that if he crossed a bridge, someone in his family would die. He was thirty years old when he tried to cross one for the first time, and he made the guy driving the car turn around because he thought his mom would die.”
“Think she’s a little like you, maybe?” Kyla asked.
“I don’t know. I’m not a doctor. I shouldn’t be diagnosinganyonewithanything. But it’s irrational, right? That she’s not really living the life she wants because she’s so afraid that if she’s away from them, something bad will happen?”
“I guess. But I’m no doctor, either.”
“Her parents are moving away from New Orleans. She says she’s not going to follow them or anything, but I believe that’s because she thinks she still has Lainey to worry about. It still wouldn’t surprise me if she tried to find an apartment equidistant from their new house and Lainey’s place just so she could get to all of them as quickly as possible.”
“What happens with you two, then?”
“I’m falling for her, Kyla.”
“Obviously.” Kyla rolled her eyes. “I haven’t even met her yet, and I can tell you’re in love with this girl. I’ve seen you with the few dudes you’ve dated, and you don’t act like this.”
“Likethis? I offered to go with her to be there for her, and then I took it back. I haven’t booked a flight or anything yet because–”
