AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They waited for the next message. “Hey, Mr. Dupree. It’s Molly. Kinsley really wants to get out there. I can’t let her do it without your permission. I know we talked about this, but the three kids who just started want to hold hands and skate out there. Let me know if that’s okay.” She paused. “We’ve got about ten minutes left.”
The next message came from Kinny. No longer panicked, her tone was confident. “I’m going to do it, Daddy. Gracie wants me to.”
There was a moment where time felt suspended. Rationally, he knew his daughter had to be fine. It was ice-skating. Really, what could she have done? Attempt a triple axel?
And yet, with multiple messages remaining…he knew. He just knew.
Cole’s wife came in hot on the next message. “We’re on our way to the hospital. I’ll call you once we get there.”
Hospital?
What the fuck?
Jaime gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. Jerking the car into gear, he swung around and tore down the road. Dust kicked up, and gravel knocked against the metal.
“She’s okay,” Grace said. “You know she’s fine. She’s six, and it’s just ice-skating.”
“I don’t know that. It’s Kinny.”
“The worst-case scenario from a six-year-old ice-skating exhibition is a broken bone, and you know they grow back stronger.”
“It could be a compound fracture. Multiple breaks held together by pins and multiple surgeries.”
“She’s not the goalie of the Brawlers, Jaime.” Her voice was soothing. It wasn’t the least bit patronizing.
Still, he didn’t want to talk. He wanted to hear the next message. “Hey, it’s me.” His sister Abby sounded frazzled. “Hailey called. Mom and I are headed to the ER. I’ll call you when we’re there.”
Jaime couldn’t wait another second, so he stopped listening to the messages and called his sister. When it went to voicemail, he shouted, “Dammit.” But then, he left a message. “I’m on my way home. We’re about forty-five minutes from Afton, so I’ll have better connectivity soon. Call me and tell me what’s going on.” He tried his mom’s number and then his dad’s. No one answered. He stopped leaving messages.
He drove in silence, glad Grace didn’t engage him in conversation. He didn’t want to hear how everything would be all right.
Because neither of them had any answers.
He’d known, though, hadn’t he? All along, he’d had this foreboding, this sense that something was going to go wrong.
And it had.
He’d let himself get caught up in what made him feel good and stopped thinking about the consequences.
You selfish son of a bitch.
ChapterSixteen
Preoccupied with worry,Grace had a harder time getting her pastries made the next morning. Which was frustrating because the sooner she finished, the sooner she could get to the hospital.
The moment she got the van loaded and gave the boys instructions in case she was out for most of the day, she took off.
Now, racing down the hallway, punching the call button on the elevator, she kept checking her phone. Nothing from Jaime. Not a word. They’d kept her overnight because of the swelling. Had it gotten worse? Was it better? Why wouldn’t he tell me?
The moment she entered the room and saw the little girl in bed, IV tubes connected to her tiny hand, tears burned the backs of her eyes. But she plastered a smile on her face and held out the bouquet of flowers she’d picked up. “Hey, guys.”
Jaime glanced up from his phone.
And terror struck her heart. She hadn’t seen that hard, flat expression in a long time. Not since those early days.
Oh, no. Please don’t do this. Don’t shut down.
She wouldn’t let him. She’d grab his hand and pull him back. This one little incident would not send him back into that cold, lonely cave. First, though, she gave Kinny a kiss on the forehead. “How’s my sweet girl?”
