Chapter 37
Ethan
Dad and I didn’t talk much on the drive home from the cemetery.
He kept the radio low, one hand on the wheel, the other drumming quietly on his thigh the way he always did when he was thinking.
I felt wrung out and heavy, tired in a bone-deep way, but steadier than I had felt in months.
We pulled into the driveway, and the house was quiet.
“Mom must’ve run to the store,” Dad muttered.
But the second I stepped inside, I heard a sharp cry, cut off halfway.
“Mom?” I called out, already moving.
“In here,” her voice trembled with pain.
I sprinted to the kitchen.
She was on the floor beside the small ladder she used to reach the top cupboards, her face pale and pinched, her breathing shallow.
“Mom!” I dropped to my knees beside her. “What happened?”
“I slipped,” she said through clenched teeth. “My.. my foot. I can’t put weight on it.”
I tried to get a look at it and felt my stomach pitch. Twisted at an odd angel and already swollen.
“Dad!” I shouted. “We need to get her to the hospital.”
He rushed in behind me, and I helped him lift her carefully.
I was terrified of hurting her more.
By the time we got her to the couch, my hands were shaking so badly I could barely dial the phone.
I called Claire.
I don’t even know why she was the first person I thought of. I just knew Lily would need someone, and… I trusted her.
She picked up after one ring.
“Claire,” I said, voice already too raw, “I need a favor. Mom fell, I’m taking her to the hospital and Lily is sleeping. Can you please watch her?”
“Is she conscious?” Claire asked, immediate concern in her voice.
“She’s in pain. It’s her foot, as far as I can tell. I have to go now.”
In the background, I heard a man’s voice, Brandon.
“Everything okay? You need to go?”
A spike of something ugly and hot twisted in my chest, even through the panic.
Claire didn’t hesitate. “I’ll be there in five.”
Then she hung up.