“Are you fucking kidding me? Samara, I’m booking your flight. You missed Christmas. You will not miss this woman’s birthday, too. God, you’re such an asshole sometimes.”
Kyla pulled out her phone.
“I thought I was doing the right thing, Kyla,” she said. “Letting her be there with her family, while I try to work on my own shit.”
“Yeah. Then, she asked you to be there, and you fucked that up. You’re supposed to work on at leastsomeof that shit together, Samara. You’re getting on a damn plane even if my pregnant ass has to shove you onto it.”
“Now, who’s being dramatic?”
CHAPTER 34
“I’m fine,” Lainey said.
“Fine? Really? You can’t walk.”
“Yes, I can. I have crutches now. My arm wasn’t broken, just bruised, so I can use them.”
“Babe, you are not fine,” Paige said from her position next to Lainey in the bed they shared. “And it’s okay to just admit that and let us take care of you.”
“You, sure. You’re the fiancée. You signed up for this, just like I signed up for it with you. But Dana has places to be, and she won’t leave. It’s annoying.”
“Hey,” Dana said.
“Don’t ‘hey’ me. You’re supposed to be in LA with your girlfriend,” Lainey argued.
“You got hit by a car. Was I not supposed to come home when you were in the hospital and there was internal bleeding?”
“Sure. But I’m out of the hospital now, and Paige is here. Besides, Mom hasn’t left, either.”
“She and Dad finally went home to get some sleep,” Dana said.
“And you should be doing that, too. I’m okay.”
“You know what? I’m going to go downstairs and make you a sandwich; give you two some time to talk,” Paige said.
Then, neither of them said anything else as Paige kissed Lainey’s forehead tenderly, rose from the bed, and left the room.
“What wasthatabout?” Dana asked.
“She’s very smart, so she must have realized that I need to give my little sister a hard time.”
“Lainey, you–”
“Yes, I was in a car accident,” Lainey interrupted. “And I know it was scary for everyone. I was scared, too. I still ama little, but only because I want to make sure I can dance with my wife at our wedding. We were so excited to finally have a date and start the planning.”
“You can’t control some guy jackknifing you on the road.”
“I know. Neither canyou.” Lainey took Dana’s hand. “You’ve always been this way, you know? You worry so much about all of us, and I love you for that, but you’ve repeatedly let that worry get in the way of you having the life you want.”
“No, I–”
“Just hold on a minute,” Lainey interrupted again. “You have. You didn’t want to go to Girl Scout camp when you were twelve because you hated camping, but you went. Why?”
“You were going.”
“And?” Lainey asked.
“I wanted to make sure you’d be okay. They said there were bears there, and all people kept saying was that you just needed to be careful with food and stuff.”
