promise me if he says you need tests, you’ll find somewhere to
go for them. I’ll go with you if you want.” If that was the price
she had to pay for the necklace, then so be it. “I’ll be there.
You won’t be alone.”
“Okay.” Giana was retreating again, going back behind that
façade, getting ready to face whatever was coming. “Okay.”
That was how Coralyn left her. With regret lashing at her
and grief already gnawing at her bones. She drove straight to
the hospital, her heart heavy. She was in turmoil. She’d never
felt so ripped apart or confused. She couldn’t stop thinking
about her mom. About her dad. About all that pain that was
just waiting for her, fresh waves waiting to drown her.
She was met outside her dad’s room by another nurse, older
this time. Graying hair in a bun. Blue scrubs immaculate. No
makeup on her face, and it was pulled into a grimace of
sympathy.
Coralyn’s heart plummeted and panic took over, fresh and
acute and aching. She wanted to scream again. She wanted to
cry. She couldn’t do either. She couldn’t move. She was
trapped, a statue as her world was falling down around her.
“I’m sorry,” the nurse said. “We tried calling you.”
“Wh-what?” Coralyn wrenched her phone out of her purse.
She’d put it on silent before she’d gone into the meeting in
Giana’s office. There were five missed calls from the hospital.
All that time she’d been with Giana, they’d been trying to call.
“No!” Then a wordless, soundless scream tore from her throat
and past her parted lips. The tears were gathering, heavy,
dragged out by her worst fears.
“You’re not too late,” the nurse assured her, placing a kind
hand on her shoulder to steady her. Coralyn didn’t realize she