Before I could reply, Greyson stood and pulled me into a hug. He held on tight, and I hugged him back. “I heard rumors about you being back in Karla’s life,” he said. He gave me a small smile. “I just wish we were connecting on better terms.”
“You and me both.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “So what’s going on exactly?”
“She had a pretty bad fall from one of the high ladders at work. I don’t even know why she was up that high. I always tell her it’s not safe. Not with the back pain she’s been having lately.”
Why didn’t she ask for my help to put the books on the top shelves?
Why did I feel pissed off by the fact that she’d climb a ladder?
Wait, no.I wasn’t pissed off. I was scared.
I was really fucking scared.
“She’s going to be OK, though, right?” I asked, my voice cracking.
Greyson smiled my way and patted me on the arm. “She’s a trooper. The doctor already told us she’s doing all right. Just abig knot on her head, and she’s resting now. We are just waiting to be allowed back to visit her. Then we can focus on healing and yell at her for scaring the ever-loving shit out of us.”
I nodded in understanding.
Greyson gestured behind him. “I don’t know if you remember my wife, Ellie, and my other daughter, Lorelai.”
“Hi, ladies. Lorelai, I appreciate you giving me a call.”
Lorelai smiled. “Karla would’ve wanted you here.”
“That’s a fact,” Ellie said. “She’s been going on and on about how amazing you are for weeks.”
That made my heart skip a little faster. Then my mind began to go to places that I’d wished it wouldn’t go.
What if Karla wasn’t OK?
What if she truly hurt herself?
What if something went terribly wrong?
She could’ve died.
Holy shit.
She could’ve died.
49Karla
Ouch.
My head hurt. My whole body hurt as I shifted in the bed. “What’s going on?” I asked, stirring as my vision began to unblur. I noticed Ash to my left side and my father to my right. “What happened?”
“There you are,” Dad said, sighing with relief.
Ash didn’t say anything; he looked as pale as a ghost as he took a step back.
My brain still felt foggy as I tried to gather what had happened. Dad told me there was an accident at the bookshop.
I grumbled as I rubbed my forehead. “Shoot, I fell off the ladder,” I said as I recalled the incident.
Ash wasn’t looking at me anymore as he said, “You shouldn’t have been on a ladder.”
I could feel the heaviness of his fear sitting in his chest. I could only imagine how his mind had spiraled over the past few hours. If it were the other way around, I would’ve been devastated.
