“Here, baby,” I said and handed her the phone. “It’s River.”
She reluctantly took the phone from me and spoke to River for several minutes. “What did she say?” I asked when she handed my phone back.
“She said this is considered a crush injury, and it’s actually a good thing they aren’t letting me go back because it means they’re still working on her and getting her stabilized. She did say it could be anywhere from thirty minutes to a few hours before they let anyone see her.”
“I’m sorry, sweetness,” I said and wrapped my arm around her shoulders.
We sat quietly waiting for any news about her mother. Finally, a nurse came out and told Avery she could come back and wait with Claire until they took her to surgery. “You go on back. I’m going to go swap my bike for my truck and go pick up Riley and Braxton,” I said and dropped a kiss on her forehead.
“Thank you. I called the school before you got here and let them know you would be picking them up. Cars will already be lined up when you get there. Just get in one of the lines and have your driver’s license handy to show whichever teacher is working the car line,” she said quickly. “Oh, you need to get the booster seat from my car,” she added and handed me her car keys.
“I got this. You go be with your mom,” I said and gently nudged her toward the waiting nurse.
Avery wasn’t kidding about the car line. Cars were lined up at least five hundred feet down the street even though I was twenty minutes early. I put the truck in park and pulled out my phone to let Coal and Copper know what was going on while I waited.
Finally, the doors opened and children poured from the school. Moving at a snail’s pace, I gradually rolled closer to the front of the school. As expected, a woman with a clipboard walked up to my window and asked who I was picking up.
“Riley and Braxton Parker. Avery said she called the office to let them know,” I said as I handed her my driver’s license.
She took it and wrote something on her clipboard. “She did,” she said and handed my license back. “Once the children are in your vehicle, please wait until the teacher signals you to move forward. Then, you will pull forward and merge into one line with the other cars.”
When I reached the front of the line, a teacher opened the back door and helped Riley, then Braxton into the back seat of my truck. “Kellan!” Riley squealed. “You surprised us!”
I smiled at her enthusiasm. “I sure did. Sit down and get buckled so we can get moving,” I said and glanced over my shoulder to see Braxton watching me carefully. “Hey, Brax.”
“Where’s Mommy?” he asked. The kid didn’t miss a thing.
“She’s with Nana. We’re going to see them right now. Is everyone buckled in?”
“I am!” Riley yelled. “And so is Braxton!”
With that, I pulled out onto the road and pointed my truck in the direction of the hospital. “Did either one of you learn anything fun today?”
“I did!” Riley said excitedly and raised her hand in the air. “We learned that a starfish’s mouth is on the bottom. Isn’t that gross?”
“Why is that gross?”
“Because mermaids put them on their boobies!” she said in horror.
I couldn’t hold in my laughter. “What are they teaching you at that school?”
“They teach us all kinds of—”
Riley’s words morphed into an ear-piercing scream as the world around us flipped on its axis and then everything faded to black.
27
Savior
Icould hear screaming, or maybe it was crying. Possibly both. “Kellan!! Help me! Kellan!!”
Who was screaming? “I’m stuck! My arm hurts!”
Was that Riley? My eyes flew open at the same time I yelled, “Riley?”
“Kellan! Get me out!!” she cried.
I tried to turn to so I could see what was wrong with her, but I couldn’t move. I tried to turn the other way and quickly realized something was very wrong when I looked out the truck window. “What the hell?” I said to myself. The entire view was off, almost like the world was turned on its side. I suddenly realized the pressure on my chest was from the seat belt holding me in place as gravity tried to pull me forward. Fuck, the truck was somehow on its nose.
