Page 47 of Drive
I’ll save it for you… The girl with rain in hername.”
The verse wrecked her, and she completely fellapart.
“Rain, what the hell?” her sistercroaked.
Rainey shot up from her chair, wiping her eyes, unable to speak. And at that moment, Dr. Lambert, Holi’s hematologist, came through the door. At the sight of Rainey, the doctor jerked back with a look ofalarm.
“Excuse me,” Rainey muttered as she flew to the bathroom and shut the door behind her. She still wore the ear buds, so Jacques’s voice thanking the crowd filled her head. Again, he was saying all the right things, but even as she couldn’t manage her feelings, she could hear it. The strain of emotion in his voice. It was just a hint, and it was there for only a second before he mastered it, but she heardit.
Jacques Gilchrist might have given up on contacting her, but he hadn’t stopped thinking about her. And he felt everything shefelt.
Standing with her back pressed to the door of the hospital bathroom, Rainey resolved to call Jacques after his show. If nothing else, she knew she needed to explain her silence. And she needed to tell him she’d heard the song and loved it more than she couldexpress.
Judging by how the crowd had responded, it would soon become another fan favorite, and Rainey could only shake her head at the irony. She had pulled back because it was obvious to her that Jacques’s trajectory would soon take him out of her reach. As far as she could see, those actions had only spurred the inevitable. He’d written a beautiful song that people would adore. Of course, that only proved to her that Jacques was destined for greatness. Nothing could stand in his way, and she wouldn’t wish thatanyway.
Rainey went to the sink and splashed water on her face. She patted her eyes dry, but one glimpse in the mirror told her there was no hiding her distress. Holi would demand an explanation as soon as the doctorleft.
She opened the bathroom door and stepped back into her sister’s hospital room, doing her best to pretend that nothing had happened, but Holi’s questioning gaze landed on her anyway. Thankfully, the doctor only gave her the briefest glance and kepttalking.
“… concerned about continued infection. And being in the hospital puts you at risk of things like tuberculosis and MRSA,” she was saying. “You aren’t responding to drug therapy, so it’s crucial we find a stem celldonor.”
Dr. Lambert turned to Rainey again. “I was just explaining to your sister that you aren’t a match.” She gave her a sympathetic shrug. “The best bet are full siblings, but we sometimes get lucky with half siblings, parents, cousins, and other bloodrelatives.”
Rainey bit her lip. The list of Holi’s blood relatives wasn’t long. Not long atall.
“It’s my understanding,” the doctor continued, her tone softening. “That your only other sibling isdeceased?”
Even as Rainey felt the blood leave her face, she saw Holi’s expression tighten as their eyeslocked.
“Yes, that’s correct,” Holisaid.
“I need to sit down,” Rainey muttered, finding her way to the chair while her thoughts ran away withher.
What if John Lee had been a match for Holi? What if the brother they’d lost was the only person who could save her? Wouldn’t that accident then cost Rainey two siblings? Losing John Lee had gutted her, but to lose themboth—
“Stop it, Rainey,” Holi ordered, wearing a frown that told Rainey she knew exactly what she was thinking. “Don’t gothere.”
“But whatif—”
“Let it go. This isn’thelping.”
Rainey shut her mouth. Holi was right about that. Being strong didn’t come naturally to her, but she had to try if she was going to help her sister. And if Rainey couldn’t be a donor, then she needed to help Holi findone.
Dr. Lambert’s eyes shifted between the two sisters before she continued speaking. “Of course, we’ve started a search in the national donor database, but I recommend you get word to all of your blood relatives and ask them to gettested.”
She explained to them the health and age requirements for donating — which took both their father’s and Holi’s mother’s parents out of the running, along with Holi’s Aunt Donna. But Donna had two grown children, Holi’s cousins Garrett and Louisa, so that left four potentialdonors.
Unfortunately, two of them were Holi’s parents, Doc Dylan Reeves, their blues legend father who couldn’t be bothered to visit more than twice a year, and Denise Gonzalez, the woman who’d given birth to Holi and practically dropped her on their doorstep when she was two years old. And before she left her, Denise had cursed Doc Dylan for saddling her with a child and ruining her dancingcareer.
Denise had been twenty-two at the time. She’d reached out to her daughter when Holi turned sixteen, apologizing for her immaturity and selfishness, and asking to be a part of her life. The two had forged a relationship that wasn’t exactly close, but at least they kept in touch. Denise lived in Florida. She’d married, but she never had other children, and she never made any noises about moving to Lafayette or suggesting that Holi try living inMiami.
The woman Holi calledMomwas Melinda, Rainey’s mother. She’d come in from Galveston the weekend after Holi got out of the hospital, and she called to check on the girls every day. It was a shame she wasn’t a blood relative because Melinda Hagen would bleed herself dry for Holi, just as she would for Rainey, if it would havehelped.
Basically, Holi had four people who shared her blood and might be able to save herlife.
Rainey took a deep breath. “I’ll start makingcalls.”
* * *
