Page 88 of What If We Break?
WasIsupposed to be this upset?
I mean, yes, I could feel my breakfast wanting to come back out of my stomach every other second, and my heartwas hammering like crazy inside of my chest, but I wasn’t crying or anything.
“I… I don’t know,” she admitted, sobbing. “The doctors aren’t exactly talking to me.”
“But you said—” I stopped myself from talking. It really didn’t matter what Lily said before, it wasn’t going to help the situation now, either. “How are you here? I thought you were on set.”
I followed Lily inside the building, into the ER.
“Yeah, I was, but I left early because I was planning on being there for your competition… and on my way back, I—” Lily wiped her tears away, taking an unsteady breath. “Your dad called me because he wanted to make sure he got the right arena for your competition so they could be there. And then suddenly… I heard tires screeching, followed by a loud crash, and shortly after, the call end?—”
“Mamá,” I called out as soon as I saw my mother standing in the middle of the ER, clutching my father’s jacket close to her chest.
She turned around, looking right at me. Unlike all the other times I’d seen my mother, her eyes were empty, devoid of every emotion possible. She wasn’t even crying.
Mom had blood in her hair, as well as some splatters all over her clothes. Her wrist was bandaged up, and she was wearing a shoulder immobilizer.
I rushed toward her, but suddenly every step felt like my feet were made of concrete.
“Reece.” Mom’s voice broke when she spoke, her bandaged hand quivering as she brought it up to her face to cover her mouth. “Oh, Reece.”
I fell into my mother’s arms, completely forgetting about her injured shoulder, and she didn’t remind me of it either.Upon hearing her sob as her mostly okay arm wrapped around me, I finally broke, too.
Tears dripped from my eyes, and my heart sank deeper with every passing second. It felt like my whole world had suddenly tilted off its axis.
My mouth felt dry and my throat constricted, making it hard to swallow. Dread settled in my chest, the nauseating feeling from earlier returning.
“Are you okay, Ma?” I asked, not knowing what else to say. It was a stupid question, I’d realized. Of course she wasn’t okay.
“Your dad. He…” Mom tried to take a deep breath but collapsed instead. If I hadn’t been holding her, she would’ve fallen to the ground. “I think… I don’t think he’ll make it.”
38
REECE
It had been an hour since I got to the hospital.
Colin sat across from me with his wife and their kids, trying his best to stay positive. He kept assuring all three of them that their grandpa was going to be alright, even though he didn’t know if that was true.
Every time Mom tried to tell us what happened, she started to sob uncontrollably so that both Colin and I eventually stopped asking. It was a car crash, so much we knew.
Back in the ER, I overheard the two police officers talking to a doctor who was exiting the room the other guy involved in the accident was kept. The guy died on impact, apparently, but I wasn’t sure if he caused the accident.
Dad was in surgery, but nobody could tell us when he was expected to get out—merely a broad estimate. Something between two to seven hours, they said. Maybe more.
“Did you reach Brooke yet?” Lily asked, and I immediately shook my head. She still hadn’t called back. “Miles?” I shook my head once more. “Anyone?”
“Nope.” A heavy sigh left my lungs. “Competition starts in thirty minutes… I should’ve been at the arena like thirty minutes ago. Earlier, actually, but whatever.”
Colin looked up at me at the same time as our mother did. She was still crying but far less sobbing now.
“You should go,” Mom said. “Your dad wouldn’t want you sitting here and missing your competition, no less your game later.”
“Yeah, right.” I laughed humorously. “I’m not fucking leaving.”
Kim gasps. “Don’t say that word, Uncle ReeRee.”
“Sorry.”
