Page 87 of Meet Me in Ivy Falls

A Devastating New Record.

The monotonous beat of the bedside monitor was driving me fucking insane. I was glad Piper’s heart had a steady rhythm, but every pulse was like an electrical shock reminding me where I was and why I was here.

She’d been unconscious for over twenty-four hours and remained very still in the bed. I’d overheard a few nurses whispering about how her heart had stopped and how long it would take for her recovery.

A new doctor moved into the room clutching a black tablet. His short brown hair was a stark contrast to his long white coat. A mint-green and pink striped tie poked out from under his collar. We’d seen a couple of older doctors in the emergency room, but this guy looked like he was barely out of college.

‘I’m Doctor Foster.’ He shot his hand out toward me.

‘I’m Beck. Piper’s older brother.’ I was so exhausted I could barely get the words out.

‘I’m filling in for the attending physician who is out today,’ he offered in a gentle voice. ‘I was just going over your sister’s preliminary lab work.’ His finger scrolled across the screen. ‘Things are looking better.’

‘Oh, good. Thank you for letting me know,’ I managed to say over the gravel-like knot in my throat.

‘Talk to her,’ he said in a smooth Southern drawl. ‘Family is often the best medicine in these cases.’

‘She can hear me?’

‘Of course. Her body may be resting but her brain is still firing normally.’

I turned and raised a brow like I wasn’t too sure he knew what he was talking about.

‘For two years I worked in different war-torn cities with Doctors In Service. Had quite a few patients who were unconscious due to bombings, caught in the crossfire during military uprisings. When they woke, they knew their family, or friends, were there. Piper will be the same.’

The fervor in his voice said he spoke from experience.

‘What’s next? When can I take her home?’

‘We need to make sure her vitals remain stable for a while.’ His lips thinned as he closed her chart. ‘I’m told that we can’t release her until police have spoken with her.’

In all the hazy moments of the last day I’d forgotten about the house. From the little bits I could remember, it was in bad shape. I couldn’t imagine what Manny and Torran were thinking right now. How my sister’s actions had destroyed what we’d all been working toward.

Piper murmured quietly in her sleep and I reached out for her hand, her fingers icy to the touch. So many times she’d accused me of treating her like a fragile doll, but that’s exactly how she looked now, lying so still in the bed. Her dyed hair fanned out across the pillow while faint traces of her favorite red lipstick stained the corners of her mouth.

How the hell had she gotten this way?

She’d regained consciousness briefly in the ambulance. Once they’d moved her out of the ER, I’d overheard one of the doctors say her blood alcohol content level was 0.27 – a devastating new record for Piper.

‘I’ll take your advice. Try to talk to her.’

‘She’s lucky you’re here. Too many times we have patients who come in and have no one looking out for their best interests. No one who cares if they live or die. She already has a fighting chance because of you.’

Or she was here because of me.

‘I have to finish my rounds. Let the nurse know if you need anything.’ He flashed me a professional-looking smile and left the room.

The machines continued to hum and beep as a dozen questions spun through my head. Why wasn’t she in New York? Who were all those people in the house? Why did they pick it as the spot to throw their party?

None of those questions could be answered until Piper woke up. I couldn’t dwell on how or why things had happened. Instead, I needed to figure out what to do next.

My job. The house. Even Torran. They all had to be pushed to the side.

Piper could be my only focus. Bidding on the house, digging up the past, had sent her right back to that dark place it’d taken years of therapy to fix. For all my moaning and worrying, I was the reason Piper was unconscious and paler than the sheets covering her body.

Ten years and I still hadn’t learned a damn thing. The past was a malevolent bitch, and obviously, she wasn’t done with Piper and me yet.

I dropped my head in my hands and swallowed back the ache threatening to burst from my chest. In this moment I needed our parents so much. They’d know what to do. What to say to make Piper think straight. To make better decisions. Pete was right, the oldest was always the caretaker, but that didn’t mean we could handle the weight of being a parent. Making the tough decisions for a sibling that we should never have to make.