Biker's Virgin

“Oh, come on, Allie. Let’s try to be an adult about this, can we? Bill isn’t going anywhere, so I think it’d be good if the two of you could try to put whatever you seem to think happened in the past, okay? I did talk to him about what you said. The accusation you had against him.”

“You did?” I asked, unable to keep the surprise from my voice.

“I did. And quite frankly, he had no idea what I was talking about, which is what I expected. It was so long ago that I don’t think you can really expect to have an accurate memory of it, either. You were probably upset about something—do you remember how turbulent your teenage years were? And he was just doing what any normal father would do, and that was comfort his child. You’ve always had an overactive imagination, and I’m sure that you took it to mean something that it didn’t.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but then I decided not to. There was no point in getting into an argument with her; this wasn’t going to go anywhere. I knew this even before I had told her, which was why I hadn’t wanted to tell her in the first place. But she was crazy if she thought I was just going to pretend like none of this ever happened, and that we were all going to just come down to the city and hang out with them for the day, like we were one big happy family or something.

“You know what, Mom?” I said finally. “I’m actually happy right now. I am happy with the way my life is, where I’m living, and what I’m doing.”

“I’m glad to hear that!” she said. “You’re acting like I’m actively trying to sabotage you or something. I’m not, Allie. I am happy for you. I just don’t see why you don’t want to come down here and spend a little time with us here, let Cole see what your life was like in the city. Don’t you want to share that with him?”

“No,” I said. “I don’t.” I hung up the phone.

Chapter Twenty

Cole

Once a month, I made house visits. This was an arrangement that the doctor I had taken over the practice from had with some of the patients who preferred not to make the drive to Chapin, patients that would not otherwise see a doctor. These visits took me to the more rural parts, deep in the woods where the houses were spread out, sometimes by half a mile or more. A lot of the people lived as off the grid as they could, and even coming to town for a doctor’s visit was more than they wanted to do.

My first stop took me deep into the woods, near the foot of Bear Claw Ridge. The house was really a log cabin, set deep in the pine trees. There were two cars parked in the gravel driveway when I got there, and there was a woman getting out of one of them.

I recognized the woman as soon as I go out of the car, but by then, it was too late to get in and drive away. Plus, I had to see the patient, Mr. Geary. But what was Sam’s sister doing here? For a second, I couldn’t remember her name, but then it came back to me: Shannon.

“What are you doing here?” she asked when she saw me, her eyes narrowing.

I regarded her. “I could ask the same of you.”

“I’m Mr. Geary’s home health aide.”

“You are?”

“I just started a few weeks ago.”

“I’m his doctor.”

“I didn’t know that. I don’t know if I should even be around you right now. I don’t know if that would be a good idea.”

“If you’d feel more comfortable waiting outside while I go in with Mr. Geary, you can. But that’s not necessary.”

She was giving me a wary look. “I’m not sure about that.”

“I think we can be professional, don’t you? I’d like to think that everything that has happened is in the past now and that we can all move on.”

We stood there for a moment, neither of us saying anything.

“That’s easy for you to say,” she finally said.

“It’s not, actually. You seem to forget that Marissa was my sister.”

“Yeah, and my brother loved her more than he even loved himself. And your sister was a damn good person, which is surprising considering the family that she comes from. You and your parents just couldn’t get past the idea that she might end up with someone who wasn’t from the same fucking socioeconomic class as you. You guys couldn’t stand the idea.”

“That’s not true,” I said, all the while feeling surprised that someone like Shannon would even know the word socioeconomic. I sighed. “Look, Shannon, I just came out here to do my job, okay? I’m not trying to start anything with you, I’m not trying to reopen old wounds, I’m not—”

“There are no wounds to reopen,” she snapped. “Because they never healed in the first place! How can they heal when we have to deal with what you did to our family every single day of the year? Yeah, your sister died, and you can go visit her grave and remember her on her birthday and during the holidays, and then the rest of the time you can get on with your life. But Sam didn’t die—his whole life just got completely destroyed because of you.”

Somewhere above us, I heard a chickadee. The wind ruffled the white pines; the sun dappled the ground. Mr. Geary was probably sitting inside, wondering what the hell I was doing out here, wondering what Shannon and I were talking about. The thing was, she was right—her brother’s life did get completely upended because of me, though that hadn’t been my intention. My intention had been to give him enough of an ass-kicking that he’d get the idea through his head to leave my sister alone, that he’d decide dating her simply wasn’t worth it if he had to deal with me.

But Sam, I had underestimated. He was wiry, not very muscular, but somehow quick and very strong, and though I’d been expecting him to fight back a little, he had gone all out, bruising my ribs and splitting my lip.