Part 4 (1/2)
He didn't answer.
”That's what I thought,” Sam said, shaking off her mother's arm and limping toward the hallway.
”Wait, Sam, don't leave,” her mother called out. ”Let's forget this unpleasantness. Let's sit down and have a nice meal . . . We'll talk about this later.”
As she reached the door to the bedroom, she heard her father.
”Let her go, Nancy.”
Turning, she called over her shoulder, ”Yeah, Mom, let it go. Have another mimosa,” she said, slamming the bedroom door.
Leaning against it, she let the tears fall. How long had her father blamed her for her attack? He was right-they had warned her about staying late, but she'd been working on a presentation for a difficult client at Lawrence's request. Was he right? Was she responsible? Should she have run faster, screamed louder, fought harder?
Her hand strayed to the chunk of hair on the side of her head and she tugged at it nervously. She noticed her manicure bag lying on the dresser. Stumbling over to it, she removed the pair of scissors.
He didn't like the way my hair looked, huh? She lifted a lock of hair and snipped off the end. Then another and another. Soon the dresser was covered with a ma.s.s of auburn hair.
The bedroom door suddenly flew open. Her hand paused as she saw Jackson's horrified reflection in the mirror.
”What are you doing!”
Chapter Five.
At the sound of Jackson's cry, both her father and mother came rus.h.i.+ng down the hallway. Three shocked faces stared back at her in the mirror. Her father's mouth tightened in a grim line and her mother's eyes filled with tears as she began to cry softly. Jackson simply looked sad.
Her father placed a comforting hand on her mother's shoulder. ”Nancy, I'll handle this. You and Jackson go ahead and start brunch. Samantha and I will join you in a little bit.” He turned his attention to Sam. ”Let's go out on the deck. I want to talk to you.”
Tossing the scissors back into the bag, Sam took one last look at herself in the mirror. Her hair now stood out in spikes all over her head. Well, she thought defiantly, no more cowlick.
Head up, she limped past Jackson and her mother as she followed her father down the hallway and across the living room. He flung the French doors open and stepped outside. She made a move to join him then stopped.
The deck, jutting out from the side of the cabin, overlooked the lake. From the doorway, Sam saw birch trees with their leaves s.h.i.+vering in the light breeze and wispy clouds trailing across the blue sky. From a distance, she heard the roar of a speedboat. The sun's warmth invited her to take one more step, to walk to the edge of the deck and peer down at the clear water s.h.i.+mmering in the light.
She hesitated. Her gaze darted from the lake, to the trees, to the underbrush. She'd be exposed, out there on the deck. What if someone were hiding in the brush watching her? She wanted to shrink, grow smaller and smaller, until she was no longer a target for prying eyes. Wiping her damp palms on her jeans, she caught her father staring at her with a frown playing across his face. She stiffened her spine and walked slowly out the door. Pulling out a lawn chair, she sat as quickly as she could.
With a shake of his head, her father moved a chair closer to where she was sitting, joining her. He sat back and stretched his legs. For a moment he didn't speak as his eyes focused on the distant sh.o.r.e.
”It's lovely here, isn't it?” he finally asked, turning his attention to her.
Sam nodded.
”Restful.”
She nodded again.
Drawing his legs in, her father bent forward and lightly touched her knee. ”It's why we picked this place. We're trying to help you, my dear.”
”But, Dad, I need to be independent. I need to do things for myself.”
His eyes strayed to her head. ”Like your haircut?”
Sam pulled at the short spikes. ”You were making a big deal out of it. I simply fixed it.”
”A pretty childish reaction, wouldn't you say?”
She dropped her hands and gripped the arms of the chair.
”You want to stay alone.” Leaning back, he studied her. ”How do we know you won't become frustrated or upset or angry again, and do something equally childish?”
”Like what?”
”Harm yourself.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. ”I'm not going to hurt myself.”
”Maybe not on purpose, but after what I saw today, I don't know if I believe you, Samantha.”
Sam opened her mouth to argue, but in the distance an engine suddenly backfired. She shrank down in her chair.
Seeing her reaction, Lawrence shook his head. ”Look at you . . . the slightest noise has you jumping like a scared rabbit. How can you expect us to leave you alone?”
She sat up in the chair and drew her shoulders back. ”I don't need a babysitter,” she insisted.
”Quit referring to Anne as a babysitter. She's trained in physical therapy and comes highly recommended. Of all the candidates we interviewed, she was the most qualified.”
”You and Jackson interviewed,” she stressed, ”not me. I haven't even met this woman. How do you know I'm going to like her?”
A smug smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. ”Of course you're going to like her.” The smile vanished. ”Don't you trust me to make the right choices for you? Haven't I always done what was best? While you were in the hospital, I made sure you had the top doctors in the country. When you finished art school, I gave you a job at the agency . . .”
Her chin went up a notch. ”Yes, and I've worked hard for you.”
”Us . . . you've worked hard for us,” he emphasized. ”You've made me proud, Princess, and someday it will all be yours, but you need to get well first.”
”I know,” she hedged, ”but just because I need therapy does not mean I can't make my own decisions-”
His eyebrows shot up, stopping her.
Dropping her hands into her lap, she lowered her head. ”Look, I know I have some problems . . . the nightmares, the vertigo, the panic attacks . . . but I'm still capable of living my own life. I know what's going on.”
He remained silent.
Looking up at him, she saw doubt written on his face. ”I do,” she protested. ”I'm getting better at differentiating between my dreams and what's real.”
”What about last night?”
She silently cursed Jackson for not keeping his mouth shut.