I pick up my soda and take another drink. “At least Graham showed up that night. Kind of like a knight in shining armor. Or, rather, surfer on a golf cart.”
Raquel lets out a belly laugh at that. “Sorry,” she says, quieting herself down.
“Your brother seems nice,” I tell her.
“Yeah, I’m glad I have him. We fought like cats and dogs growing up, but we have a new understanding and appreciation for each other now.”
We sit in silence for a few moments.
“Is this everything you imagined and more for a birthday dinner?” I ask her as I finish my drink. The bartender swoops up the empty glass and gently tosses it behind the counter.
She nods. “If only Graham and Penny were here, too,” she says. “You haven’t had any cake yet! It’s amazing, you have to at least try it. You want to go back?” She points behind her to the party room.
“Sure,” I say, with a frown. Everything looks a little fuzzy around the edges, like when you’re so tired that your eyes can’t focus. I blink a few times trying to clear my vision but that only seems to make things worse. The room feels like it’s spinning around me.
“You okay?” Raquel asks.
“Yeah,” I reply. “I think I just turned my head too fast.” I reach up and rub my temples.
“I hate when I do that.”
I shake my head as if to shake the feeling away, but it doesn’t subside. I close my eyes, but that only makes the spinning sensation worse. It’s starting to feel like I’m on a cheap fair ride, being thrown around and around again.
“Thea?” Raquel’s voice sounds distant now.
I grip the edge of the bar and try to stand, hoping to steady the whirling inside my mind.
“Thea, are you okay?”
My limbs feel disconnected from my body and the floor seems to ripple beneath me.
My foot doesn’t find solid ground and I tumble off of the barstool. My head hits the concrete floor; searing pain cuts throughthe whirling chaos in my skull. I hear Raquel call my name once more and then everything goes dark.
Chapter Thirteen
We’re out of the house and back in Charlie’s SUV in a flash. He drives across town to the hospital wordlessly, but keeps a firm grip on my hand the entire time.
I shake my head as we drive. “I don’t know how to parent her,” I admit.
“Hey,” Charlie says as he rubs my knuckles comfortingly. “She wasn’t drinking again. Raquel said she had a soda. That’s a good thing.”
“I shouldn’t have let her go out.” I rest my head against the back of the seat and let it loll to the side to look at him.
“That isn’t your fault, either.” He glances at me. “Really, Beth Ann, it’s not. She’s an adult, you have to give her alittle freedom.”
I shake my head, feeling the guilt wash over me.
“She’s going to be okay. I’ve seen this a couple of times. She’ll have a rough day or so, but she’ll be okay.”
It doesn’t make me feel better. I just want to be able to protect her.
Charlie pulls over to the side of the road, seeing flashing lights behind us. The ambulance flies by us and he switches lanes to follow behind it. We pull into the hospital parking lot and I can’t believe how much has changed since we met here mere hours ago. He stops long enough for me to jump out of the vehicle as Thea is being unloaded from the back of the ambulance. He speeds off to find a parking spot.
I take a few steps toward her but am stopped when an EMT slams their arm out in front of me.
“Ma’am, you can’t go any further,” he tells me.
“That’s my niece,” I say.
