THESE ARE THE TIMES
Chapter Ten
It was two days later, and the
small group of teens had been released from the hospital. They stood in the
lobby, waiting for their parents to pick them up.
"Rose! Rose!" Ruth ran
for her daughter as she came in with the other parents.
"Momma!" Rose cried,
running for the safety of her mother’s arms. "Oh, Mom, it was horrible! I
was so scared!" Rose cried.
"Shh, Rosie. It’s okay.
You’re safe now." Ruth stroked her daughter’s hair. "When I heard
about that big wave in the middle of the ocean and a ship turning over, I was
so afraid, and no one would tell me anything. I thank God you’re all
right."
Looking past her mother’s
shoulder as she hugged her, Rose noticed Jack and Heather hugging Mrs. Dawson
tightly. Jack hadn’t talked to Rose for the past couple of days since they’d
been rescued. According to Tommy, he hadn’t talked to anyone. He just stayed to
himself, and the only person he would say two words to was Heather. She bet
that Heather just loved the fact that Jack wasn’t talking to her. But maybe she
could change that. She was about to go over there when Sam stepped in front of
her.
"Are you going to be
okay?" she asked, concerned.
"You mean the nightmares?
Seeing all those people drown? Seeing Fabrizio fall…" Rose took a deep
breath, trying to calm her hysterics. "I’ll be fine. It’s Jack I’m worried
about. Has he spoken to you or Tommy?"
"No. He’s shut everyone
except Heather out. I’m surprised he’s not talking to you, though. After…"
Sam’s eyes widened as she finally noticed Rose’s mother standing there, and she
quickly came up with something. "With all the time you two spent
together…"
"He probably just needs time
and space. He’ll probably call me after he gets back home." Rose looked
over in Jack’s direction again and was disappointed to find that the Dawson
family was gone. He had left without saying good-bye to her or promising to
call her.
"Come, Rose. Let’s go
home." Ruth squeezed her daughter’s shoulder and led her out of the
hospital lobby, wanting to get her safely home as soon as possible.
*****
Rose laid in her bed, her eyes
staring up at the ceiling. She occasionally glanced at the phone, waiting for
it to ring, but it never did. Goodness, it had been three days now and still no
word from Jack. Maybe he didn’t want to see her anymore. Maybe he thought
everything was her fault. Maybe he was right. Maybe it was.
She jumped when the phone rang,
and immediately answered it.
"Jack?"
"No, it’s Sam. He hasn’t
called you yet?"
"No, he hasn’t. I guess he’s
not ready to talk to me." Rose sighed sadly. "So, how is
everything?"
"My father is not letting me
out of his sight. It’s driving me mad! But thankfully he’s going to let me go
to the funeral tomorrow. You are going, aren’t you? Surely Jack will be there.
You can talk to him then."
"Of course I’m going to be
there Sam. Fabrizio was my friend, too. He was a good guy."
"Too bad Kat is too scared
of Cal to go."
"What?"
"She wants to go, but Cal
had forbidden it. He thinks all those poor kids are bad luck, and he doesn’t
want any of that bad luck to rub off on her and off of her onto him." Sam
sighed.
"Why doesn’t she just dump
Cal and get a normal boyfriend?" Rose asked, exasperated.
"Who knows? Hey, you want to
sit with Tommy and me? We’ll be glad to have you."
"I was kind of hoping to sit
with Jack. But since he hasn’t called or anything, I guess I will."
"Rose, why don’t you call
him?"
"I’ve tried, but every time
I do, Heather answers and tells me he’s not there. I don’t want to argue with
her, so I just say okay and hang up." Rose shrugged. "I don’t even
know if she tells him I call."
"Well, you’ll tell him
tomorrow at the funeral." Sam snorted. "If it makes you feel any
better, he hasn’t spoken to Tommy, either."
"That just makes me even
more worried." Rose sighed.
"Oh. Well, I’ll see you
tomorrow. I’ll have Tommy pick you up. See ya."
"Bye." Rose hung up the
phone and turned to find her mother in the doorway. "Mother?"
"I’m just making sure you’re
not having anymore nightmares," Ruth explained.
"Mother…has anyone stopped
by while I was sleeping? Like, say…"
"Jack? I’m sorry, darling.
No. No one has stopped by. I’m sure you’ll hear from Jack soon."
"Sure." Rose sighed.