Page 34 of Don's Kitten

“Savannah? Thank god.”

“Yvonne, what’s happened?” I ask, panicked. “I was talking to my mom, and the line just went?—”

“Your mother collapsed,” she whispers. “It’s her heart. We’re in the ambulance right now.”

Everything inside me drops.

“Collapsed?” I repeat. “How bad is it?”

“She’s conscious but weak. The arrhythmia spiked again. We’re taking her to St. Mary’s. Honey, I think—I think she needs a transplant now. That’s what they’re saying, at least.”

A transplant.

The words wash over me like ice water. How the hell did we get from a simple valve replacement to a whole heart transplant?

The insurance kept denying it. That’s how. It got too bad, and now it’s too late to fix it.

I force myself to swallow the rage. Being angry won’t help my mother. And panic—that will help her even less.

“Okay,” I whisper, even though I have no idea how I get the word out. None of this is okay. “Thank you.” My hand shakes hard around the phone. “I’m on my way.”

I hang up before I lose the ability to think at all.

I don’t even bother with shoes. I run through the hallway, my heart pounding so fast it hurts. Down the stairs, through the front door, straight into the garage.

My mind is a mess of thoughts that won’t connect. All I hear is Mom’s voice from earlier, laughing through the phone. She wasfine. What went wrong?

I close my eyes and see her lying somewhere in the back of an ambulance, struggling for breath while I’m here doing nothing.

Shit. I can’t stay here. I can’t be standing still.

She needs me.

I scan the wall of keys. There are too many. Sleek sports cars, massive SUVs, things I shouldn’t touch. I grab the first pair I recognize from Riccardo’s daily drives.

He’ll forgive me. He has to.

I don’t have a choice.

My hand closes around the key fob—right as someone steps into the doorway.

“Whoa.” Valerio raises both hands. “What are you doing?”

I turn fast. I probably look wild—hair everywhere, breathing too fast. “My mom collapsed. She’s on the way to St. Mary’s. I need a car.”

His expression changes instantly. The joking, easygoing Valerio vanishes.

“Savannah. Give me the keys.” He steps toward me. “We’ll call Ric?—”

“No.” I back up, clutching the keys like they’ll disappear if he gets too close. “Please. Don’t call him. Not about this.”

He looks at me like I just said the dumbest thing on earth. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.” My voice cracks, and I hate that it does. “He’s done enough. He’s already paid for nurses and doctors and medication. I can’t ask him for more. I can’t be that much trouble. I can’t.”

“That’s insane,” Valerio says. “He’s in love with you.”

My stomach twists. Not because it sounds wrong—but because it sounds too good to be true. “Don’t say that.”