“Cybil.” His voice sounds weird, worried, strained.
“What happened?” I sit up as my heart starts to pound. “Is Jade okay?”
“Jade’s fine, but she asked me to call you. We were on the phone this morning, and her mom started to complain about her chest hurting before she passed out. They’re on the way to the hospital. They think she had a heart attack.”
A sense of dread washes over me while the blood in my head seems to rush to my toes, making me lightheaded.
“I . . .” Tears fill my eyes as I realize I’m not just minutes away, but hundreds of miles, which means I can’t just get in my Bronco to go be with my best friend who needs me. “Oh God.” I cover my mouth with my fingers.
“Cybil,” Galvin calls, but before I can respond, my phone slides from my hand and Tanner places his fingers under my chin, scanning my face. He moves his hand to the back of my head and presses my forehead into his hip.
“This is Tanner. What’s going on?” he asks; then his fingers dig into my scalp. “Now is not the time for that conversation. Cybil’s upset, and I wanna know why.” The sound of my heart beating hard fills my ears, then his rumbled, “What hospital? All right, let Jade know we’re on our way.” I hear my cell bounce onto the cushion of the couch, then land on the floor before he gets down on his knees in front of me and takes my face into his hands. “Sunshine, I know you’re upset, but I need you to keep it together.”
“Maisie’s in the hospital.”
“I know.” His expression softens as he wipes the tears from my cheeks.
“I’m hundreds of miles away.” My chin wobbles. “And Jade needs me.”
“You’ll be with her, baby.” He stands and pulls me up, then urges me into the house and to the bedroom. At the side of the bed, he turns me to face him and wraps his hand around my jaw. “Get dressed and pack what you need to pack. I’m gonna make a couple of calls.” He kisses my nose, then turns to leave.
I blink at the empty doorway, then look around the room before I get myself together enough to put on some clothes and to start packing up my stuff. As I’m shoving my makeup bag in my suitcase, he comes into the room and walks past me to go into the bathroom without a word; then I hear the shower turn on. As I finish packing, I try to figure out how I’ll be able to drive, especially with the tears I’m barely holding back, ready to let loose at any second.
“Are you packed?” he asks a few minutes later as he comes out of the bathroom fully dressed. Wearing sneakers, jeans, and a T-shirt, with a backward baseball cap on his head, he has a black duffle bag slung over his shoulder. If things were different, I would take a moment to appreciate how good he looks wearing a baseball cap, but now isn’t the time.
“Yeah.” I flip my suitcase closed, and he moves me out of the way to zip it up for me.
“Blake’s dad is meeting us at the airport in Missoula in the next hour, so we need to get on the road.”
“What?” I watch as he lifts my bag off the bed.
“He’s going to fly us to Portland, and Janet called a rental-car place at the airport there, so we’ll have wheels when we land.”
Shaking my head, I try to wrap my head around what he’s saying. “Are you coming with me?”
“Yes.” He places his hand against my lower back and urges me out of the room.
“You’re coming with me, and Blake’s dad is flying us . . . like, in a plane?”
“Unless he decides to take out the dragons, yeah, he’s flying us in his plane,” he says, and I stop and turn to face him. “Sorry, shit, baby. I didn’t mean—”
“I’ve never flown in my life,” I admit, cutting him off. “I’ve never even been near a plane. I don’t think—”
“It’s safe, Cybil, and the most logical way for us to get to Oregon.”
“I watch the news. I—”
“You”—he captures the back of my neck and smooths his thumb up and down my skin—“trust me.”
“I trust you.” I don’t even hesitate to agree, and he places his face close to mine, so close I can see tiny bits of gold in his eyes I didn’t notice before, something that’s ridiculous to notice now.
“This is the fastest way to get you home to your family. I promise you’ll be safe. I’ll be with you the entire time, so you have nothing to be afraid of. Okay?” Swallowing, I nod, and he leans in to kiss the tip of my nose. “You need to grab your cell from the back deck while I make sure the house is shut down.”
“Okay.” I head outside to get my phone while he goes to the kitchen, and when I get back inside, he ushers me to the front door and out, leading me to his truck. While I buckle up, I hear the thud of our bags landing in the truck bed; then, a moment later, he gets in behind the wheel.
“Ready?” he asks, placing two bottled waters in the cup holders and a few of my favorite granola bars in the center console between our seats. The sight of them causes my throat to burn as I nod. “Let’s get you home.” He grabs my hand and pulls it over to rest on his thigh before he starts the engine and backs away from the house. As he flips on the turn signal and turns onto the main road, I look at my phone, hoping it will ring while praying it doesn’t. I don’t know what I’ll do if I get a call saying that—
I bite the inside of my cheek, refusing to finish my thought.
“I’m proud of you, baby.”
“You always say you’re proud of me when I’m not doing anything worthy of that praise.” I smile, but it feels forced.
“You’re doing more than you think you are. I know you’re freaked, but you’re not breaking down on me.” He gives my fingers a squeeze, and I look over at him. “You should send Jade a message to let her know you’re on your way and that you’ll be there in less than four hours.”
“Four hours?” There’s no hiding the surprise in my voice.
“It’s about an hour-and-a-half flight once we’re wheels up, then a forty-minute drive from the airport to the hospital.” He lifts my hand to kiss my fingers. “After you send that text, I want you to eat one of your granola bars.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“I know, but you need to get something in your stomach. It’s going to be a long day,” he says gently, and I nod before quickly sending Jade a message and another to Galvin. Jade doesn’t respond, but Galvin texts back seconds later, saying he’s in the waiting room at the hospital and that he’ll see me when I get there. Which I’m not looking forward to. I don’t text him back.
I grab one of my bars and go through the motions of chewing and swallowing, because Tanner is right. I’ll need something in my stomach if I’m going to face this day.
Chapter 19
TANNER
I grab the parking pass the machine spits out, then wait for the gate to go up before heading up the ramp into the parking garage across the street from the hospital. When we landed an hour ago, Cybil was able to get ahold of Jade. She told her that Maisie had gone in for emergency surgery after the doctors had confirmed she did have a heart attack and that she needed a stent put in.