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“Look at you, lovely,” I said, coming to sit on the edge of the bed. “You look so much better today.”
“I feel better,” she said. “A shower helped a lot and one of the nurses brought me a hair dryer.”
“Did you do this blowout?” I gently touched her hair. “It looks great.”
She nodded. “The bathroom is really small but I managed.”
“How do you feel today?”
She took a deep breath. “Better. A lot of it still feels like a blur, you know? It’s almost like a dream. I can’t believe it happened.”
“And you told the police everything?”
“Everything I could remember.” Her eyes moved to Zachary. “Thank you for rescuing us.”
He grinned. “You two were doing a pretty good job rescuing yourselves. But I’m glad I was there to help out.”
“Marigold, you saved my life. I know it’s not a good thing John… I mean, Preston, kidnapped you like that. But if you hadn’t been there, I don’t know what would have happened to me. Actually, I do know, and it isn’t good.”
“I’m so glad we got you out. The whole town was looking for you. Did you know that?”
“My parents weren’t.”
I glanced at Zachary. She wasn’t wrong about that and it broke my heart. “Sounds like there’s a lot of brokenness in your family.”
“Life sucked at home. I’d moved out and was living with my boyfriend, but I found out he was cheating. That was why I left town. I wanted to disappear and start a new life. I don’t know what I’m going to do now, but I can’t live with my parents.”
Zachary nudged me. “Can I see you in the hall for a second?”
“Sure.” I took Brielle’s hand and squeezed. “I’ll be right back.”
I followed him out. He leaned in and lowered his voice.
“I wonder if we can find a place for her to stay.”
My eyes widened. “I wonder if my parents would take her in.”
“That’s not a bad idea. Seems like they could use another kid to overprotect for a while.”
“Exactly. I don’t want to offer before talking to them, but it could be good for everyone. I’ll call Dad. Mom would definitely say yes, but she’d probably forget within ten minutes.”
“I’ll go sit with her. Keep her company.”
I popped up on my tiptoes to kiss him. “You’re so good.”
He went back into the room while I took out my phone and called my dad.
“Hi, flower. Everything okay this morning?”
“Yes, I’m doing well. A lot better after a good night’s sleep.”
“So glad to hear that.”
“We’re actually down at the hospital visiting Brielle. She looks good. A lot healthier already.”
“Hang on, I’ll tell your mom.” His voice grew muffled as he relayed the news.
“I have something big I want to talk to you about. Can you put me on speaker?”
