Chapter 16
Sake opened her eyes to a knock on her bedroom door. Weak light bathed the room.
Thanks to her fight with Bill Diamond, she’d barely slept. Why was Jeanne bugging her this early? And why didn’t she just barge in like she usually did when she wanted something? She pulled her covers up over her head.
“Sake? It’s me, Meri.”
Sake eased down her blankets to see her sister’s glossy head peeking through the doorway. Meri had never been in Sake’s room. Not that Sake had ever invited her.
“Can I come in?”
Warily, Sake propped herself up on an elbow.
“Sorry to wake you.” In her high-waisted pants, fringed leather top, and trademark bling, Merlot looked like one of the models you’d occasionally glimpse shooting in Union Square. To top it all off, she smelled like a rose garden.
Next to her, Sake must look like canned hell.
Halfway across the room, Meri stopped, ominously quiet.
“Wassup?” mumbled Sake, arranging her hair in a futile attempt to look presentable.
Her sister approached the bed gingerly. “May I sit?”
Something Bill had said came to mind: Maybe your sisters are only walking on eggshells. Sake moved her legs to give her room, though her gut told her she wasn’t going to like what she was about to hear.
“Jeanne said Bill Diamond’s been watching your little dog while you’re here.”
All at once Sake felt wide awake. Had something happened to Taylor since her fight with Bill? Could it be that she couldn’t trust Bill, after all?
“I was reading the news like I do every morning, and I saw that Bill was in a car accident.”
Sake sat up straight as a pole. Not Bill. Not her Bill, with the earnest green eyes and the square jaw and the dimple.
On top of the comforter, Meri reached out to touch Sake’s calf. “He’s hurt pretty bad. I thought you’d want to know.”
“Where did it happen? When? Where is he now?”
“Here.” Meri handed her the iPad. “You can read it yourself.”
Tragedy on a Napa Valley highway last night after a trailer truck collided with a car, spilling wine out on to the roadway. The crash occurred around 10 p.m. Thursday night, and blocked all lanes on Southbound 29 until California Highway Patrol cleanup crews could bring out a sweeper truck to pick up the glass. The highway didn’t completely reopen until around 7 a.m. today.
The truck driver was unhurt. He told police he was unable to stop when the car, driven by William Diamond of Napa, pulled out in front of him. Diamond was transported to Queen of the Valley Medical Center, where he was reported to be suffering from multiple injuries. The car was a total loss.
Bill’s car . . . his rolling office.
“Bill helped me find my first jewelry atelier, and now he’s on Chardonnay’s board of directors. Ask anyone in the valley. He’s a hardworking guy with a heart of gold.”
“I have to go,” said Sake, swinging her feet onto the floor.
Meri stood with her. “Jeanne said you two have spent practically every day together these past few weeks. I’m sure you’re upset. Maybe you should let me drive you.”
“Bill?” Sake whispered.
Was that really his body lying motionless in that hospital bed? One of his legs was encased in an electric-blue cast from his thigh to his toes, propped on a stack of pillows. His torso was swathed in thick bandages, and an oxygen mask obscured his nose and mouth. The place where his dimple should be was flush with the rest of his cheek.
When Bill’s eyelids fluttered open, Sake took what felt like her first breath since she’d heard the horrible news.
She bent closer. “It’s me. Sake.”
She was vaguely aware of more people bustling into the room. Behind her, an older female voice held subdued surprise. “You’re two of the St. Pierre girls.” That was followed by the sound of Meri’s voice introducing the both of them.
A man dressed in muted green scrubs squeezed by to read the spiky graph on one of the machines Bill was hooked up to. “How you feeling this morning, Mr. Diamond?” he asked, his thumb pressing inside Bill’s wrist. “Got the prettiest visitors on the floor, I see. Some guys have all the luck.”
But Bill’s eyes had fallen closed again.
“How are his signs, nurse?” the woman behind Sake inquired tremulously.
“Surprisingly strong, given the extent of his injuries.”
“What . . . exactly . . . are his injuries?” Sake made herself ask.
From where he checked Bill’s heart with his stethoscope, the nurse glanced back at the others.
“It’s all right, you can talk in front of them,” said the man who must have been Bill’s dad.
“Shattered fibula, two broken ribs, and a collapsed lung,” he replied matter-of-factly, inserting the nub of a thermometer into Bill’s ear. “Antibiotics are doing their job. No fever. How we doing there, Bill?”
Bill grunted so faintly Sake almost thought she’d imagined it.
“Are you in any pain?”
His finger moved an inch.
“You have company. Want to say hello?” Carefully, the nurse eased back on the elastic strap holding up the oxygen mask.
Sake’s eyes pored over Bill’s face. He used to be so animated, always asking questions, telling her all sorts of things, half of which she didn’t even pay attention to. She promised God that if He healed Bill enough to talk her ear off again, she’d cherish every word.
“He might take a sip of water for you if you hold the straw for him.”
Sake took the Styrofoam cup the nurse handed her while he pressed a button to elevate the head of the bed.
She’d always found satisfaction in caring for Taylor, but even a dog could drink without help.
Tentatively, she guided the straw to Bill’s lips. “Here. Want some water?” Somehow, this most basic of tasks felt intimate in front of all these witnesses. But looking down on him, she realized that it wasn’t the act of helping Bill drink that moved her so powerfully. It was the sight of him lying there, helpless. She felt her love shining around her like an aura, for everyone to see.
Obediently, Bill tried to purse his lips around the opening, but he couldn’t make a tight seal. Half the water ran down his chin.
Someone handed her a tissue.
“Tay,” said Bill in a voice that sounded dust-choked.
“What’s that? He’s talking!” said his mother, edging in toward the head of the bed.
All eyes in the room went to Bill’s face.
“What did you say, Billy?” His mom laid her hand on his shoulder.
“Tay. Lor.”
“Taylor!” repeated Sake. Who was watching Taylor?
Taylor had scarcely crossed Sake’s mind since she’d heard about the wreck, yet here was Bill, lucky to be alive, and all he could think of was making sure her dog was all right.
“That’s right, he’s boarding your puppy, isn’t he? Leave him to us, dear. David and I will see to her. She loves us, doesn’t she, Dave?”
But now Bill was mouthing something else.
“What’s that?” asked his father. “Sounded like ‘tess.’”
“Tess,” Bill repeated, eyes meeting Sake’s. “Goo. Luck.”
Test. Was there no end to this man’s thoughtfulness?
“If you’re talking this much the morning after you punctured your lung, that tells me you’re going to be one of those pesky patients who’s yakking our ears off in another day or two,” the nurse said briskly. “But for now we don’t want to overdo it. Let’s get that oxygen back on.”
“What do you think Bill was talking about?” Meri asked Sake during the drive back to Domaine St. Pierre.
Next to her in Meri’s Mercedes, Sake frantically debated her next move. Last night she’d been set on abandoning this valley. What now, after seeing Bill, unable to get out of bed, dependent on oxygen? How could she desert him after all he’d done for her and Taylor?
But this time, if she stayed, there would be no one to call on when she needed something. She gave her sister props for running her to the hospital this morning. But as Meri had already explained on their way to the hospital, if not for this emergency, she’d be at her jewelry bench right now, as usual. Folks didn’t have time to be dropping everything for somebody else. Only one person was selfless enough to do that: Bill Diamond.
If Sake didn’t keep her 10 a.m. appointment at the DMV tomorrow, first thing she’d have to do would be renege on the job at Mon Rêve. Make some lame excuse. Say she didn’t want it, because no way would she admit she was turning it down because she couldn’t drive and give everyone up here further confirmation of what a deadbeat she was.
And then she’d be stuck like Cinderella in the palace. At least Cindy had had shit to do. Sake would be bored out of her mind. Papa’s fireplaces hadn’t been used since she’d been there, and this mansion had a dishwasher. Come to think, two of them.
Still, that driving test terrified her. What if she didn’t pass?
What if she did?
Meri glanced her way, waiting patiently for her to answer.
The vision of Bill staring earnestly up at Sake, wishing her luck after he’d just been mowed down by a semi, was what clinched it.
“I got an appointment tomorrow to get my driver’s license.”
Meri flashed Sake the precise look of disbelief she’d been expecting.
“No big deal. I had one before, it just expired.” Sake hoped her lie sounded legit. She had no idea if expired licenses were even a thing.
“Oh, sure,” Meri nodded, adding, “How were you planning on getting to the DMV? Was Bill going to take you?”
“Was.” Sake held her breath. A ragged edge on a fingernail gave her an excuse to pull an emery board out of her bag. Anything to occupy her hands while she waited to see if Meri would take the bait . . . offer to go out of her way once again.
“Tomorrow’s Saturday. I can take you.”
Yes! “Cool whip.” She didn’t look up, just finished her filing on a controlled exhale and slipped her emery board back into her bag.