New Beginnings (130 page)

“Holy shit, Dad,” Zane said, rushing back into the house without the shears. “Where’d that car come from? It looks just like Granddad’s old car, but way better.” He looked at his brother. “Cole, man, you gotta see Dad’s sweet new ride.”

“Actually, it’s not mine,” I said, fisting the key ring in my hand.

“It’s not?” Zane asked, looking deflated. “You mean it’s Uncle Seb’s? Why’d he leave it here? He has plenty of room at his place.”

“It’s not Uncle Seb’s either.”

I tried to contain my smile, but it was hopeless. By the time I tossed him the keys, I was grinning ear to ear. Being able to do something like this for him was one of the best moments of my life. I remembered how I’d felt when I was his age, how bad I wanted my own set of wheels, but couldn’t afford them.

“It’s yours. Your grandfather’s, actually. I had Uncle Seb restore it for you.”

“No. Way!”

I had a flashback to all those Christmas mornings when he and his brother had been tearing into the gifts Santa brought, anxious to find out whether they’d received everything on their wish list. Those were days I’d never get back. There was very little I could do for them now that they were on the verge of becoming men. But this was something I could do for them.

“Oh my God, Dad,” he said, rushing me. “This is awesome! This is, like, the best.”

I laughed when he tackled me, throwing his arms around me like he hadn’t done in years.

“I can’t believe you did this! Wait ’til my friends see it.”

“Slow down,” I said, chuckling as I held him at arm’s length. “There are some rules. I don’t want you driving it without me until you get your license.”

“Yeah, but I go for the test next week.”

“I know you do. One other thing, I don’t want you to tell your mom about this.”

“Why not?” Cole asked.

“I want it to be a surprise. You know how much your granddad loved this car. I think it’ll mean a lot to her that I had it restored for you. We’ll take it over there on Sunday with the rest of my things.”

“Okay, cool,” Zane said, grinning. “Can we take it out for a spin now, Dad? Please?”

“Sure.” I remembered how I’d felt when I finally got my first set of wheels. I couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel. “We’ll grab a pizza on the way back. Hey,” I said, gripping his shoulder as he headed toward the door, “you have another driving lesson tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“You should probably take your car, get used to driving it before the test.”

“Sweet.”

I wrapped my arm around Cole’s neck. I could sense he was a little dejected. “Don’t worry, kid. Your time’s coming.”

“Can I get a motorcycle?” he asked, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. “A custom one?”

I laughed, thinking Mac would kill me if I said yes to that. “We’ll see.”

***

After taking the car out for a spin and grabbing a pizza, we all agreed to turn in early since we were going to be packing up the house tomorrow. I intended to keep the house and rent it out, fully furnished, so I was just taking my personal effects with me, but even packing that would take the better part of the day.

I was sound asleep when my cell phone rang. A quick glance at the alarm clock told me it was an unknown caller… at three o’clock in the morning? What the hell?

“Hello.”

“Ryker, thank God I caught you. It’s Dan. We just got a call. Brit and Zane have been in a car accident. Mac’s on her way to the hospital already, and we’re just leaving now. Can you meet us there?”

I shot up in bed. “Wait a minute. What the hell are you talking about?” As far as I knew, Zane was sound asleep in his bed.

“I don’t know how it happened. The hospital just called. We have to get over there. Now!”

I could hear the ding of the car door opening as I jumped out of bed. “Was it serious?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

“Dan, who was driving?” As if I didn’t know.

“It must have been Zane. Brit doesn’t even have her learner’s permit yet. She was going to get it this summer.”

“I didn’t think they were still seeing each other.”

I knew that wasn’t even relevant right now, but I was still trying to wrap my head around how this had happened. How
I’d
let it happen. If something happened to our son, Mac would never forgive me. I’d handed him the keys to that car. Maybe it was stupid, too much temptation for a kid his age, who was hungry for his first taste of freedom. But Zane was a good kid. I was so sure I could trust him.

“I didn’t either. But you know how teenagers are, Ryker. They lie to their parents. They sneak around.”

“Yeah.” I sure as hell had when I was Zane’s age, which should have made me too savvy to let something like this happen to my own son.

“Is your truck missing?” Dan asked. “I assume that’s what he was driving?”

“Uh, no, I don’t think so.” I couldn’t tell Dan I’d given him the keys to his very own car that night. I knew it would come out eventually, but I needed time to process what had happened before I admitted my mistake. “There was another car here. He must have taken that.”

“Oh, okay. Well we’re on our way to the hospital. We’ll see you there.”

I wanted to know why Mac hadn’t been the one to call me as soon as she got the call from the hospital, but I knew I would get my answers soon enough. As would she. I just hoped when she found out about the part I’d played in this, she wouldn’t hate me.

***

Cole and I rushed into the waiting room on the third floor, where the front desk receptionist had directed us. Mac was sitting next to Dan’s wife, talking quietly, when we approached.

“Hey,” I said. “How are the kids?”

Mac stood up, reaching for me. “God, Ryker. How the hell did this happen? It doesn’t make any sense. He must have been driving someone else’s car. You don’t think he stole it, do you?”

My gut twisted painfully at the secret I would now have to share. “Are they going to be okay?” I asked Nancy, Dan’s wife, as I put my arm around Mac’s shoulders and drew her into my side. “Please tell me it’s not serious.”

“It’s not, thank God,” Nancy said, flattening her hand against her chest. “Cuts and bruises mainly, but Zane has a couple of broken ribs. I imagine that will keep him out of commission for a while.”

I was sure she meant out of trouble. I would never wish pain on my own kid, but maybe his being incapacitated meant we’d be able to keep an eye on him until we figured out what the hell was going on with him. It wasn’t like him to lie and sneak around behind our backs, and I had to know whether this thing with Brittany was an isolated incident or a disturbing pattern that was developing.

“Were there any other cars involved in the accident?” I asked.

“No, thank God.” Nancy shook her head. “When Dan called you about finding Zane with Brit at our place, we honestly thought that was the end of it. Obviously, we were wrong.”

“Wait a minute,” Mac said, raising her hand. “You found the kids together? When? What were they doing?”

Nancy shot a guilty look in my direction when Mac stepped out of my arms, putting some distance between us.

Before I could explain, Nex walked into the waiting room. I’d called him on the way and asked him to spread the word to our brothers, mainly because I needed a little reassurance that everything was going to be fine and I hadn’t just made the biggest mistake of my life, giving our son a car without telling Mac.

“Hey,” Nex said, giving Mac a hug before shaking my hand. “How are they?”

“You didn’t have to come, Nex,” I said. “I told you I’d call as soon as I found out what was going on.”

“Screw that,” Nex said, putting an arm around Cole’s neck. “I wanted to be here. How are they?”

“They’re gonna be okay,” I assured him. “Just banged up a little.”

“Thank God,” Nex said, raking a hand through his hair.

“You guys hang out here,” I said to Cole and Nex. “I’m going to take Mac outside for some fresh air.” I needed to explain this to her without an audience, in case she started screaming or crying or hitting me.

“Yeah sure, take your time,” Nex said. “I’ll text you if the doctors want to talk to you.”

“I think it’ll be a while before we can go in to see them,” Nancy said. “They’re still patching them up and taking X-rays to make sure they didn’t miss anything with their preliminary examination. Dan just went down to the cafeteria to get us some coffee.” Holding up her phone, she said, “You guys want anything? I can text him.”

“No, thanks,” we said in unison.

“We’ll be back in a few,” I said to them, linking my hand through Mac’s. She was tense, angry, but at least she didn’t try to pull away. I assumed that meant she was at least willing to listen to my side of the story before she condemned me.

She was silent on the elevator and the short walk through the corridor, but as soon as we were outside, she asked, “What the hell was Nancy talking about? When did they find Zane with Brittany? And why didn’t you tell me?”

I walked her over to an isolated bench on a grassy patch away from the Emergency Room doors, where we would have some privacy. After we sat facing each other, I reached for her hands. “Dan called me the night you and I got into it, after you left my place. You were already upset, so I didn’t want to bother you with it. I talked to Zane about it the next day, and I honestly didn’t think it would be a problem.”

She pulled her hands from mine, inching back on the bench. “What the hell were they doing when Dan and Nancy walked in on them? Please tell me they weren’t having sex. They’re way too young for that.”

Mac may have been too young for that at sixteen, but I hadn’t been. I didn’t think this was the right time to remind her I’d been sexually active at their age, especially since I happened to agree with her. Emotionally, they weren’t ready for this kind of commitment, even if their raging hormones sent them a different message.

“They were just messing around, I think.”

“You think?” she asked, sounding outraged. “Ryker, we can’t afford to be complacent about this. What the hell happens if he gets some girl pregnant? What about his plans for college and his future?”

I didn’t think Zane was irresponsible enough to let something like that happen, but I never would have imagined he’d take the car out without a driver’s license, either. I didn’t even want to think about what the ramifications of that mistake would be.

“Dan said they came home before…” I couldn’t even look Mac in the eye. I could tell she was furious with me. She was his mother. She had every right to know about this, and I’d kept her in the dark. Maybe if I had told her, we possibly could have prevented this fiasco from happening tonight.

“I don’t believe this,” she said, resting her forehead on her upturned palms. “I knew he was over there a lot, but usually with Cole, and always when Nancy or Dan were home. I wouldn’t have let him go over there if I’d known they were alone.”

“You weren’t home. You couldn’t have known what they were up to.”

“No, I wasn’t home,” she said, glaring at me. “But I should have been. Look at the kind of trouble he gets into when I’m not watching him.”

“Come on, Mac,” I said, resting my hand on her back. “He’s sixteen. We can’t watch him every minute of every day. We have to trust him.”

“Trust him?” she asked, sounding slightly hysterical. “After the stunt he pulled tonight, you want me to trust him?”

Seb pulled up to the curb in front of the bench, even though it was a No Parking zone, and hopped out. “Hey, Nex called me. How’re the kids?”

“They’re gonna be okay.” I loved the way my brothers all rallied when one of us was in trouble, but right now, I just needed some time alone with Mac, to explain and beg forgiveness.

“Jesus, I can’t believe this,” Seb said, scraping his hands over his face. “I felt terrible when Nex called. If I hadn’t delivered the car today, maybe—”

“The car?” Mac asked.

“Yeah.” Seb grabbed her hand. “I know the fact that he was driving your dad’s car only makes this worse, hon. If I can piece it back together, I will. I know how much it means to you and your mom.”

“Wait a minute,” Mac said, shaking her head. “What are you talking about?”

Seb dropped her hand. “He, uh, wasn’t driving your dad’s old Mustang tonight?”

“He couldn’t have been.” Mac rubbed her eyebrow as though she was trying to ward off some pain. “That car barely runs. Besides, how…?”

“Seb,” I said, shooting him a look. “Can we have a minute? I need to explain this to Mac.”

“Sure.” He raised his palms, mouthing “Sorry” before he jumped back in the car and drove away, presumably to find a legal parking spot.

“Please,” Mac said, clutching her chest as she bent over. “Please tell me you did not give our sixteen-year-old son a car without talking to me first.”

“I wanted it to be a surprise.” Judging by her expression, it was the worst kind of surprise. “I knew how much Bill loved that car. I had Seb restore it so it looks brand-new.” It
looked
brand-new. I had no idea whether it would even be salvageable now. God, what a mess.

“My mother knew about this?” she asked, sounding horrified. “She was in on this?”

“Yeah, but don’t blame her. I asked her to keep it a secret so we could surprise you. I thought you’d love seeing your dad’s old car looking the way he would have wanted it to.” I almost wished I’d taken pictures that afternoon in case she would never have the opportunity to see it looking like that again.

“I would have. But you had no right to give our son a car without talking to me first.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” There was no way to spin this so I came out looking innocent. I hadn’t intended for anyone to get hurt, but they had, and I couldn’t take it back. “If I had it to do all over again, I’d do things differently, believe me.”

“Really? Would you have told me about Dan finding Brit and Zane together?”

“I told you why I kept that to myself, baby. I—”

She stood. “That’s just it, Ryker. For this to work, you can’t keep things that affect our family to yourself. You need to treat me as your equal, not some clueless little twit who needs to be protected from all the things she can’t handle. It’s insulting, and I resent it.”