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Layne sighed. She was ready to go home and get a shower.
Her clothes smelled like horses and fire, the sweetness of alfalfa hay mixed with soot and ashes. She hadn’t even unzipped her jacket, knowing the turtleneck underneath was soaked with sweat.
And she needed time alone.
She needed time to think.
A nurse came around the corner wearing pink scrubs with lollipops all over them. Some papers and a clipboard were in one hand, and she glanced between Layne’s father tapping away at his iPhone and her mother, who was gushing about something to do with a celebrity polo match.
So concerned.
The nurse faltered.
Layne held out her hand. “Here. Can I just take it?”
“Your parents need to sign, sweetie.”
Layne looked at her father. “Dad. Hey. Signature.”
He put a hand out without looking up, hitting a few more keys on the phone.
Unbelievable. It reminded Layne of the day in Gabriel’s driveway, when he’d been so dismissive of Michael.
Layne looked at the nurse. “I’m sorry. They usually act like they give a crap.”
That got her dad’s attention. “Watch it. I was supposed to be in court this morning.”
Layne looked back at him in mock surprise. “I can’t believe I forgot to add this to your schedule.”
Her mom laughed into the phone and held up her hand. “Oh my goodness, that is too much. Let me step into the hallway.
There’s a lot of commotion here . . .”
Layne scooted off the stretcher. She wished Simon were here, but her father had sent him to school. “Let’s just go,” she said.
“You can get back to court, Mom can get back to ‘tennis,’ and I can get back to school.”
Her father had his head bent over the form probably reading what he was signing. “You’re not going to school. The doctor said for you to stay home and rest, make sure there aren’t any delayed effects.” His hand scribbled across the bottom of the form.
“He also said I was fine.”
“End of discussion.”
Of course it was. Layne sighed.
Her father handed the forms back to the nurse and looked at Layne. “I rearranged my schedule. I’ll stay with you until Simon gets home.”
It should have made her feel better. It didn’t.
It made her feel like an obligation.
She didn’t even say good-bye to her mother not out of any sense of spite or anger, but the woman had disappeared down some corridor to take her call, and there was no sign of her.
Maybe she’d forgotten the whole reason they were at the hospital to begin with.
Layne just folded her legs into her father’s BMW and stared out the window.
She wondered if Gabriel was all right. He’d been in that fire, too. And he hadn’t had the luxury of medical attention.
