Chapter 39
“Okay, ladies. Let’s reach up and feel ourselves extending to the sky. Your body is opening up and making room as your baby grows. Your bodies are magical.”
As calming as the instructor’s voice is, I feel like what she is saying is complete bullshit. I do not feel magical at all. Nothing is magical about the human in my body, who's making me constipated to the point where I have to drink Mrs. King’s world-famous prune smoothies. Just thinking about it makes me want to run to a bathroom.
Cringing, I shake off memories of the ordeal I went through after drinking it and focus on class. By class, I mean Quinn. She’s set up right next to me as usual. She came in a little late, so she didn’t have time to speak, but as always, I can feel her glare burning into me. I can tell she wants to say something so badly that it’s tearing a hole in her throat. Our first conversation went well, but I still don’t trust her. I know she probably feels hopeful, but this is simply the first step in a long journey to find a place of peace with each other.
Breathing in, I lower into Downward Dog, and when I do, I hear a little whisper coming from Quinn’s direction. I glance over and she’s smiling at me, her bright pink leggings blinding me.
“The instructor is extra Zen today. She probably got laid.”
Her comment causes the corner of my mouth to flick up because I was thinking the same thing when we started. The woman usually has a stern look on her face the whole class, but today, she walked in with a glow that doesn’t require a bun in the oven.
“Yeah, probably,” I mumble as we lower onto our knees.
“What are you doing after class?”
“I have to go home to get ready for work.”
“Oh, that’s cool. I was going to ask you if you wanted to have lunch.”
I’m glad I have a truthful excuse since I’m nowhere near ready to have outings with Quinn yet. Her enthusiasm is causing her to take one too many steps too soon.
“Maybe another time,” I grunt as I get down into a Child’s Pose to relax.
“Yeah, just text me when you’re free,” she says before leaving the conversation at that.
When class is finished, I wipe the little beads of sweat off my forehead before rolling up my mat. I start gathering my things, and Quinn does too, except she’s moving in warp speed, like she’s late for something. It makes me curious.
“In a hurry?” I frown.
“Oh, yeah. I have therapy in 30 minutes. It’s usually later, but my doctor had to push me up sooner for some reason.” She shakes her head.
“You have a therapist? How’s that going?”
“Exhausting. I hate talking about nothing and everything. It seems like the nothings tend to mean more than the everythings to my doctor. I say that I like the rain and she comes up with some psychological reason as to why. It drives me insane. Like, can’t a girl just like the rain?”
“Sounds annoying yet helpful.”
“That’s pretty much the definition of having a therapist. She helps a lot, though. At first, it sucked. My parents were forcing me to go. They never came with me, though. Even when the doctor asked them to, they still said no.” She shakes her head, standing up.
I’m about to do the same when her hand shoots out for me to grab.
“Oh, I got it.” I groan a little.
“It’s fine. Us mamas have to stick together.”
I let out a hesitant sigh before taking her hand. She pulls me up, and I scoop up my things, placing my mat in its holder. By the time I have my stuff together, Quinn is waving bye as she exits the building. I gotta say, knowing she’s in therapy makes me feel a little better about mending things. She’s getting professional help, something I clearly need given all my traumatic memories. I just don’t see the need to see a shrink if I have healthy coping mechanisms and a good support system. Quinn doesn’t have a family who cares about how she feels. Her parents were always too busy to pay her any mind. I know I’m the pot calling the kettle black, but my mother has changed for the better. Quinn’s parents indeed haven’t.
On the way home, I stop and grab myself some lunch so I can get ready for work without having to stop and fix lunch. As I’m eating with one hand and driving with the other, Harper calls. I hit the answer button on the steering wheel.
“Hello?”
“Do you have food in your mouth?”
I swallow quickly.
“I did. I grabbed lunch. What’s up?”
“Oh, Jasper called and said that he’s letting everyone take a half-day. You don’t have to come in. There’s some computer maintenance being done.”
“Hell yes. Now, I can come home and take a nap.”
“I’ll happily be your nap mate. My therapist kicked my butt today with the workouts. I ran a little on the treadmill.”
“Ran?” I raise my eyebrow, biting into my sandwich.
“Okay, I walked at a fast pace.”
I laugh, shaking my head. Glancing up, I see in the distance that there is a storm rolling in. I immediately think about Quinn and what she said about liking rain for no reason. I can understand where she’s coming from. There's something about watching the sky get dark as the storm approaches.
“Well, after I shower, I can definitely join you for a nap.”
“Did you see Quinn today?”
“Yeah, it was—” I pause for a moment, seeing traffic slow down.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Harper asks.
“Oh, nothing. I think there's a wreck or something. Traffic is slowing down.”
“That sucks. I’ll let you go then. Focus on the road.”
“I will. See you when I get home.”
I hang up, and as I slowly move forward, I see that it is indeed a wreck. I don’t see anything at first until a few cars turn down side streets, clearing my view. It’s then I see a little blue car in the middle of the intersection with its whole side damaged.
A man runs up to the car and opens the driver’s door. Immediately, I catch a glimpse of bright pink leggings. It’s then that my heart drops. I turn my car off before jumping out and running to the car. Once I’m there, I shove the man out of the way.
“Quinn!” I shout, and slowly, she groans, clearly waking up after being knocked unconscious. Her head has a gash and it’s bleeding.
“Do you know her?” the man asks.
“Yes, she’s my friend,” I blurt out, giving him an annoyed glance over my shoulder.
“Eden?” She frowns as I take her hand in mine.
“Yeah, it’s me. You’re okay. Don’t move your neck or anything.”
She nods slowly, tears streaming down her face. Her other hand flops over her stomach.
“Eden.” Her voice cracks and tears come to my eyes.
“You’re okay,” I reassure her.
An ambulance shows up, and I give them all her information off the top of my head, including her pregnancy and how far along she is. They tell me what hospital they're taking her to, and I wait for them to load her up before running back to my car to meet her there. I don’t care what history we have; I’m not leaving her alone. I know she’s scared for her baby and needs support. We aren’t on the best terms, but I can put that aside to be there for her in this instance.
I know if the roles were reversed, she’d do the same without thinking twice.
On the way to the hospital, I call Jasper and add Harper to the call.
“Hey, baby,” Jasper answers.
“Hey, I can’t talk long. I have Harper on the call,” I say, almost out of breath from panic.
“What’s wrong?” Harper asks.
“That wreck that stopped traffic, it was Quinn.” I start to cry a little.
“Oh, no. Is she okay?” Harper asks.
“I don’t know. She was really out of it and had a gash on her head. I don’t know how her baby is either. I hope she’s okay. I’m going to the hospital to meet her there.”
“Calm down, Eden. You’re no good if you’re worked up. Take a deep breath,” Jasper advises.
I do what he says, feeling my pounding heart calm a bit.
“I’m going to come too. What hospital is it?” Harper offers.
“What? You aren’t cleared to drive.” I frown, shaking my head.
“I’ll pick him up and we’ll both meet you there,” Jasper says. His tone is serious and laced with concern.
I give them the name of the hospital before hanging up so I can focus on driving. The last thing anyone needs is another wreck.
I manage to get to the hospital a few moments after the ambulance. I catch a glimpse of them wheeling Quinn to a room. I go to a desk and tell them that I’m her sister before asking how she’s doing. The woman questions me about being family, but I know everything about Quinn, so it isn’t hard to convince her that we’re related. She tells me to wait for a bit while they work on her and that the doctor will let me know.
I plop down in the waiting room before calling her parents to let them know what’s happened. Quinn’s father sounds genuinely concerned, but her mother’s reaction is a bit…dry. I want to tell her to stop being a bitch and actually care for her daughter, but it isn’t my place.
While I’m waiting on the guys, I pace around a bit, hoping that Quinn is okay. I’m not going to make any promises and say that if Quinn and her baby are okay, we’ll be the best of friends again. However, if everything is okay, I’ll try a little harder.