“Is that what they said?”
“They didn’t say anything.” She struggled to pull her arm away, but he held on tight.
His slightly taller counterpart asked, “What happened? You look upset.”
“Who are you?”
“This is my brother Noah. I just thought I’d come down and check on you. See how you were doing.”
“Well, I’m fine. The only reason I seem upset is because I sat there in the waiting room for an eon, then after they took my insurance information, they gave me a form to fill out, which took another eon, then I sat in the ER and waited for another eon. Finally, I got sick of sitting around and left.”
“You mean nobody actually examined you yet?” Noah asked.
“Exactly. Look. I—I need to go.”
Noah glanced at his brother, and they seemed to communicate without saying a single word. “Wait here,” Noah said, and he strode inside the hospital building.
“Dante, there’s no point in trying to intervene. There was some kind of big accident. There were a lot of people in much rougher shape than I am. In fact, I’m in perfect health. I justmaybesaw someone who wasn’t there.”
“There was definitely no one there, Mallory.”
“So?”
“Are you telling me it’s no big deal?”
“No, but just sitting there wasn’t going to help. Look, I was going to tell you later, but if anyone calls you, it’s because I put you down as my emergency contact. I found your number in the phone book.”
His posture straightened. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I don’t want anyone to call my parents. All my friends know how to contact them, but you don’t.”
He hesitated a moment. “Let me give you my cell. The landline is mainly for my parents and the job.”
She listened as he recited the number and programmed it into her contacts.
“I’m not telling you what to do, but don’t you think your parents would want to know if something is really wrong?”
She sighed. “Yes and no. My mother would. My father would just be pissed off that I interrupted him in the middle of a big real estate deal.”
“Are you kidding? He would get mad at you if you’re ill?”
“I’m not ill! This project he’s working on is out of the country. If he had to fly home, it would probably take a couple of days to get here. And yeah. Unless I was in a full body cast, he’d be pissed.”
Dante shook his head. “Let me see what’s keeping Noah.” He called his brother and waited. When he didn’t answer, Dante held out his keys. “Here. Wait in Joanna. I’ll go get Noah, and we’ll drive you home.”
She took a step back. “I—I can find my own way home.”
He tipped his head and looked puzzled. “Oh, you don’t know where I parked. It’s right there. The black Camaro.”
“That’s okay. You keep your keys. It’s stopped raining now. I’ll wait by the car until you come back.”
Dante hesitated but finally said, “Okay,” and walked into the hospital.
* * *
He heard rather than saw his brother. Noah’s voice sounded angry, and there was a female responding in an equally frustrated tone.
“Oh shit,” he muttered. What had his little brother gotten into now?
