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26
Birdie woke the next morning, instinctively aware she was in a strange bed. It wasn’t her bench at the gas station or Lucas’s blow-up bed.
Her eyes instantly flashed open and she jerked the covers off to the side. Attempting to make sense of where she was, and how she was going to get to Mia.
She looked down, touching the hem of a soft oversized T-shirt she wore and that she didn’t recognize. Jumping off the bed, she got on her hands and knees and began crawling around the floor, scouring the room for her clothes.
The sound of a door opening caught her attention and she looked up from her prostate position, her hair in her eyes and her face flushed.
“Bird?”
Lucas stood in the doorway, holding two cups of coffee with a grave expression on his face. His flannel sleep pants riding low on his hips.
“You okay?”
She fell back on her butt with her knees bent, pushing the hair out of her eyes and trying to catch her breath.
“I think so. I don’t remember you bringing me here.”
This was the first time she had ever been inside Lucas Santos’s bedroom. Under normal circumstances, she’d be avidly curious, going through his underwear drawers and checking out the brands of his toiletry items, but all she could think about was getting to Mia.
Before someone else did.
He set the two cups of coffee down on the dresser and squatted in front of her, rubbing her shoulder with one hand.
“You had a panic attack last night. Mia’s doctor said it’s typical for it to cause a significant drop in blood pressure, causing the person to faint. That’s what happened to you.”
“I don’t remember…”
“He gave you an antidepressant. Said you were under a lot of stress. It pretty much knocked you out. You’ve been sleeping for eleven hours straight.”
She nodded, as his fingers worked their magic on her shoulder that felt sore and tight from sharing a huge burden with the other one.
Out of nowhere, a vision of Errol looking down at his watch and then up at her, in the window of the hospital, slammed into her, front and center.
“I need to see Mia.”
And she needed to find Pearl. Where in the world would she begin? Lucas would know, and so would Grant. For once in her life she was going to depend on others to help her.
Lucas said, “I just called Mia’s room and spoke with her. She slept through the night and is doing much better. Drink your coffee, get dressed, and we’ll drive over together.”
“Where are my clothes?”
He pointed to a stack on the dresser next to the coffee cups. “I washed and dried them for you. And I made you a breakfast sandwich you can take along.”
All of that was so nice. He was taking such good care of her, when the people she had thought cared about her the most were either in the hospital beds or missing.
All because of her.
Distraught and likely still groggy from the medication, she rubbed her face and thought about how close she came to losing Mia and Angus.
How she had managed to lose Pearl. What would Marshall say? Knowing she took her eye off his prize? After everything he had done for her.
Tears began to pool in her eyes. “I don’t know what I would’ve done…”
He pulled her into his arms, knowing exactly what she meant without having to finish the sentence.
“Don’t do that, Bird,” he said, running his hand behind her neck.
