“Is that her boyfriend?”
“Yeah.”
“Why are you concerned about him?”
I glanced out the window. “I don’t know, he…”
“He what?” Rafferty demanded, in a stern tone Dad would have admired.
I turned my face toward him. “Chill out, Raff. He seemed a little extra for this trip.” I pressed my lips together and shrugged. “Maybe it’s my imagination since I can’t put my finger on exactly what bothered me.”
Rafferty’s brows shot up. “What do you mean, ‘He seemed a little extra’?”
I rubbed my index and middle finger along my forehead. “I don’t know, he convinced Ines to change her mind about things and do things she normally wouldn’t do.”
“What kind of things?”
I sighed. “Things that… it sounds crazy, but things that she’d have said no to just weeks ago. But I could be misreading the situation.”
Rafferty shoved the key in the ignition, but didn’t start the truck. “I’ll take your word for it, but I always listen to my gut when it’s trying to tell me something.”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s true. It’s the reason I asked the officer about Brantley’s condition, and he said Brantley had been discharged and left already. That seems pretty callous - especially since Ines is in ICU.”
“Maybe he got the same run-around that nurse gave you. He isn’t family, there’s not much point sticking around.”
I narrowed an eye at him. “Do you really believe that? Would you leave if I were in ICU?”
His head tilted a bit. “No, but I wouldn’t tell the whole truth either.”
“Right,” I whispered.
He nodded. “You ready to go? Or do you want to stick around here and see if a different nurse will be more lenient?”
I’d met Ines’s parents outside ICU, and we’d exchanged numbers. They told me they’d call if there was news. The more I considered it, even with a shift change I didn’t think I’d get in to see her anytime soon. I took a deep breath. The thought of getting back on the interstate made me uneasy, but I’d have to face that irrational fear regardless.
“Yeah, as ready as I’ll ever be.”
Chapter two
We Aren't Family
Rafferty
ThecallfromBloodearlier in the day shook me to my core. I’d been two hours from the outskirts of Macon, but the drive to that hospital in Valdosta felt like six hours of torture.
Now I had Lex in the passenger seat, her floral scent in my truck, and more silence. She’d switched off the radio as soon as I guided the truck back onto the Interstate.
“I’m sorry. I have a headache. I hope turning off the music is okay.”
“Sure.”
She didn’t want music, that was fine, but something about this quelling silence unnerved me.
“Why are you so quiet?” I asked.
She inhaled, but I didn’t hear an exhale. I struggled to keep my right hand on the steering wheel because the thought of touching her was the only thing keeping me together right now.
Finally, she exhaled. “I feel like this could have been avoided.”
