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“I don’t know,” I admitted honestly. “I just know both drivers are being brought here to the hospital. JB’s calling Julian now.”
“What about Drea? Was Drea with her?”
I swallowed, only to remember again that I’d just seen Nia at the jewelry store. Fuck, that felt like eons ago. “I don’t think so,” I admitted. “She was going back to work from her lunch break. But, Chloe…”
“Don’t worry,” she assured. “Trick and I are headed there now. We’ll be there soon.”
“Chloe,” I said again, my voice going serious.
“Hey, I’m getting a call on the other line from Mom. I need to—”
“Chloe!” I said sharply. “The other car… The other car in the accident belonged to Dax Freston.”
34LUKE
Silence answered me briefly before Chloe whimpered, “What?No… No, no, no, no…”
“I’m sorry,” was all I could think to say.
“If he hurt her…” she growled, only to sniff and begin to cry.
“I know,” I said. “Please. Just get here. I need to hold you. Right fucking now.”
“Okay,” she rasped. “I gotta go. Mom…”
“Yeah,” I told her. “I got it.”
When she disconnected, I turned toward JB, who seemed to be talking to Teagan now. “Yep. Will do. I love you too. Bye.”
He disconnected and glanced my way. “Julian hadn’t heard anything yet; he’s going to try to call Nia. Maybe we’re all just mistaken about everything.”
The bad feeling creeping up the back of my neck told me we weren’t mistaken, but I nodded anyway. “Yeah. Hopefully.”
JB opened his mouth to say more, but his pager went off. He glanced down and sucked in a breath. “We’ve got two ambulances coming into the ER with car accident trauma patients. That’s probably them. I gotta go.”
He was already backing away as I nodded and asked, “You’ll check back?”
“Yep. Just stay here so I know where to find you.”
Then he spun away and jogged off.
I sank into a nearby seat and just sat there. It didn’t take long for the family group chat to light up, though. At first, they all just wanted to locate Nia. Julian couldn’t reach her by her cell or at work. They acted as if she was merely missing.
But then he finally received the official call that she had indeed been in the accident. Yet no one still knew what her condition was.
Teagan was the first to arrive at the hospital. She had Harper on her hip and looked winded. “Anything?”
I shook my head and reached for the kid, hoping that a little bit of toddler would help settle my nerves. “Not yet. JB told me to wait here. I think he might be with her.”
Harper opened her arms, willing to let me hold her, and she immediately started in with the raspberries, making fart sounds.
I smiled and damn near started crying right then. Giving her some raspberries right back, I pressed my forehead to Harper’s and breathed in her fresh, baby scent.
We entertained each other for about thirty seconds before she noticed her mother, and tried to dive back into Teagan’s arms, who was busy texting in the group chat but managed to catch her kid and hold her again.
A couple of other people arrived. When a harried Julian blew into the hospital, a nurse immediately took him away, to fill out paperwork or something. I don’t know. I just felt my nerves growing jumpier and jumpier with each person that arrived who wasn’t Chloe.
I really,reallyneeded to see her.
