Chapter Six
The darknessin the house made me yawn. I snuggled underneath the quilt on thecouch.
“You still there?” Kevinasked.
“Yes, I’m still here.” I glanced at my watch and noticed four hours had flown by. It was three in the morning. But for some reason, I enjoyed talking to him and didn’t want to get off the phone. “So you went to college for one year and decided it wasn’t foryou?”
“It really wasn’t. It wasn’t the academics or the culture. It was that I was called back to Magnolia Corners. I wanted to do more here. I’ve managed to finish my bachelor’s degree online,though.”
“You already finished?” I tried to hide my jealous tone, but I was sure he could hearit.
“Yeah, I took extra classes and finished a yearearly.”
“How did you do that? I mean, you co-run a company, volunteered, and still went toschool?”
“Yes, but I’ve had no social life. Only building things and studying, but I finished last week. It’s just a general business degree, but it’s still a degree. I kept my promise to myfather.”
A hint of jealousy yet happiness filled me. “He was so proud of you. At every football game, he’d stand at the front of the stands screaming ‘that’s my boy.’ I’m sorry he passed away lastyear.”
“Me, too.” Kevin cleared his throat. “He had a long battle with cancer, so it’s a good thing he’s resting in peacenow.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you.” I eyed my college sweatshirt I’d tossed on the back of the chair. “Is that why you cameback?”
“No, he wasn’t diagnosed until after Ireturned.”
“I don’t understand. You gave up a full college ball scholarship to return to Magnolia Corners to build a rehabcenter?”
“Yes,” he said with no furtherexplanation.
“Why?” Iasked.
Kevin cleared his throat. “You don’t know, doyou?”
“Knowwhat?”
There was a long pause. “Joe, he’s in a wheelchair because of me,” Kevin said, his voice sounding hollow, broken. I wanted to reach through the phone and hold him until he blessed the world with one of his winningsmiles.
I looked at the crack running down the living room wall, as if to find answers. “I don’tunderstand.”
“No, you wouldn’t because you have always been too nice to ever dare someone to risk their life.” Kevin must have moved, because there was rustling over thephone.
I took in a long breath, searching for the right words. “I know that you’d never do anything to hurt someone. Besides, it didn’t appear as if Joe had a problem withyou.”
“He wouldn’t, because after it happened, it changed him. It changed us all. Kaley remained by his side. She never left Magnolia Corners, but I did. I ran far away in hopes of never facing Joe again, but I couldn’t hide from myguilt.”
I let out a long breath of realization. “Joe is the reason you were called back to MagnoliaCorners?”
I allowed the silence to remain for several seconds until Kevin finally spoke. “Yes.”
The one word carried so much sorrow and regret that my chestached.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but whathappened?”
“It was after graduation. We were all partying on the lake. I dared Joe to race me on the jet skis. It happened so fast, yet it still plays over and over in my head like a challenged replay. He ran aground, flipping the jet ski. His body flew into the air and slammed into the trees on the embankment.” He spoke at full speed, his voice cracking every few words. He inhaled a quick breath then continued. “We all laughed. Joe had always been a prankster, so none of us ran to him. It must’ve been several seconds before I realized there was something wrong. In that time, someone had rolled him over and moved him. He suffered a T-12 fracture. To this day, we don’t know if it was the accident or the fact that he was moved that caused his spinal cord to partially sever.” His voicechoked.
I wanted to reach through the phone and hold him. “Kevin, you were a kid. You were having fun, and Joe made a choice. You can’t hold on to so muchguilt.”
“It was only three years and six months ago.” A long sigh sounded. “I don’t know why I’m telling youthis.”
