“Days?! What happened? Is she okay?”Is she dead?I couldn’t bring the words out of my throat. I was too afraid to hear the answer.
“I don’t know. There was an accident on the highway, near the airport. There were five cars involved. One of them was her car. She was being carried out on a stretcher. They said there were a few fatalities and some in critical condition, but they aren’t giving any details.”
I couldn’t breathe. “Does Fallon know? Kaia, Penelope, her parents?”
“Yes, her parents are flying in from Portland, and Fallon called me. She’s a mess, so I told her I’d call you. I’m sorry this is how we have to speak for the first time, but?—”
“Where is she?” I was already packing my bags before the words had left my mouth.
“Blair, you’re in?—”
“Where is she, Cara? I’m coming home.”
“She’s at Northwest Medical. I tried to call, but they wouldn’t tell me anything because I’m not family. Fallon called her parents, though.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Call me if anything else happens. This is all my fault. If I hadn’t left?—”
“Blair Ameilia, don’t! This is not your fault. Just get here when you can.”
I didn’t bother saying goodbye when I hung up.
“Chris, can you drive me to the airport, please? I have to go home.” I could barely get the words out through the tears. I didn’t know what was going on, and I didn’t know if she was alive or…
“Blair, calm down, please. What happened?”
“I’m sorry. It’s an emergency. I… Drea was in an accident, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. Can you please take me to the airport or get me a car so I can finish packing?”
He grabbed my arms and stopped my frantic movements. “Breathe. It’s only a few hours away, and it’s cheaper if I drive you. I’ll leave the boys with Chelsea. Let me grab my keys and let her know.”
He hugged me, and I cried into his shoulder. “What if she’s gone, Chris? What if she’s gone and I wasn’t there? I should have been there. I should have?—”
“No. Don’t say that. She’s going to be fine, I promise.”
He couldn’t possibly promise something like that, but I didn’t have the energy to argue, so I nodded in agreement and finished packing.
Chapter Forty-Six
Blair
The car ride back to Seattle was the longest ride of my life.I stared out the window the whole time, not saying a word. My brother tried to get me to talk, but I couldn’t find the energy.
When we got to the hospital, I practically jumped out of the car while it was still moving and booked it down the hall.
I called Kaia, and she got the room number from Fallon. When I got outside her room, Fallon had just come out, tears filling her eyes. Mackenzie was next to her, holding her up, and I knew that wasn’t a good sign.
They both looked up at me, and I froze in place. The second I moved, I was admitting it was all real, and I didn’t want any of it to be real.
“What… is she…” I couldn’t say the words. I didn’t want to put them out in the universe.
Fallon took a step toward me and wrapped her arms around me. “She’s alive, yes. But…”
I pulled back and frowned at her, trying to hide my own tears. This was exactly why I was an author and not an actress. “But, what? What happened?”
“She… she’s not…” She turned to Mackenzie and fell into her without a word.
Mackenzie soothed her wife and spoke for her. “Sheis breathing, but she is unconscious. We don’t know how, but she ran into the car in front of her, going pretty fast according to witnesses. The storm was bad and the cars behind her couldn’t stop in time without slipping, and they caused a five-car pileup. Her airbags didn’t deploy, and… she hit her head.” She squeezed Fallon tighter and tried to force her own tears down to be strong for her wife. “She… Uh… she’s been unconscious since the impact. They don’t know when she will wake up, if at all.”
My legs became weak as the ground became closer. Fallon and Mackenzie rushed over to me, but I couldn’t hear them over the pounding of my heart in my ears.
