The Dating Plan(78)

“You’re brooding,” she said. “And you’re blaming yourself for something that wasn’t your fault. I talked to the police. They had the dash-cam footage of the car behind you and witness statements of the drivers on the other side of the road. The guy in the truck was drunk. He’d been driving dangerously before the accident, trying to get ahead of a long line of traffic. He tried to pass on a blind corner on a double yellow line and was directly in your path. There was nothing you could have done to avoid a head-on collision other than go off the road. Not only that, you saved her. The police officer said what you did was heroic. If you hadn’t jumped off the bike with Daisy, you both would have hit the retaining wall and no amount of body armor could have saved you.”

Emotion welled up in his chest and he pressed a palm to his forehead. “She was on that road because of me.”

“She wanted to be there,” Layla said. “She texted me before she left. She was excited, Liam. Not hesitant. Not afraid. She didn’t feel pressured in any way. It was her choice.” She patted his arm. “Go home. Take a shower. Eat something. Have a rest. I promise I’ll call if she wakes up.”

“I’m not leaving.” Not yet.

“It’s not your fault.”

But it was. He’d hurt her. Just like before.



* * *



? ? ?

    IT was time. Liam took a deep breath, bracing himself for what he had to do. Daisy had been awake for twelve hours. She’d had visits from doctors, police officers, reporters, and her relatives two by two. Layla had assured him that she was going to be fine and they were discharging her in the morning. The crowd had finally dwindled. Visiting hours were coming to a close. It was his turn to see her but he still didn’t know what he was going to say. Lost in thought, he was jolted back to reality by a sharp intake of breath.

“Liam? My God, is that you?”

His head jerked up at the sound of Nadal Patel’s deep voice—a voice that meant home.

Except for some thinning of his hair and a little gray on the sides, Daisy’s father looked almost the same. Lean and slightly stooped, dressed in his favorite outfit of short-sleeved checkered shirt and pants one size too big, he was so familiar it made his heart ache. How many evenings had he sat at the kitchen table listening to Mr. Patel’s stories about his extreme adventures? Or having his confidence bolstered by Mr. Patel’s encouragement and advice?

“You know Limb? Daisy’s fiancé?” Standing beside Daisy’s father, Salena frowned. “Poor boy. He was driving the motorcycle when they were run off the road.”

“I know Liam.” His face tightened. “Very well.”

“It’s nice to see you again, Mr. Patel.” Liam held out his hand, but Daisy’s father didn’t reciprocate.

“What’s wrong, Nadal? Shake his hand.” Short and slender, with a sweet heart-shaped face and a bob of salt-and-pepper hair, the woman on his right gave him a nudge. When he still didn’t move, she introduced herself as Priya.

“Priya is Nadal’s . . . girlfriend. They were in Belize together,” Salena said with a hint of disapproval. “They flew back when they got the news.”

“I’m sure Belize wasn’t the same when you left,” Liam said, trying to break the ice.

Priya laughed but Mr. Patel still didn’t smile.

Puzzled, Salena frowned. “Nadal, are you going to say hello or not?”

“Not.” He folded his arms across his chest, his mouth pressed into a firm line.

“Nadal!” Priya’s shocked expression was a reflection of Liam’s feelings. He’d tried to predict how Mr. Patel would react to seeing him again, but if he’d had to guess, abrupt dismissal would have been the last thing he would have expected from the gentle man who had welcomed him into his home.

“It’s okay,” Liam said. “I can understand how difficult it must be to see me again after how I hurt Daisy, and now this—”

“It wasn’t just Daisy you hurt,” Mr. Patel said, his voice uncharacteristically abrupt. “It was Sanjay and me. You were a part of our family.” He made a sweeping gesture with his arm. “If you had a problem, you should have come to us instead of running away.”

“I left because of my family,” Liam retorted. “I wasn’t part of yours.”

“Every day you came to my house.” Daisy’s father waved his hands around, as he had always done when he was agitated. “You were a friend to my son. You made my daughter smile. You said your jokes and made me laugh. You sat at our table and ate our food. And always you were fixing things in the house. You helped us. We helped you. That’s family. And then you just left. No explanation. No goodbye. Not even a phone call to let us know you weren’t dead.”

Words failed him. He had never even considered that Daisy’s father would care what happened to him after he’d hurt his daughter. His own family didn’t care. They hadn’t even tried to find Liam when his father died. He’d found out only when an estate lawyer had contacted him to let him know he had been cut out of the will.

“I didn’t think you would want to hear from me.”

“After almost eight years of being part of our family?” Mr. Patel’s voice cracked, broke. “We all make mistakes, Liam. How could you think I wouldn’t care? What kind of man do you think I am?”