At Elkins?
That had to be it. Thathadto be it. Blood was pulsing in my ears by the time I turned onto the Farm’s main road, beating so loudly that I barely heard my name called.
“Olivia!”
I glanced to my left to see Erica waving at me in her favorite oversizedFAIRFIELDUNIVERSITYsweatshirt. How had she gotten here? Our car was nowhere to be seen.
By Boston Whaler?
“Hi,” I said slowly, as she picked up her pace. Something in my bones told me to stop in my tracks, to wait for her. “Is everything okay?”
What a stupid question.
Something was clearly wrong.
Instead of answering, my stepmother wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me tight. The hug felt more like a straitjacket than a warm embrace, like she thought I might run away, or maybe she had really paid attention to how Annie delivered bad news to me over the years. When she’d told me about Pops passing, I could barely feel my blood circulating.
But I’d never felt safer.
Now, a hard lump rose in my throat. “Is Annie…” I started, but I didn’t want to say the rest aloud, for fear that it might be true.
“No,” Erica whispered, “but Elkins called this morning.” She paused. “She’s had a really bad fall, Liv.”
Big, hot tears threatened to escape—crocodile tears, Annie called them—and everything in my body told me to pull away from Erica, but I didn’t have the strength.
Or maybe I didn’t want to.
“She’s in the hospital,” she continued, now stroking my hair. “It sounds like she might need surgery, so your dad is going to drive home today. He’s packing right now, and we booked a ferry out of Vineyard Haven in a couple hours.”
This time I did break away from Erica, suddenly desperate to move. Desperate to take action. “I need to get my stuff,” I told her, wiping my eyes before wildly gesturing to the Annex. “We need to get back to the house. I need to talk to him.”
“Okay.” She nodded; her eyes were glassy. “Let’s get your stuff.”
* * *
According to Elkins, the last few days for Annie had been incredibly difficult. She’d been irritated with the nursing staff, refused to eat meals, and was endlessly restless. If she did manage to fall asleep at night, she woke up in the wee hours of the morning and insisted on taking a shower. A night nurse complied, and then she’d be dressed by 3:00 a.m.
Her fall had not been especially dramatic. She hadn’t slipped in the shower or gotten up from bed and collapsed. “She stubbed her toe on the carpet,” my dad told me when Erica and I got backto the house. Maisie and Bryce didn’t know; they were making waffles with Nick. “She didn’t lift her foot up enough when she took a step.”
“Turf toe,” Erica softly said. “That’s what the lacrosse team called it in college whenever someone tripped on the turf.”
My dad took her hand and tried to smile, but his lips were a thin line.
“When do we leave?” I asked, a rasp in my voice.
“Liv.” He sighed. “You don’t—”
“When do we leave?”
“A half hour.”
That was all I needed to hear; I spun on my heel and hauled ass to my little room upstairs so I could start packing.Only the essentials, I told myself. I’d ask Maisie to grab my beach towel off the clothesline and bikini from the hook in the outdoor shower and bring them home next week.
Next week.
We had come up here for three, and I was ducking out after two. Topper and Peggy hadn’t even had their anniversary dinner yet.
It’s okay, I told myself.This is an emergency.
