CHAPTER 33
Samara heard the sound of a phone ringing, but it wasn’t her ringtone. She opened one of her eyes and lightly shoved at Dana’s shoulder.
“Babe, phone.”
“What?” Dana muttered against her pillow.
“Your phone,” Samara repeated, rolling away from the annoying sound.
“What about it?”
“Dana, it’s ringing!”
“Oh, shit,” Dana said and reached behind her to get the phone. “Lainey, what the hell?”
“Why is your sister calling you at…” Samara looked at her clock. “Five in the morning?”
“What?” Dana asked.
“I asked why Lainey is–”
“Paige, slow down. Why do you have Lainey’s phone?”
Samara recognized the worry in Dana’s voice and turned back to face her, waking up fully instantly. Then, she watched as Dana sat up in bed and sat up as well, concerned now.
“What happened?” Dana asked and paused to listen to what Paige, not Lainey, apparently, was saying.
“When?” Another pause. “Where is she now?” Dana asked before standing quickly.
“Okay. I’m in LA. I don’t know how long it will take.
I’ll have to book a flight.” She looked around the room, and Samara climbed out of bed, walking to her. “Where are my mom and dad?”
“Dana, what’s going on?” Samara asked.
Dana turned away from her, though, so Samara stood there naked and waited.
“Okay,” Dana said into the phone. “Yeah, okay. I’m on my way. I’ll go to the airport now and try to get on the next flight out. I’ll text you the info. Can you make sure my mom and dad are okay until I get there? My mom especially.”
Samara sat down on the bed.
“Okay. Thanks. And she’ll be okay, Paige.” Dana pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it. “She has to be,” she added softly, almost to herself.
“What–”
“Lainey was in a car accident about thirty minutes ago. They just took her back into surgery.”
“What? Oh, my God!”
Samara stood again and reached for Dana.
“She was on her way to work when someone T-boned her, running a red light. Paige called from Lainey’s phone because I had do-not-disturb on, so when she called from her phone, it didn’t go through. Only Lainey’s and my parents’ do. I have to go.”
“Of course,” Samara replied, placing a comforting hand on Dana’s back.
“I’m naked. I need clothes. And I have to book a flight. I need to get to the airport.”
“I’ll take care of the flight. I’ll find something private, and we’ll go.”
“No, I–” Dana cut herself off and turned around.
“No?”
“You don’t have to go. I need to. She’s my sister.”
Dana bent down and picked up the jeans Samara had taken off her the previous night.
“And you’re my girlfriend, Dana. I want to come with you.”
“I can’t right now, Samara.” Dana replied and slipped on the pants.
“You’re not wearing underwear,” Samara pointed out.
“I don’t care. My sister is in surgery right now. She was bleeding, and they couldn’t stop it, so she’s in surgery with a broken leg and probably a broken arm, too. I need to get home. They said she’s bleeding internally.”
“I will get you home, baby. I’ll call Kyla now, and we’ll get a private jet booked that’ll leave in an hour.”
“I left.”
“What?” Samara asked.
“I never leave, and I left,” Dana said as she threw on a T-shirt without a bra. “I’m always there, and the two times I haven’t been have been when my mom almost died, and now, Lainey.”
“Babe, this has nothing to do with that.”
“What else could it be?”
“Dana, I know you’re worried and upset, but you can’t control when people get sick or when some asshole decides to run a light and hits your sister.”
“I’ve got to go,” Dana said. “I need my stuff.”
“Can you give me ten minutes? I’ll call Kyla and repack my bags.”
“Can you call her and get me a flight?”
“Yes, Dana.”
Samara moved around the bed to get her phone.
“I’m going to get an Uber and just head to the airport so that I’m there when it’s booked. I’ll pay you back whatever it costs. I just need to get on the road. I need to be doing something.”
“Dana, I’m coming with you, okay? Ten minutes, and I’ll have a car outside and my bags packed, I promise.”
She dialed Kyla’s number and held the phone to her ear.
“She’s my big sister, Samara.”
“I know, baby,” Samara said, taking Dana’s hand.
“Can you please… stay here? I don’t mean it to sound… I just… I don’t think I can handle you being there.”
“You can’t handle–” Samara shook her head while the phone rang. “I’ll stay out of the way. I just want to be there for you, and for Lainey and Paige.”
“I know, but it’s all too much. I can’t really be with you there… in the hospital. You can’t be my girlfriend there, and I just…” Dana faded out and opened her suitcase. “I need to…” She couldn’t finish that sentence, either.
“It’s okay. I get it.”
Samara didn’t, really, but Dana wasn’t in a state where they could continue this conversation.
“Samara?”
“Kyla, hey. Sorry, it’s so early.”
“What’s up?” Kyla asked.
“I need a flight booked back to New Orleans as soon as possible. Private or commercial; whatever leaves the soonest.”
“What? You just got back to LA. What’s–”
“Kyla, now,” she said.
“Okay. Okay. Private will leave whenever you want. It might just take a minute to get a pilot and a plane. You don’t have a service on speed dial like I suggested you get the last time you wanted to fly private.”
“You can lecture me later. Can you please get Dana on the next flight out of LAX, then?”
“Sure. Just Dana?”
“Yes,” she said with a lump in her throat. “It’s a family emergency.”
“So, you didn’t just kick her out of your house at five in the morning?”
“Kyla, please…” she said softly and turned away from Dana, who was still packing. “Something happened back in New Orleans, and she needs to get back as soon as possible.”
“Shit. Okay. I’m on it.”
“Can you send her the confirmation and everything? And maybe send it to me, too, so that I have her flight info?”
“No problem. I’ll have something booked in the next five minutes.”
“Whatever it takes. Use my miles to upgrade her if you have to, or fucking pay a million dollars. Just get her home, okay?”
“Yeah, boss. After this, you’ll tell me what’s going on, yeah?”
“Yes,” Samara said.
With that taken care of, she found the app on her phone that she used to book her own cars in LA whenever Kyla was busy and she needed one urgently and ordered an SUV for as soon as possible.
“The car will be here in seven minutes. Kyla is booking you a flight as we speak. We should have the confirmation by the time the car gets here.”
“Okay. Thank you,” Dana replied as she zipped up her suitcase.
“Of course,” she said. “Dana, are you sure? I can pack fast, or I can take a later flight and get there in the afternoon. Can I please do that? Or, can you get there and call me to let me know when I can be there? I–”
“I’m sure. I need to be there with them, you know? I’m sorry. I appreciate that you want to go with me, but I don’t think I can handle you being there; not with Lainey… and my family, and…” Dana turned to leave the bedroom. “But thank you. I’ll call you when I can.”
◆◆◆
“Hey. How is she?” she asked.
“Hi,” Dana replied, sounding tired. “She’s still here, but they said she can be released in a few days. They’re running some tests, but she looks better. She’s got her color back for the first time since I got here.”
“That’s good,” Samara said.
She was lying in bed and turned to the side where Dana had slept, missing her instantly.
She hadn’t made her bed since Dana left, which was unusual for her, and she’d even told her housekeeper to leave it until Dana got back.
Given that it had been several days, though, and this was the first time they’d connected over the phone, Samara was starting to wonder if Dana would ever come back.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to talk,” Dana said.
“She was out completely for two days, with the drugs they had her on to help her heal, and Paige was an absolute mess, which I understand – Lainey is the love of her life. My mom and dad were messes, too, but they tried to hold themselves together. Paige didn’t stop crying until Lainey woke up, and she’s still doing it on and off.
Someone needed to make sure they all eat, which was a massive chore.
As much as I miss you, I’m sort of glad you weren’t here.
Don’t take that the wrong way, but I don’t know how I could’ve handled trying to find you food on top of everyone else and maybe telling people we were friends or pretending like you’re my friend, Mara from Idaho, or something.
My mom hates everything about being in a hospital, including the coffee.
My dad isn’t a big fan of being here, either, since the times he had to be here with her, and he complains when he’s worried or frustrated.
Just constant complaining from him. And I get it – his daughter is in the hospital – but it’s been a lot. ”
That comment about food really hurt. Samara knew that Dana hadn’t meant it that way, but it still hit her right in the heart.
“I would have gotten you all food,” she said instead, choosing not to address it directly. “Who’s making sure you eat, babe?”
“My mom tries,” Dana replied with a sigh. “I’m okay, though.”
“Are you, really? You can tell me, Dana. I’m here.”
“I saw the pictures of the car,” Dana shared. “And the doctor said it was a miracle that she’d made it out with only the damage she had.”
“Pictures?”
“Paige took some, but the cops did, too. I guess the guy who hit Lainey called 911. While Lainey was still conscious, she called Paige. Paige rushed over there, but Lainey was already out, and the ambulance got there right after her. She took a bunch of photos for insurance, I guess, and she sent them to me.”
“How bad?” she asked, her heart racing in her chest.
“Bad,” Dana said. “I just sent you a few if you want to see for yourself.”