Triangles Page 20

  It took me a minute to get myself together so I could speak. I cleared my swollen throat. “Hi Mom. It’s me, Autumn.”

  Nothing else came easy. All the guilt over her accident, my fall, and seeing Dad just tied my tongue into knots. I wanted to say everything and nothing. I wanted to yell and scream and whisper and cry. How did I put all of that into words? There was no way.

  I fought back the tears and continued. I owed her that much. “I’m sorry, Mom. So sorry for everything. I hope you can forgive me for being such a terrible person. I never wanted…I mean, I didn’t know what would happen…I just, I’m sorry.” I wiped my nose on the sleeve of my hospital gown. I looked at her face for signs of understanding, but she remained still.

  “Mom, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I think you can. I saw Dad. He’s doing great. He explained everything to me. And I’m better now. And I want you to get better, too. I hope you can. And…I love you.”

  Jessica came back into the room, humming on the way in so I could hear her entering. “You almost ready? You have to get some blood drawn.”

  I wiped the tears away before she could see them. “Yeah, let’s go. Bye, Mom.” I reached out to touch her hair.

  That’s when I saw it—a single tear sliding down Mom’s swollen cheek.

  Twenty

  The day I was released from the hospital, Nisha walked into my room at home with a stuffed cat and a box of pizza. The sight of her warmed my messed-up heart, forcing a grin out of me. “Well, well. You did this just to get out of working, right? Because now I’m stuck doing extra shifts, and the customers are driving me crazy, and—”

  I threw my arms around her and squeezed as hard as I could.

  “Can’t breathe…can’t breathe,” she squeaked out.

  I laughed and released her. She tossed the stuffed cat on my bed and flipped open the pizza box. “Take a slice. I’m sure you missed Tony’s pizza almost as much as you missed me.”

  I pulled out a slice and stuffed half of it in my mouth.

  It tasted like Take-Out Heaven.

  She plopped down on my bed and eyed me. “You look a little too happy, Autumn. What’s the deal?”

  I shrugged. “What do you mean?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Come on, stop holding out on me. Spill. What happened on your trip?”

  I told her everything that happened. I even told her about Dr. Hardy and seeing her photo in that Bermuda Triangle book. “I think she had a reason to be there.” I leaned closer to her. “I think she was letting me know that, no matter what’s wrong in my life, it could always be worse.”

  “So, what, you think she was, like, an angel?”

  I lifted a shoulder. “Don’t know. But as far as I’m concerned,” I said, my voice shaking, “the Triangle saved me. It let me see my dad one more time. It showed me how I truly felt about Joey. And it let me see that my life wasn’t so bad. You know what I mean?”

  She grinned at me. “Yeah. I know what you mean. You’re not only nuts, but it took a cruise through Hell to make you realize just how lucky you really are.”

  I giggled. “Ain’t it the truth.”

  The phone rang, so I grabbed my cell and flipped it open. “Hello?”

  The ringing continued. I blinked and realized it was the house phone. I dropped my cell and hurried into the kitchen, yanking the receiver off the wall. “Hello?”

  “Hi, is Jessica there? This is Cara, her friend from the hospital. I need to speak to her. Right now.”

  “She’s taking a nap, Cara, before she works the late shift.”

  “Wake her up. It’s important.”

  I brought the cordless into Jessica’s room and shook her shoulder. “Jessica, it’s Cara. She said she has to speak to you right now.”

  She rolled over and ripped the phone from my hands, her eyes still shut. “Cara, what’s wrong?”

  Jessica opened her eyes, looked at me with shock and screamed, “Mom’s awake!”

  Despite the emotional excitement of the past week and the exhaustion that followed, I finally went back to work a couple days later. After lunch, Joey came over to my register at Shore Auto. “Hiya, babe. How’s your mom?” He kissed my cheek.

  “We had a long talk with the doctor, and Jessica understood a lot more of it than I did. They said it will be a long road to recovery. Her chances look pretty good, though.” I beamed. “That night I visited, her nurse noticed some changes. Good changes. They started taking tubes and stuff out. Today, she opened her eyes and asked for us again.”

  He stroked my cheek. “I’m so glad for you guys. I hope she comes home soon.”

  I sighed. “I know. Me too.”

  A wicked gleam shot through his eyes. “Guess what I did while you were at lunch?”

  “Tell me.”

  He leaned over the counter to whisper in my ear. “I changed Marcus’s oil. He dropped off his car last night. Not his daddy’s fancy car, but his old Chevy truck. When he called today, he was rude and obnoxious on the phone. So, I left him a little present as a reminder of his stinky attitude.”

  My eyes got wide. “You didn’t! What did you do?”

  He chuckled. “I put a nice piece of fish I saved from dinner under his seat. Let’s see how long it takes for him to figure out where that awful smell is coming from!”

  I put my hands on my hips. “Joey, that’s not like you at all. What got into you?”

  He winked at me. “You.”

  I shook my head, but I had to smile. Joey, who always let people walk all over him, was finding his own subtle ways to stand up for himself. I was proud of him.

  “So, did you get your schedule for senior year?” he asked.

  “Yup, right here.” I handed him the yellow slip of paper and wrapped my apron around me.

  He pulled the pen from behind his ear and almost—almost—put it in his mouth. I watched it as he aimed for his mouth, glanced at me, then replaced it behind his ear.

  I smiled. “So, you can be taught. Good boy, Joey. I’m proud of you.”

  He shrugged. “Yeah, well, with you and Nisha yelling at me all the time about how gross it is, I guess I finally agree.”

  He opened my schedule and read it. “US history, calculus, gym, lunch, anatomy and physiology, Spanish, English, and FDA during study hall.” He looked at me funny. “What’s FDA?”

  My cheeks grew hot. “Future Doctors of America. I decided I want to go to medical school. And I want to work with young cancer patients. There are plenty of good schools in New York and Pennsylvania that I could apply to and still be close to everyone here.”

  He took my hand and squeezed. “That’s great! I’m so glad you decided to finish, but what made you decide to go to med school? And do you have the grades for it? I hear it’s really hard to get in.”

  “My very recent hospital stay made the decision for me. And of course I have the grades. Don’t you know by now how smart I am?”

  He didn’t dare argue with my logic. Guess he was pretty smart, too.

  “And my doctor was very cute.” I raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Was he now?” He ripped his hand from mine. “Did you tell him you were taken?”

  “Nope.” His face fell. I grabbed his hand again. “But I didn’t have to. When you left after visiting hours every day, he came in and said, ‘You really like that guy, huh?’ And I said yes.”

  I looked into those eyes, and as he stared back I knew that everything leading up to this moment had happened on purpose. I needed it all to get to where I was today. And where I would be in the future.

  Autumn Rayne Taylor—devoted daughter, loyal girlfriend, lovable sister, future doctor.

  The future never looked so good.

  Acknowledgements

  This book would not have been possible without the amazing support and love from so many people in my life.

  Special thanks to my husband, Jed, for tolerating all the nights we ordered take-out so I could write. I know I never could h
ave done this without you. You inspire me to be a better person every single day.

  Thanks to my mom for believing in me and giving me unconditional love throughout my life. Your love means more to me than you will ever know. To my stepfather, Paul, for putting up with all the phone calls and lunches needed to discuss my journey to publication.

  To my dad for instilling me with a love of travel and a curiosity about the world—these traits have helped me to be a better writer.

  Thanks to my sister, Chrisy, for being my first beta reader and offering me great advice to improve my writing. If you hadn’t forced me to read Twilight, I would not be where I am today. I miss you every single day I don’t see you. To my brother-in-law, Jim, for putting up with me and letting me steal my sister away from you so many nights on the phone. Thanks to my niece, Jessica, for sharing your books with me and really “getting” me. I swear, in some far off alternate reality, we are twins!

  Thanks to my brother, Scott, and his wife, Kelly, for cheering me on. To my niece and nephew, Isabel and Colin, for entertaining me and making me smile. I’m so happy you are all a part of my life.

  Oma and Opa, your support and love throughout my life has meant a lot to me.

  To my stepchildren, Ashley, Shane, and Jordan, who offered advice on the real life of teens today and also put up with take-out on many nights so I could write—I appreciate your help.

  A huge shout out to Kate Kaynak and the team at Spencer Hill Press—especially Patricia Riley, Trisha Wooldridge, Rich Storrs, Kendra Saunders, Shira Lipkin, and all of the staff and interns who worked on Triangles—for taking on a new author and making me feel like family. With your help and guidance, this publishing adventure has been great, and Triangles has become the best book it could be!

  To my cover designer, Vic Caswell, for spending many hours with me so we could come up with the perfect book cover—you nailed it!

  Thanks to my beta readers—Jackie, Kim, and Laura—who read every chapter and offered great advice on how to improve Triangles. Sharing this journey with you has made it fun and exciting, and I hope we can all meet in real life one day.

  Thanks to my critique group—Toni, Archana, Heather, Aideen, Carol, Christine, Leslie, and Patti—for your inspiration and friendship. I look forward to our monthly meetings and emails chock full of writing advice.

  Thanks to my first grade teacher, Elaine, for teaching me how to read and write and cheering me on all these years later. I’d also like to thank all the great teachers I’ve had over the years—many of you inspired me and pushed me to do my best.

  Thanks to my amazing travel agent, Sue, for booking a ton of great trips for me, especially the ones to Bermuda that inspired this story.

  Thanks to Patrick at QueryTracker.net and all the writers on the forums for years of support, encouragement, and helpful information.

  Thanks to Annie Bomke of ABLiterary who read the manuscript prior to publication and offered some great advice to make it better. Thanks to all the agents and editors who took the time to read my query or submissions and respond with a kind word. Those words, no matter how few, made me want to be a better writer.

  To all my friends, extended family, and coworkers for listening to me talk about my book and for sharing in my excitement along the way—I’m honored and humbled to be surrounded by such wonderful people.

  A special shout out to Kayleigh-Marie Gore of K-Books, for welcoming me into the world of book bloggers and sharing in my excitement about Triangles, and to all the book bloggers out there who love to read as much as I do, and who helped spread the word about Triangles.

  Love to my three sweet cats who sit with me when I write and offer to help by stepping all over my keyboard.

  And finally, thanks to everyone I have ever met who has, in some way, inspired me, encouraged me, supported me, or helped me. Life is hard enough, but with so many amazing people in the world, life is worth living.

  Some Rules Are Made To Be Broken… But Breaking The Ultimate Rule Can Change Everything.

  AUGUST 13th 2013

  About the Author

  Kimberly Miller received Bachelor’s degrees from Georgian Court University and Rutgers University and a Master’s degree from The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. She is an avid reader and particularly enjoys true crime and young adult novels. She grew up in New Jersey and currently resides in Monmouth County with her husband and three cats. When she’s not writing, she loves to travel to sunny islands where she snorkels by day and stargazes by night. She always takes her Nook with her.

  For more information:

  Twitter:@KimberlyAnnNJ

  Blog: writersbytheshore.blogspot.com

  Website: kimberlyannmiller.com