She nods, and I step around the corner into the hallway and feel a sigh of relief. I feel like I’ve been holding my breath for the past hour.
I quickly decide to hurry up and get out of there so I can start packing for Nashville this week. I think it might do some good to get away for a bit, even if it is for work.
The second I walk out of the elevator on the main floor, I spot two cops near the ER and a few teenagers hanging about. I don’t think anything of it until I spot a very familiar figure being led through the doors in handcuffs.
I find myself sprinting toward them, “Lainey!”
“Karly!” She yells back, causing the cops to halt for a split second.
“What happened?” I ask, noticing the cuts on her face and the bruising that’s already on her arm.
Oh no. No, no, no, no.
My mind immediately goes back to what the ER doctor said about the person that hit Jameson and Ellie.
“It was you? You were driving?”
The cop intervenes, “Without a license.”
I glance down at the grip he has on her arm, “Are those really necessary?”
Lainey looks to the ground, and the cop answers, “She’s mouthy. She tried to leave the ER earlier. We had to cuff her to the bed while we waited on her X-rays to come back.”
There is no way that Eric knows she’s here.
“You realize how fucked up this is?” I whisper to her. “Eric is upstairs with Ellie.”
“Ellie?” She questions, “What’s wrong with Ellie?”
I twist my brows, “Ellie was in the truck you hit.”
Lainey’s eyes go wide, “Oh my god. I didn’t know. It took them forever to cut my seatbelt. They helped the other car first. I didn’t see her. Karly, it was dark. I didn’t see them.”
The desperation in her eyes tugs at my heart, and the officer begins to pull her out the door, but I follow behind them, “Just hang tight. I’ll be right behind you.”
In the parking lot, I stare up at the lights shining through the windows on the second floor. Why on earth do I always have to be the bearer of bad news?
Where I go, the drama follows.
Eric is going to lose his mind over this. I don’t know how much more he can take before he snaps. Before we all do.
CHAPTER 24
ERIC
“Before you say anything, just know I had a very good reason.” I step into the corner of the chief of surgery’s office.
“You know it won’t be up to me, it’s over my head, but I’ll have to tell them, Eric. Imagine if something happened during surgery. How would you have handled that?”
I don’t even want to think about something terrible happening to Ellie. I look around her office, noticing all the family pictures on her desk.
“What would you have done? Had you gotten in there and seen one of your kids?”
She shakes her head, “I would’ve handed it to someone I trusted, someone whose judgment wouldn’t be clouded by love. Someone that, if it came down to it, could be calm enough to save their life.”
“I fucked up.”
“You did,” She agrees. “I know you’ve been here way longer than you were supposed to be. Go home and get some rest.”