I want to reach across this room and wrap my hands around his throat the same way he did to Tiger and make sure he doesn’ttake another breath. But I can’t fucking do that in front of Zinnia, so I sit, and I wait.
His time will fucking come.
It feels like a lifetime has passed when Zephyr walks into the waiting room. I’m on my feet the second I see him.
“How is she?”
Her dad stands too.
Zephyr looks at him. Then at Zinnia. Then at me. “I’ve been in another waiting room. They kicked me out the second they took her.”
Her dad storms off to the front desk and starts demanding answers. I follow close enough to overhear.
“She’s in surgery right now,” the nurse says calmly. “That’s all I can tell you.”
Surgery.
The word hits like a punch to the gut.
We sit back down, and I can’t take my eyes off her dad. I can’t stop staring at him. He’s such a piece of shit.
I lean over to Zephyr, keeping my voice low. “I want to fucking kill him.”
Zephyr’s staring at him too. “The cops should be here any second.”
Silence settles over us, heavy and suffocating.
Then Zinnia pulls out her iPad and shows me the screen.
The notes app is open. She typed: Can I live with you?
I stare at the words. I don’t react. I don’t know how to.
She types more.
I know Lily will.
I look at her dad. He’s staring at us from across the room.
“He’s going to jail,” I mutter.
Zephyr nudges me. “They’re here.”
Police walk through the automatic doors. Two uniformed officers and a detective in plain clothes.
“No!” Her dad yells as he stands up fast. “My daughter’s in surgery right now! I need to be here when she wakes up!”
“Sir, you’re under arrest.” The officer’s voice is calm. Professional. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to a lawyer—”
“Zinnia!” Her dad shouts.
Zinnia leans into me and cries. She grips onto me, so I hold her tight as I watch them arrest him.
“Zinni! Zinnia! Listen to me! It’s going to be okay!”
Her face is in my chest, full of tears. She’s whimpering. I rub her back, trying to soothe the way her entire body shakes and trembles.
She lifts her face to breathe. Tears fall out of her eyes like waterfalls as she tries to wipe it away.
