Reaching out, I grabbed the phone and cracked an eye open to peer at the screen.Gemma.
“Who is it?” Rissa murmured.
Gemma rarely called anyone after nine o’clock unless it was an emergency. “What’s up?” I asked, accepting the call.
“Asa?”
Frowning, I sat up. Because it wasn’t Gemma. It was Karma. And she was crying. “What’s going on?”
Rissa propped herself up on her elbow.
“I don’t know,” Karma cried. “Ezra . . . I was asleep and he woke me up with his crying. I thought Gemma was in the nursery with him, so I went in there … Oh God.”
I stood up and pulled on a pair of joggers. “Slow down. Where are you?”
“Sh-she wasn’t in th-there,” she sputtered. “I went into the bathroom, and she was on the floor. Unconscious.
My heartbeat slowed as I waited for her to say the words. “Is she . . .”
“It doesn’t look good,” she wailed. “We’re at Cedars-Sinai. Please hurry. She?—”
“I’m on my way.” I grabbed my keys off the table. “Call me if something changes.”
I hurried through the house, tugging on a T-shirt, stuffing my wallet in my pocket, and slipping on my shoes as I moved.
“Is Gemma okay?” Rissa asked.
I wasn’t sure when she got dressed, but she was right there next to me, concern in her brown eyes.
Shaking my head, I replied, “I don’t know. She passed out. I have to go, though.”
“Let me go with you.”
“No, I’m good.” I wrapped my hand around her neck and pulled her in for a quick kiss. “You can stay here if you want. Sleep.”
Her shoulders fell. “You’re worried.”
“It’s fine,” I assured her. “She probably had too much wine at the restaurant.”
The lie rolled off my tongue easily because I wasn’t ready to face the truth. Karma barely spoke to me at the restaurant, but she was hysterical on the phone. It was alarming. Unsettling. The best-case scenario was that Gemma had tripped on something and fell. But the worst case . . . I shook my mind clear of the possibilities.
Rissa didn’t look convinced either. “I’m gonna go home then. Call me as soon as you get to the hospital.”
Nodding, I swallowed past the hard lump in my throat and left. My eyes burned with unshed tears as I climbed into my truck and took off toward the medical center. Because I didn’t know what I’d walk into when I got there. My bond with Gemma, a connection that spanned decades, was strong. And I couldn’t explain it, but . . .
My chest tightened as an indescribable dread swept through me, settling in my gut. My instincts had always been impeccable and they were confirming something I didn’t want to believe. Not now. Never.
I’m too late.I lost her.
two
OVER
LARISSA
The Not-Too-Distant Past
If someone had told me months ago that I would’ve kicked my husband Rick out of our marital home, I would’ve slapped them in their muthafuckin’ mouth.
