Chapter 3
967 Words
One night in June, our department was racing to get a proposal out the door, and Leonardo stayed late to help me fix the last version.
By then, the office had emptied out, and only the two of us were left. His phone rang.
He glanced at the screen, ignored it, and went back to reading my file.
"Your phone," I said, and gave him a nudge.
The screen showed Leah's name.
I remembered she was taking GRE that week, and something about the call felt wrong to me.
Sure enough, the phone started ringing again.
"You should get that. She just finished her exam and I'm worried about her. Don't do this to your own sister."
'What if she bombed it?' I thought. 'If he keeps shutting her out, that girl is going to fall apart.'
Leonardo's eyes darkened when he heard that, but he picked up.
Whatever she said on the other end never came through clearly, and all I could make out was that she was crying. He listened for a long time without saying a single word.
When he finally spoke, his voice dropped so low that it sounded like he was grinding it out of his chest.
"Leah. I'm only going to say this once. If you ever threaten me with that again..."
He stopped there.
"Then go ahead and die."
He hung up.
The room went so quiet that it frightened me.
What he had said wasn't angry talk. He had delivered an ultimatum.
I had never heard him speak to anyone in that voice, not even when he fired people.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his laptop. "That's it for tonight. I'll take you home."
The words had barely left his mouth when the phone rang a third time.
He answered without a second of hesitation, and he almost seemed anxious to do it.
I could barely make out someone screaming at him on the other end, and Leonardo's jaw locked so tight that the line of it stood out.
He grabbed his coat and headed for the door, and he left me with three words. "Come with me."
By the time I caught up to him, he had already pulled the car door open. I reached out to brace myself against the frame, but the door dragged across my fingertips, and the pain made me suck in a breath.
"Does it hurt?" He turned around with his brow drawn tight, took my hand and turned it over, then dug a tube of ointment out of the center console and pressed it into my palm.
"It's a scratch," I said.
"Put it on," Leonardo said, and his tone left no room for argument.
The car slid into the dark, and I watched his hands on the wheel until I noticed that his knuckles had gone white.
"Don't worry. She's going to be fine." I couldn't stop myself from saying it.
He kept his eyes on the road for a long moment before he answered. "I'm not worried."
Then he paused and finished the thought. "Trouble's coming."
I caught the stubborn little curve at the corner of his mouth, and I kept quiet.
Leonardo had long legs, and he was out of the car and heading for the hospital doors without a word. I stand almost five feet seven, but that night was the first time I understood how much work it takes to catch up to someone.
I watched his back, and I knew his sister might be in real trouble, but what I wanted was for him to look at me. One glance would have been enough to convince me that I wasn't falling behind.
'God, listen to yourself,' I thought.
I shook it off and jogged after him. I had barely reached his shoulder when he stopped and turned around, and then he reached out and took my hand.
What I felt in that second was the whole world going still, and something sweet spread slowly through my chest.
We had barely reached the door of the hospital room when Dalton came out. He took one look at us and swung the back of his hand across Leonardo's face without saying a word. "Bastard!"
Leonardo's pale face turned with the blow, and he made no move to get out of the way.
Dalton still wasn't satisfied, so he raised his hand for a second one. I stepped forward before I could think about it, and Leonardo caught my arm and pulled me in behind him.
"I'm the one who said it on the phone." He looked Dalton straight in the eye and kept his voice low. "One slap, fine. A second one, no."
His eyes were cold, and what they said was clear enough. Dalton had no right to lecture him.
Dalton was shaking with anger. "Leah's awake, and you'd better not upset her."
Leonardo stopped where he stood and seemed to hesitate, and then he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.
I didn't see the problem. "Go in and see her. She isn't going to blame you."
When we walked in, Diana was watching Leah wipe her eyes with a tenderness that softened her whole face, and the moment she noticed us, a flicker of awkwardness ran through her expression.
"Mom, Nicole, could you two step out for a minute? I want to talk to Leo alone." Leah's face was white, and her voice came out thin.
It was the kind of request one could hardly refuse.
I nodded, but Diana wasn't ready to go. She narrowed her eyes and threw a quick glance toward the bed.
A mother never wins against her own children in the end, so we stepped out and left the two of them alone.
- Writer
