Chapter 6 June
JUNE
By the time Holt pulled into the hospital parking lot, June’s hand was still wrapped around her phone as if letting go would make the last thirty seconds real.
Carmen’s voice had been tight, clipped by urgency and sirens, but the message had been clear enough to make June’s stomach drop.
Chief Evans spilled the beans about you and Holt being married.
June lowered the phone slowly and stared straight ahead through the windshield.
The hospital facade looked the same as it had every time she’d been forced through its doors these past few days, clean and bright and completely indifferent to the fact that her life was doing that unpleasant thing where it split into before and after.
Holt glanced at her from behind the wheel. He didn’t ask immediately, which was one of the things June had always admired about him, even when she’d been furious with him. Holt could read a pause the way other people read headlines.
“What’s wrong?” Holt asked finally. “Is it Rad or Margo?”
June swallowed, trying to choose the least disastrous order to deliver the disaster in.
“It’s… neither,” June said, and she hated how stupid that sounded, considering what Carmen had just told her. “Carmen said Margo’s going to be all right, and Rad’s being checked out.”
Holt’s shoulders eased by a fraction, but his eyes stayed sharp. “Then what is it?”
June forced herself to say it. “Carmen said Chief Evans told Rad that we were married.”
Holt blinked as if she’d just spoken in a language he didn’t recognize. For a beat, his face held only confusion, then his jaw tightened in that familiar way that meant anger had arrived and was being forced to stand in line.
“He told Rad,” Holt repeated, as if the words might rearrange themselves into something sensible if he said them out loud.
“I’m sorry,” June said, because that was what her mouth did when she felt awkward and guilty and furious all at once. “It doesn’t sound important right now.”
“It is important,” Holt replied immediately as he killed the engine. “Not because of us. Because of Rad. Because of Willa. Because it’s not his story to find out from a third party.”
June stared at him for a second and felt a sting of something she didn’t want to name.
Relief, maybe, that he hadn’t dismissed it, that he hadn’t made it about his own pride.
Holt always had a way of making the most painful thing feel like a matter of logistics instead of emotion, and sometimes that was exactly what she needed.
They climbed out of the car and headed toward the hospital entrance, Holt moving quickly but not running. His body language screamed urgency as he wanted to know how his son was. But his control stayed intact, as if he refused to give the chaos the satisfaction of seeing him fray.
“Why would Zane do that?” Holt asked as they neared the front door.
June shook her head. “I don’t know the full story. Carmen just told me what Rad said to her in the ambulance.”
Holt’s gaze flicked to her. “It helps,” he said quietly. “At least if Rad brings it up, I won’t be walking into that room blind.”
June tried to smile, but it came out tight.
“I’ll go check on Rad. I should do it alone,” Holt continued. “Then we’ll check whether it’s safe to go back to the fire scene before forensics gets there. If someone set that place up to burn fast, I don’t want you walking through it without knowing what we’re dealing with.”
June nodded. “I’ll go check on Margo,” she said. “She might tell me what actually happened.”
Holt’s mouth softened slightly. “Thank you.”
June turned away before she could overthink that tone, the one that sounded too much like trust and too little like the guarded politeness she’d forced between them for years.
Inside the hospital, the air was cool and smelled faintly of disinfectant and tired people. June followed the signs toward the emergency section, her mind jumping ahead to Margo, to Rad, and to the terrible timing of everything.
They had been planning to tell Rad and Willa. They had. During lunch at Teacups, where they could control the conversation.
Now, Teacups was scorched, Rad was coughing in a hospital bed, and the secret they’d kept like a splinter under the skin had been ripped out by someone who didn’t even seem to realize it was lodged there.
Holt had been right. They should’ve come clean from the beginning, before it could look like a strategy instead of a complicated, painful truth.
June pushed that guilt away. Guilt could have its moment later. Right now, she needed facts.
She rounded a corner and nearly collided with Lucy, who was striding down the corridor with a tablet in hand, her neat scrubs topped with a white lab coat, and her hair pulled back tighter than usual. Lucy’s face was composed, but June could see the strain in the set of her jaw.
“Lucy,” June said quickly. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
Lucy stopped immediately. “No, I wasn’t looking where I was going either.”
“How are Margo and Rad?” June asked. “Have you been able to see both of them?”
“They’re okay,” Lucy said. “Not fine, but okay. They are both suffering from smoke inhalation, and Margo’s oxygen levels dipped low enough that I want her monitored for the rest of the day.
Rad is angry, mostly. His lungs are irritated, and he just wants to get back to the investigation and find out what happened at Teacups. ”
June’s chest loosened. “Oh, that’s such a relief that they are both okay.”
Lucy nodded once. “It could’ve been worse. If they’d been in there for another few minutes, we’d be having a different conversation.”
June nodded slowly, asked. “Can I see Margo?”
“Of course,” Lucy said, and smiled. “Margo is in room 214. She’s cranky, so be prepared but I’m sure she’d love to see you.”
June managed a small laugh. “Margo being cranky is actually comforting right now.”
Lucy’s mouth softened. “It is,” she agreed, then added, “Oh, and I have a bit of good news.”
“I could use some of that,” June admitted.
Lucy’s eyes flicked down the corridor, then back. “Lacey’s awake.”
June went very still. “She is?”
“She’s groggy and exhausted,” Lucy said, “but she’s responsive. Her neuro checks look better. She’s not out of danger yet, but she’s awake.”
June felt a rush of relief so strong it left her slightly lightheaded. “You and Dean must be so relieved.”
“Yes,” Lucy said with a sigh and relief flashing in her eyes.
“We are, and Dean hasn’t moved from her side.
” There was a tired hint of amusement in her voice.
“He stepped out briefly when she was examined, and afterward, when she was sleeping again, Noah sat with her so Dean could go home for a few hours last night. I got one of those La-Z-Boys we use in the family wards brought into Lacey’s room for him. ”
“That was kind of you.” June nodded, swallowing around emotion. She was so relieved that Lacey was awake and that Margo and Rad would be okay. “Please let me know when I can see Lacey and send her my love.”
“I will,” Lucy promised. “For now, I’m sorry, but Lacey can have no visitors unless necessary. I’m trying to keep the stimulation low while her brain settles.”
June’s mouth tightened in understanding. “Of course.”
Lucy touched June’s arm lightly, then stepped aside. “Go see Margo. You know how my daughter gets when confined to bed.”
June headed toward Room 214, her steps quickening. She knocked once and opened the door without waiting long enough for anyone to answer, because if Margo was alert enough to yell at her for it, that would be a good sign.
Margo was propped up in a hospital bed, her hair messy, and her face still pale. An oxygen cannula sat under her nose, and the monitor beside her beeped steadily, as if it was doing its best to annoy her into staying alive.
Margo turned her head and narrowed her eyes immediately.
“June, it’s so great to see you,” she said, voice hoarse but dripping with attitude. “Have you come to help me bust out of here?” Emotion flashed in her eyes. “I need to go see the damage to my business.”
June’s chest tightened with affection and sorrow for the young woman. “I think for now, you need to rest and do as your mother tells you to.”
Margo sighed deeply. “What if I offered you dinner for life at Teacups and the Sandpiper Inn if you help me escape this cold, sterile place with all this beeping driving me crazy?” She turned and glared at the monitors. “You’d think they’d figure out how to make silent machines.”
June pulled the visitor chair closer and sat, leaning forward slightly. “No, I can’t be bribed to help you escape,” she said firmly. “I’m not risking Lucy’s wrath.”
Margo sighed dramatically and let her head fall back against the pillow. “My mom can be a bit terrifying when she’s worried.”
“She has reason to be,” June said softly. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired,” Margo admitted, and her voice lost some of its bite. “My throat feels like sandpaper. My lungs feel like I swallowed a campfire.”
June forced a smile. “That’s a poetic description.”
“It’s accurate,” Margo said, then looked at June with sudden sharpness. “How’s Rad?”
“He’s being checked out,” June said. “Carmen said he was mostly irritated and wanted to get out of here.” She gave Margo a grin. “Just like you, I guess.”
Margo huffed. “Maybe I should hunt him down, and we can bust out of here together.”
“I’m sure your mother figured that out and it’s why she hid him on the other side of the clinic,” June told her. “So you’d have to get past at least the two nurses’ stations and the reception.”
“Mmm, so you know where he is then?” Margo looked at her with a raised brow.
“And I’m not telling you, and on my way out, I’ll instruct the nurses not to tell you either,” June laughed.
“And here I was thinking you were on my side,” Margo huffed, folding her arms dramatically.
They fell into a comfortable silence before June hesitated, then said, “Margo, can you tell me what happened?”
Margo’s expression shifted, the humor fading.