“She should have been back by now,” he argues.
“We know,” I add, watching the minutes tick by on my phone.
“Should we go to the park?” he asks, and I try to slow my breathing and calm my nerves.
“Not yet. Let’s give her five more minutes. I don’t want us going one way while she’s coming another.” Not that the thought hasn’t crossed my mind nonstop for the past ten minutes.
“We’d see her car coming if she’s coming from the park by the lake. There’s only one way to get here. She’d have to pass us,” he says and shakes his keys. “Come on. I’ll drive.”
Waverly and I both jump up, but I stop and look at my sister-in-law. “Can you stay here in case she shows up? She could have ended up somewhere else, and we might not see her coming.”
“Okay,” she agrees, her voice shaking.
I run upstairs and grab my purse and shoes, then meet Jasper in the driveway.
Time to get our girl and make sure her mother never pulls this shit again.
We’re five minutes from the house when my phone rings. “It’s Monica.”
I swipe my shaking finger across the screen and don’t even get to say her name before Monica’s cries fill the cab of the truck, and my heart plummets.
“Olivia?” she sobs uncontrollably.
“Slow down, Monica. I can barely understand you. What’s happening? Where are you? Where’s Maggie? Is she okay?”
“Liv?” Jasper asks, and I shake my head.
I can barely hear Monica. I don’t need him talking over her.
“Magnolia fell off the slide. We’re at the hospital.”
Deep breaths. I can do this. I can handle a crisis.
What do I always tell everyone? Hysterics don’t help.
“Which hospital, Monica? We’re on our way.”
I relay her directions to Jasper, who’s white-knuckling the steering wheel. “We’ll be there in under ten, Liv.”
“Got it,” I tell him. “We’ll be there in ten minutes, Monica. Where’s Maggie now? Is she there with you? Can she hear me?”
“No,” she cries. “She’s in the room with the doctor. They made me step out.”
“You’re her mother. Get back in that room, and do not leave until the second I get there, do you understand me? She’s a minor. They can’t kick you...” My words die on my tongue.
“Liv?” Jasper questions, and I shake my head.
“We’ll be there as soon as we can.” I end the call with Monica and look at Jasper. “Get there. They wouldn’t kick her out unless they thought it was her fault.”
“Like she looked away?” he asks.
“No. Like she caused it.”
With Jasper at my back, we rush through the pediatric ER at the local hospital until a nurse takes pity on us and shows us to the private room Monica is standing outside of. She’s still crying, and she’s not alone.
“Do we know him?” I whisper to Jasper.
“No, we fucking don’t.” He tries to move me behind him, but I refuse to be moved.
