Where Forever Lies Read online

The elevator door dinged and she walked out onto the fifth floor, hit the button to be buzzed into the psychiatric wing, and then made her way to the break room to put her stuff away. She glanced down at her watch and saw it was only a few more minutes until their morning meeting. She rushed to put her things away and as she shut her locker Kyleigh’s face was staring back at her.

  “Oh, my God, Kyleigh Helton!” she shrieked punching her lightly on the arm.

  Kyleigh brown eyes lit up with amusement and she laughed as she opened up her locker. “Sorry, but you’re so easy to scare that I can’t help myself.”

  “Thanks, Kyleigh, good morning to you, too,” Paige said as she pulled her long hair back into a neat ponytail, looking in her mirror to make sure no hair was out of place, and then leaned against her locker, eyeing her friend up and down. Kyleigh looked happy on the outside—to people who didn’t know her—but her tense jaw, tired eyes, and the way her eyebrows were creased together told Paige she had something on her mind. Paige knew what that something was and every time she saw her friend like this, it made her hate him even more.

  “What?” Kyleigh asked, staring back at her.

  “You were up all night crying, again, weren’t you?” Paige asked, already knowing the answer to that question, it was written in Kyleigh’s bloodshot eyes.

  She sighed, the amusement in her face gone. “Yeah, Brad’s back to being a jerk,” she said as she hastily pushed her shoulder length chocolate colored hair back away from her face.

  “You know what I think you should do with Brad...” Paige said as she looked into Kyleigh’s face.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know, kick him to the curb because I can do better than him,” Kyleigh mocked. “I know all that Paige, but you don’t know what it’s like being with someone for so long. What if no one else wants me? And believe it or not, there are times that he’s really sweet and considerate,” Kyleigh said and Paige saw the fear burning in her eyes. Kyleigh had self-confidence problems and seemed to need a guy in her life to make her feel secure. Knowing how her childhood was, Paige knew it stemmed from her dad leaving when she was nine years old. Kyleigh had brought it up to her on several occasions, wanting to try and find him, but she never acted upon it and always made the comment that he probably wouldn’t want her to find him anyway. Paige knew Kyleigh didn’t know how to act or what to expect around a guy, and it had always bothered her, but she didn’t know how to help her.

  Feeling bad for upsetting her, Paige decided not to push her, anymore. “I’m sorry. I know it’s hard. I’m just worried about you is all.” She gave Kyleigh a quick hug and as they pulled apart, she looked up and saw the other staff shuffling in for their morning meeting. Paige pulled out her tube of lip gloss and applied some to her lips as they headed towards to table.

  Kyleigh pulled in a short breath, “I’ll be fine Paige, don’t worry. And I swear, if you don’t stop with the lip gloss, I’m confiscating it when you’re not looking.”

  Paige glared at Kyleigh, “Oh, no, you won’t, my lips and I need this,” she said, holding up the tube of lip gloss in the air.

  Kyleigh shook her head laughing as they took a seat around the table, waiting for Dr. Harlow to begin going over the patient’s reports for the night before. Paige always took the morning reports seriously because it was important to know how the patients had behaved the night before and what she could expect on her shift. Working on the psych ward at the hospital was both challenging and rewarding. There were days she didn’t think she could endure coming back in the next day; couldn’t bear seeing the haunted, confused, or distressed look in the patient’s eyes. Then there were days when she saw a patient show progress and leave the hospital to continue their recovery at home. Those were the days that mattered to her and made her eager to come back. Regardless, these people needed someone in their lives, and there were times when she thought the hospital staff were the only ones the patients felt really cared about them. It was heartbreaking. She worked on the geriatric floor, and before she came to Anderson hospital, she had never seen an older person with mental problems. That was three years ago and she had learned so much since coming here, and had seen more than she cared to remember.

  Feeling eyes on her, she casually glanced up and saw Andrew Johnson staring at her. She turned her gaze back to Dr. Harlow, hoping Andrew’s leering eyes would drift somewhere else, but she knew they wouldn’t. Andrew Dalton had been trying to get her attention for a couple of months now, but Paige wasn’t interested. After letting him know this the first couple of times, she thought he’d get the point, but he hadn’t and she still hadn’t changed her mind. He did give off the creep-vibe with the way he stared at her and a few of the other girls, but she didn’t let it worry her. She was sure he was harmless. She forced herself to focus on what Dr. Harlow was saying; she didn’t want to miss anything and get herself in trouble with the patients today. The staff always had to keep themselves on guard because you never knew what was going to happen throughout the day.

  Thirty minutes later, they all made their way through the door to begin their shifts. Paige felt Kyleigh fall in step beside her and she nudged her with her elbow. “You know Andrew was staring at you again at the meeting this morning,” Kyleigh said, her smirk growing bigger. “Maybe you should finally give in and give the little freak a chance.” Kyleigh was full on laughing now and Paige elbowed her hard.

  “You are one sick girl. I would rather remain single for the rest of my life,” Paige said as she shoved her against the wall and then pulled out her hand sanitizer. “I feel dirty just hearing you say something so disgusting,” she said as she began to douse her hands with it.

  “Oh, Paige, you germaphobe,” Kyleigh teased.

  “You know I can’t help it. I like to feel clean. Anyway, what are you doing this weekend?” she asked Kyleigh as they rounded the corner and headed for the rec room.

  “Hmm, I don’t know, yet. No plans, really,” she paused, and then asked, “Why?”

  “Well, I am ready for a girl’s night out. It’s been at least two months since I’ve done anything besides come to work and go home and be a mom. I need to get out of the house for a night,” Paige said, laughing. She didn’t go out much, she wasn’t the type to run around on the weekends, anyway, but with all the grief she had been dealing with lately, she felt a night out might do her a little good, maybe ease some of the stress and tension that seemed to consume her lately.

  “I know a great little bar that has an awesome dance floor. It’s out in the country and it’s never crazy, it’ll be fun and relaxing,” Kyleigh said, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

  Paige thought it sounded perfect. “Pick me up at seven Friday?” she asked, giving her friend a wink.

  “Only if you buy me a drink,” Kyleigh laughed, shaking her head as she turned the corner to go to the nurse’s station.

  ♥♥♥

  “I said I don’t want to take it!”

  Paige rested her head in her hands and sighed. It was always a fight to get Dolores to take her medicine. Usually she had to bribe her. At eighty years old, Paige figured she would be a little more understanding, but with dementia taking over her mind, among other things, Dolores didn’t really know what she was doing anymore. It was sad, and usually Paige had patience with her, but with exhaustion taking its toll on her today, it was hard.

  “Dolores, I’m going to ask you one more time. Please, take your medicine so we can go down to the rec room and have a little fun. I’ll play checkers with you before I leave.” Paige saw her eyes brighten and knew she’d gotten through to her. Dolores had a soft spot for checkers for some reason. Paige was surprised she could still play but she knew the mind was sporadic like that. She slowly reached out and took the two small pills from her hand and swallowed them with a glass of water. Paige sighed, feeling relieved that it didn’t escalate into a fit of rage like the last time Dolores refused her medicine, and she held out her hand to lead her down to the rec room to play a quick game of che
ckers before her shift ended. Dolores slowly got up, and together, they inched their way down the hall to the rec room.

  Paige took the steps two at a time as she headed for her car, ready to go home, relax, and put the long day behind her. She was tired and knew she would have a long night after picking up Kyra, going home to make dinner and then getting Kyra down for bed. But at least she’d be home with her daughter and not at work.

  She thought about Kyleigh’s and her plans for this Saturday and felt her spirit lighten a little. She had been so stressed lately that getting out for even a night was going to make a difference. She wondered about the place Kyleigh said she knew about. She wasn’t really a country type of girl and she hoped she wasn’t taking her line dancing. That thought terrified her. Surely that’s not what she had in mind. Paige was suddenly worried about their night out. She was a city girl, she never really ventured out into the country; it just wasn’t her. But with Kyleigh, she never knew where they’d end up.

  As she was driving down the highway, Paige saw there was a traffic jam up ahead. She slowed down and pulled to a stop in the left hand turning lane. She groaned at the long line of traffic in front of her. She just wanted to get home. She cranked the music up a little louder, hoping to drown out her worried thoughts that seemed to never go away. A glint of light hit the lucky horseshoe that hung on her rearview mirror and she looked up at it, watching as it swayed from side to side. She frowned, wondering how it was moving so rapidly, considering her windows were up, when she suddenly felt a strong urge to look behind her, almost a pull. When she looked in the rearview mirror, her jaw dropped and she frowned at what she saw. She could not possibly be seeing what she thought she was. In her rearview mirror, she saw a truck heading straight towards her with no intention of slowing down. Driving down the highway, she figured he must be going at least sixty miles per hour. Surely, this person was not going to hit her. As he got closer, she frantically grasped the steering wheel and tried to turn her car towards the median to get out of his way, but she was too close to the car in front of her and there was no time to back up and get out of there. Not knowing what else to do she gripped the steering wheel with all her strength and closed her eyes, knowing she was about to be creamed. “Oh, God, help me,” was all that she could muster out.

  Then, her vision darkened as she felt the harsh impact of the truck slam into her. Her head went flying forward, and she could feel herself being pushed into the median in slow motion. She quickly opened her eyes and realized she was heading towards the other side of the highway, into oncoming traffic. She grabbed the steering wheel, jerked it to the center, and slammed on the brakes as fast as she could. When she finally plummeted to a stop, she sat there for a moment, completely dazed, making sure she was all right as she tried to catch her breath. She felt like she was going to hyperventilate, or be sick, and her heart was beating so hard. Her chest ached from hitting the steering wheel but she was pretty sure she didn’t break any ribs. She ran her shaky hand through her tousled hair and took three slow breaths in and out—and waited until her heart felt somewhat normal again. When she regained her composure, she breathed, “Thank you” to God, threw her car in park, and stepped out to see what had happened, and make sure no one else was hurt. The impact of the crash was so powerful that she was surprised she came out uninjured.

  She saw the driver of the truck standing over on the side of the highway jotting something down on a piece of paper. Astonished, she saw he had a small boy with him, and felt relieved they were both okay. The front of his truck was smashed and had black smoke rolling out of it. The smell was terrible, and feeling nauseous, she stopped for a moment to lean on the side of the truck to catch her breath again. After a brief pause, the feeling subsided and she continued to walk, careful not to step on any broken glass.

  She felt her anger creeping up the closer she got to the careless driver, and she was ready to give him a piece of her mind. “What were you doing? Did you not see the line of backed up cars?” She yelled, throwing her hands up at him furiously. She couldn’t remember the last time a stranger had made her so angry. It was obvious he was not paying attention, and had almost killed them all.

  “I’m sorry ma’am, but that driver who just drove away cut me off and I had no other choice. Don’t worry though; I got his license plate number.” He proudly held up a small piece of paper and then paused as he looked her up and down before asking, “Are you all right?” He took off his sunglasses to reveal dark brown, intriguing eyes that complemented his short, dark brown hair. He looked past her to her damaged car and then to her, and she could see the reality of the damage he had caused hitting him in the face.

  His son, well, she assumed it was his son considering they looked a lot alike, looked around in disbelief at the crash scene, and then at her.

  “Yeah, I think so,” she sighed, wanting to keep her cool since there was a child involved and already staring at her as if she was a lunatic. “We’re going to have to exchange insurance information, though,” she told him while brushing her sweaty hair out of her face and getting out her card. She was trying to calm down, but her nerves were rattled. What was this guy thinking trying to blame his mistake on another driver? She watched him dig into his wallet, his jaw clenched tightly and a hard look on his face, as he pulled out his insurance card. And then she looked down and noticed his cowboy boots. He was a country boy and that kind of shocked her. She remembered how he had referred to her as ma’am a few minutes ago and she couldn’t remember the last time someone his age was that respectful. She didn’t think the guys she knew had any idea that that word existed.

  She made herself concentrate on what had just happened and told herself that, even though he seemed respectful, he was probably the arrogant type who thought they could do no wrong. She didn’t care if he was good-looking or not, or that he was tall with a nice strong body, and that stubble on his face gave him a nice rugged look to complement his cowboy boots and...

  “Excuse me, miss?” An older man with curly gray hair and a bushy mustache interrupted her from her misbehaving thoughts. She realized it had been way too long since she had been with a man, if she was having sexual thoughts about the careless, country guy who almost killed her. She looked up at the older man walking over to them and thought he resembled her grandfather in a way, maybe because they were both old with gray hair, she didn’t know. All she knew right then was that her mind was a little out of sorts.

  “Um, I called the cops and they should be on their way, are you okay, miss?” he asked, as he leaned into Paige’s car and shut the engine off for her. She was so upset that she had accidentally left her car running when she got out.

  “I’m okay, and thanks,” she said to the older man, thinking how nice it was of him to do that for her.

  The cowboy handed his insurance card to her and Paige reached out and took it. She looked down at the name which read Tyler Evans.

  As if reading her mind, he held out his hand and said, “I’m Tyler Evans by the way, it’s nice to run into you like this.”

  She looked up at him and saw the corner of his mouth twist and a half smile full of sarcasm formed on his face.

  The nerve of him to make jokes right now, she thought. But as she reached out to shake his hand, she couldn’t help but smile at his demented sense of humor.

  “I’m Paige Griffin.” His big hand swallowed her dainty one as he firmly shook it and she was about to say something else when she heard someone yell her name. She looked around, peering through the two wrecked cars and the line of traffic still stopped on the highway, but didn’t see anyone she knew. All she saw were nosy people staring from the windshields of their still operable vehicles, and she couldn’t figure out who would be yelling for her. She heard her name called again and then she saw David walking up ahead. David was also with Sam, her friend Natasha’s brother. The two brothers of her recently deceased friends had just shown up at her car wreck. She shook her head in disbelief as she walked over
to them.

  “What are you guys doing here?” she asked, a little puzzled that they were together, since she had not known that they were friends to begin with.

  “Well, we saw your wreck from the bridge up there and we wanted to come and make sure you were all right. Are you okay?” David asked, clearly concerned as he eyed the damage to her car.

  “Yeah, I think so.” She looked up at the bridge and was surprised that they had seen her standing on the side of the highway from that distance, in all this mess. “I’m still a little shaken up, though. I was just stopped in traffic when that guy,” she pointed towards Tyler, who gave her an annoyed look, and continued, “came flying down the highway towards me and didn’t bother stopping. He slammed straight into me, and now he’s saying it was because some other car cut him off.” She felt goose bumps rise as she thought about the situation. What were the odds of both of them being together and driving by the minute she had a serious wreck? Weird, she thought, and a small twinge of pain leapt at her heart as she saw pieces of Randy and Natasha in them.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” David asked again, as he looked around at the wreckage and ran his hands through his black hair, his chocolate brown eyes studying hers. She wondered why he seemed extremely worried, but then it dawned on her that this was, in a way, how Randy had died. Her heart sank at the thought. It had only been a month now since Randy had died and she was still torn in two by his loss.

  “Yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry. I’m glad that Kyra was not with me. Luckily, I was just leaving work and she is at her grandma’s house.” Paige sighed, as she looked at her car. “My car is probably totaled though, but I’ll work something out with this guy and his insurance company. And now, I have you and Sam checking up on me, so I think I’m pretty lucky.” Paige said, reaching out to touch his shoulder.

  “I’m just glad you’re okay. It looks like the cops are here so you probably need to talk with them. Tell Kyra her uncle David says hi.” David reached over and gave Paige a hug. She hugged him tightly and then looked over at Sam, who, with his auburn hair, hazel eyes, and slim lanky figure bore an aching resemblance to his sister. Natasha, who was never out of her thoughts after all these months, who could not fight the demons that fed upon her insecurities, and who left an open wound on her soul that would never heal for the rest of her life. The pain that stung her heart by that small reflection of the past also woke her up to her trailing thoughts and she came back to the present.