“No problem. I’ll have something booked in the next five minutes.”
“Whatever it takes. Use my miles to upgrade her if you have to, or fucking pay a million dollars. Just get her home, okay?”
“Yeah, boss. After this, you’ll tell me what’s going on, yeah?”
“Yes,” Samara said.
With that taken care of, she found the app on her phone that she used to book her own cars in LA whenever Kyla was busy and she needed one urgently and ordered an SUV for as soon as possible.
“The car will be here in seven minutes. Kyla is bookingyou a flight as we speak. We should have the confirmation by the time the car gets here.”
“Okay. Thank you,” Dana replied as she zipped up her suitcase.
“Of course,” she said. “Dana, are you sure? I can pack fast, or I can take a later flight and get there in the afternoon. Can I please do that? Or, can you get there and call me to let me know when I can be there? I–”
“I’m sure. I need to be there with them, you know? I’m sorry. I appreciate that you want to go with me, but I don’t think I can handle you being there; not with Lainey… and my family, and…” Dana turned to leave the bedroom. “But thank you. I’ll call you when I can.”
???
“Hey. How is she?” she asked.
“Hi,” Dana replied, sounding tired. “She’s still here, but they said she can be released in a few days. They’re running some tests, but she looks better. She’s got her color back for the first time since I got here.”
“That’s good,” Samara said.
She was lying in bed and turned to the side where Dana had slept, missing her instantly. She hadn’t made her bed since Dana left, which was unusual for her, and she’d even told her housekeeper to leave it until Dana got back. Given that it had been several days, though, and this was the first time they’d connected over the phone, Samara was starting to wonder if Dana wouldevercome back.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to talk,” Dana said. “She was out completely for two days, with the drugs they had her on to help her heal, and Paige was an absolute mess, which I understand – Lainey is the love of her life. My mom and dad were messes, too, but they tried to hold themselves together. Paige didn’t stop crying until Lainey woke up, and she’s still doing it on and off. Someone needed to make sure they all eat, which was a massive chore. As much as I miss you, I’msort of glad you weren’t here. Don’t take that the wrong way, but I don’t know how I could’ve handled trying to findyoufood on top of everyone else and maybe telling people we were friends or pretending like you’re my friend, Mara from Idaho, or something. My mom hates everything about being in a hospital, including the coffee. My dad isn’t a big fan of being here, either, since the times he had to be here with her, and he complains when he’s worried or frustrated. Just constant complaining from him. And I get it – his daughter is in the hospital – but it’s been a lot.”
That comment about food really hurt. Samara knew that Dana hadn’t meant it that way, but it still hit her right in the heart.
“Iwould have gotten you all food,” she said instead, choosing not to address it directly. “Who’s making sureyoueat, babe?”
“My mom tries,” Dana replied with a sigh. “I’m okay, though.”
“Are you, really? You can tell me, Dana. I’m here.”
“I saw the pictures of the car,” Dana shared. “And the doctor said it was a miracle that she’d made it out with only the damage she had.”
“Pictures?”
“Paige took some, but the cops did, too. I guess the guy who hit Lainey called 911. While Lainey was still conscious, she called Paige. Paige rushed over there, but Lainey was already out, and the ambulance got there right after her. She took a bunch of photos for insurance, I guess, and she sent them to me.”
“How bad?” she asked, her heart racing in her chest.
“Bad,” Dana said. “I just sent you a few if you want to see for yourself.”
Without thinking, Samara put the phone on speaker and opened her message app, where she saw four pictures. Each seemed worse than the next. The tangled metal and the red stains she could clearly make out as blood made her stomach lurch, and she felt lightheaded. She’d seen photos like thisbefore. She closed her eyes and swallowed, trying to control her heart rate. Thankfully, Lainey wasn’t in the driver’s seat in those pictures, but Samara knew what a body keeled over looked like. She closed the app, took her phone off speaker, and put it back to her ear.
“Really bad. I’m so glad she’s okay,” she said, swallowing hard and lying back because she needed her head against a pillow.
“She’s not out of the woods yet, but they’re confident she’ll recover. She’s lucky she’s not playing soccer anymore. Her career would’ve been over. She’s going to need a lot of PT, and they might have to postpone the wedding, depending on how that goes.”
Samara lay there silently, not sure what else to say.
“Babe?”
“Yeah?” she said.
