you can all go to hell!”
Her mother’s face had gone from pale to purple, her father’s to a dark, angry red. The Brolins wouldn’t look at her, and her classmates seemed to be in shock.
At that point, Haley turned around to face Chief Bullard.
“Mack and I were driving north out of town in his car. We were just listening to music and talking when lights appeared out of nowhere in the rearview mirror. All we knew was someone was coming up behind us too fast. When I thought I recognized Stewart’s car, I called him on my cell phone to be sure. When he answered, he began screaming at us to stop, that Mom had sent him to get me. I told him Mom didn’t run my life, and that we weren’t stopping, and for him to go home.”
Lena gasped, and before anyone could stop her, she lashed out and slapped Haley’s face so hard her lip split.
Chief Bullard grabbed Lena, but it was too late. “Ma’am, if you do that again, I will arrest you for assault.”
“She’s my daughter. I can—”
Haley pushed herself into Lena’s face. Her voice was soft, but her tone was hard and clipped.
“I’m of age, Mother, and that’s the last time you’ll ever lay a hand on me, so back off.”
Lena reeled as if Haley had just slapped her back. The fury in her daughter’s face was so virulent, she didn’t know how to react.
Bullard decided to let the issue go. “Then what happened?” he prompted.
Haley turned her back on her mother as if she no longer existed.
“Instead of going home, Stewart accelerated even more and rammed Mack’s bumper.”
At that point the Brolins gasped and started shouting at Judd and Lena, blaming them for Stewart’s actions.
Once again Chief Bullard was forced to intervene. Within seconds, he put out a call for two deputies. They quickly arrived, and with orders from Bullard were told to keep the families apart.
“Now. If I have to calm you people down one more time, I’ll arrest the whole damn lot of you. Are we clear?”
They didn’t answer and wouldn’t look at him. Once again, he chose to ignore them.
“What did Mack do when his car was struck?” he asked Haley.
She shuddered, remembering their panic. “Mack managed to keep the car on the road. The trouble came when Stewart rammed us the second time, even harder. Mack’s car started to skid sideways, and before he could straighten it out, Stewart hit our car on the driver’s side. I don’t think he meant to, but he was going too fast to stop. After that … we started rolling. I don’t know how many times, because I blacked out. When I came to, we were upside-down and off the road, and Mack was unconscious and bleeding badly. I saw his leg was trapped and tried to get him out, but I couldn’t. Then I couldn’t find my phone to call for help. I managed to unbuckle my seat belt and get out. Then I saw Stewart’s car. He’d hit a tree head-on. When I went to check on him, he was unconscious, too. I found his cell phone, and that’s when I called for help.”
Lena was sobbing loudly. Chloe was weeping without making a sound. Both men were glaring at Haley as if she’d grown horns.
“It’s ironic. The bitch causing all the trouble is the only one not to get injured,” Tom snapped.
Haley flinched but didn’t acknowledge the insult, and then, before any more slurs could be cast, a surgeon suddenly came out of a doorway at the end of the hall and started toward them.
“Is the Brolin family here?” he asked.
Haley held her breath as Tom and Chloe and Mack’s sisters crowded forward, all talking at once.
“Is he alive? How bad was it? Will he be able to walk?”
“Wait … wait … let me explain what we did,” the doctor said. “First of all, he came through the surgery fine. We were able to stop the bleeding and save his leg. He’ll walk just fine.”
“Thank the Lord,” Tom muttered.
“But his athletic career is over,” the doctor added.
“No … no!” his mother screamed, and leaned against her husband. Tom Brolin glared at Haley, then reached for his wife.
The doctor began explaining the intricacies of the surgery, how many pins he’d had to put in the leg and the muscle damage, but Haley had phased out. All she could think was that Mack was going to hate her. UCLA wasn’t going to happen. His plans for a career in the NFL had ended before they began.
She dropped into a chair and covered her face with her hands. She heard Retta’s voice, but not what she was saying. All she could think was, Why, God, why?
Then she heard her mother cry out. When she looked up, another doctor had appeared in the crowd—the one who had operated on Stewart—and he was saying something to her parents.
“No!” Lena screamed, and dropped to her knees. “No, no! Not my beautiful boy! If someone had to die, why wasn’t it Haley? I never wanted her. Why couldn’t she have been the one to die? “
Everyone in the room gasped, then turned to stare at Haley. Even her classmates were stunned by Lena Shore’s words.
Haley froze. God … oh, God, oh, God. Stewart? Dead?
Judd spun, and before anyone could stop him, he yanked Haley up by the arm and began beating her with his fists.
“Daddy! No, Daddy, no!” she screamed, then doubled over, trying to block his blows by covering her face with her arms.
When she dropped to the floor, he fell on top of her and began pummeling her with every ounce of strength he had in him.
It took both deputies to pull him off.
“Lena is right! If someone had to die, why wasn’t it you?” he roared.
Haley crawled to her knees, then pulled herself up. Blood was pouring from her nose and mouth. She was too dazed by the assault to even answer.
Judd Shore was still cursing and crying as the deputies dragged him out of the hospital.
A nurse came to Haley’s aid and led her away, leaving Chief Bullard to see that Lena Shore was taken home. All the way out the door she kept screaming at God, angry that he’d let Haley live and taken her boy instead.
Haley found herself back on a gurney. Her stitches had to be replaced, and another three added. By the time they took her to X-ray, one eye was nearly swollen shut, and it hurt to open her mouth. When they finally finished working on her, it was after midnight.
The doctor who had been stitching her up stepped back to eye his work.
“I think that takes care of it,” he said. “Where’s your family? I’ll have the nurse tell them you’re ready to go home.”
Haley shook her head, slid off the gurney, paused a moment to steady herself,
