Page 20 of 21 Years of Jane

“A … week?”

How is that possible?

“I need you to tell me exactly what happened and why you were so far away from home.”

“He just wanted to do something nice, so that’s where he decided to take me. And I don’t know what happened, Mom. One minute I was sitting next to him holding his hand and the next I was flying down the stairs,” I replied truthfully.

“Yeah that sounds like what he told us,” she replied thoughtfully.

“Where is he anyway? He promised he’d be here when I got here.”

“He was, Janey. The hospital called us to let us know that you were here and what happened. He was in the waiting room practically beside himself with guilt. Aaron … You know how your father can be,” she finished heavily.

“Daddy made him leave, didn’t he?” I asked sadly.

“Yes. He also told him that he’s not allowed to come anywhere near you again. That his carelessness with you is what put you in danger for the second time,” she said quietly.

“That’s not fair! He was just trying to be a good friend!”

That’s all it took for me to burst into uncontrollable sobs. Two simple sentences.

“Honey, whether he meant to or not, he put you in danger. Especially by not telling us where he was really taking you,” Mom said brushing my hair out of my face.

I couldn’t even respond. The one friend I had made, the one person who truly made me feel good about myself, had been officially banned from my life.

“Jane, would it help if I told you that he’s been coming by the hospital every night? Not inside, but I’ve been meeting him out in the parking garage to let him know how you’re doing. That way he doesn’t have to run into Aaron and … and … he knows that you’re still with us.”

I took a deep breath to try to stop the tears, but it was no use. I was too far gone into critical life crisis mode that I wasn’t going to recover from this any time soon.

“I know what you need,” she said. Mom got up from her chair and went to the door. She peeked her head out, before coming back to my side and grabbing the telephone receiver from the table next to her. I heard her punch in some numbers. After a brief conversation, she handed the phone to me. I was doing the wracked breathing motions that come with coming down from the earth shattering sobs, so I hadn’t heard who she was speaking to or realized that the phone was being handed to me.

“Jane, take this phone and hurry before Aaron comes back,” she said urgently, pushing the receiver next to my ear.

I turned my head slightly and sniffled into the receiver. Mom placed it between my shoulder and my ear. She had the phone on her lap so that I wouldn’t have to adjust myself too much.

“Hey, Janey,” a voice said softly.

I immediately started to cry again. In between gasps for air and fresh tears, I managed to gasp out a few “I’m sorry's”.

While I was of the mind that my father should have been the one on the phone right now apologizing to Nolan, I knew he was too stubborn to ever do so.

“I can barely understand you,” he said with a chuckle.

“Mom ... told ... me that … you … were here,” I gasped between sobs.

“Well, I promised, didn’t I?”

I took a few more shuddery breaths. I wanted to be able to speak to him and if I kept crying, Dad would walk in and catch me.

“Can you come visit me, please?” I asked in a small voice.

“Oh, Janey,” he said sadly. “I want to, more than you know, but Mr. East …”

I must’ve looked completely shattered, because Mom reached over and grabbed the phone from me.

“Nolan, you come by tomorrow morning, and you stay here all day with Jane. I’ll figure out what to do with Aaron and the kids,” she said before hanging up.

“How are you going to manage that?” I asked her.