I climb in beside her, and she grabs my hand like it’s the only thing keeping her upright. I hold it tight, keeping my other hand on Mia’s back as the medic works.
At the hospital, everything becomes lights and voices. Mia is wheeled toward pediatrics , and Summer tries to follow, panicked.
“I’m not leaving her! She needs me!”
I step in front of her, hands on her shoulders, firm but soft.“Summer. You need a chest X-ray. Mia needs you healthy. You go with the nurse, and I’ll stay with Mia. I won’t leave her side. I swear it.”
She’s crying, shaking.“I can’t…”
“You can.”
I cup her cheek gently.“Trust me?”
A beat.
A breath.
“Yes,” she whispers.
“Good girl.”
I watch her disappear with the nurses, her eyes glued to Mia until the doors close.
Then I turn and follow the paramedics into pediatrics.
“I’m staying with her,” I tell the doctor.
He nods.“She’s stable. Another few minutes inside and smoke inhalation could’ve been critical.”
I sink into the chair beside her bed, taking her tiny hand.
“You’re safe now, sweetheart,” I whisper.“I promise.”
When she falls asleep, I call my brother.“There was a fire at Summer’s place. She and Mia are at the hospital. They’re shaken, but alive. Can you get everyone here?”
“We’re on our way.”
I hang up and look at Mia again, her chest rising softly under the blankets.
Relief hits me so hard I have to brace myself with a hand on the chair.
I could’ve lost them.
Both of them.
And that thought alone makes one thing clear:
I won’t ever let that happen again.
CHAPTER 4
Summer
The hospital smells like antiseptic and fear, and my chest feels like it’s being crushed. The fluorescent lights overhead hum faintly, harsh and cold, and the faint beeping of monitors echoes down the hall, a constant reminder of fragility.
They take x-rays of my throat and chest, then do a full-body checkup. The nurse carefully cleans and bandages the burn on my right hand from when I tried to turn the doorknob to get to Mia. It stings, a sharp, fiery reminder of how close I came to losing her.
“Can I please go to my daughter now?” I croak, my voice hoarse from screaming for help and inhaling smoke, my throat raw and aching.
