Page 51 of Pretty When It Burns (When The Lights Go Down #1)

“Miss Alexander,” she says. “Your mother and sisters will be arriving soon and they asked that they be able to see you immediately. Miss Jackson and Miss Harris can come back later, if it’s okay with you.”

My breath catches, but I nod.

“They’re here, too?” I ask, my voice suddenly much smaller.

“They are,” Kimberly confirms. “They said they’d be coming straight up as soon as we cleared the room.”

I sink a little deeper into the bed, trying to brace myself. I guess there’s a little part of me that still can’t believe all these people have shown up. For me.

“We’ll come check on you later,” Rylee assures me. “Once you get moved to your regular room.”

She leans in for one more hug, careful as always not to disturb the wires, then pulls away and leaves.

Johanna lingers at the door a moment longer.

“I’m really glad you made it,” she murmurs. No theatrics. Just the truth.

And then she’s gone, too.

I don’t have long to sit in the silence.

The door opens again, and in barrels Macy.

She looks like she’d cried the entire way from the airport. Her purse flies into the nearest chair like it personally offended her, and she makes a beeline for me—only to pause when she catches sight of all the wires and tubes. Not quite as brave as Rylee had been.

“Where can I hug you?” she asks weakly, tears filling her eyes again.

“Nowhere,” I say, my voice going hoarse again. “But you can hold my hand.”

She wraps both her hands around mine, squeezing as tightly as she can.

Makenna follows next. The sharp click of her heels on the tile stops dead when she sees me. Her always-perfect hair is slightly frizzed, her blazer wrinkled, and her eyes rimmed with red. It might be the most out-of-sorts I’ve ever seen her.

“I’m going to say one big sister thing,” she says, pointing a perfectly manicured finger at me. “Because I could absolutely kill you right now. But then I’ll shut up and just be grateful that my baby sister is alive.”

I nod, already bracing for it.

“You absolutely cannot just hop on a plane and not bother to tell anyone where you’re going and when you’ve gotten there. Ever again. You got me?”

“I got it, Kenna,” I murmur. “I know, it was stupid. I should’ve told someone.”

“You’re damn right it was stupid,” comes my mother’s voice.

She stands in the doorway, arms crossed tightly over her chest. Her jaw is set, but her eyes are what almost break me.

I’ve been preparing for people to be upset with me—but I hadn’t prepared for her.

She finally steps inside, slowly, like she isn’t sure if her legs will carry her all the way to my bed.

“Makenna called me the second she got home and realized you’d left,” she tells me. “I’d just talked to you. I was sure you would’ve told me if you were going after Grayson. But then Rylee called to tell us about the accident and I thought…”

She trails off and puts her face in her hand, leaving the other on her hip like she needs something to ground her.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” I whisper.

When she looks back up at me, all of the anger and frustration she has seems to melt away.

She moves to the opposite side of the bed from Macy and takes my free hand in both of hers. Makenna slides in beside her, and for a long moment, none of us speak. We just sit here—together. I can’t remember the last time we’d all been in a room like this. Like a family.

“I thought I was going to lose you,” Mom murmurs.

“I’m okay,” I tell her, even though I’m not sure it’s entirely true.

My body still aches, even with the new round of pain meds they’d given me after taking out the vent tube. I still feel battered. Raw. Unsteady.

But it doesn’t matter. They need to hear that I’m fine.

“I’m still mad,” she says, even softer now. “But I’m also so relieved that I get to be.”

I give a little laugh, which hurts, but it’s worth it. It’s real.

“I’m glad you’re here,” I say. “All of you.”

Eventually, the room settles into something like peace.

But it doesn’t last long. The nurse comes in again and says it’s time for me to rest—alone. They’ve already bent the visitor policy to let everyone in at once, and now it’s time to let my body start healing.

“I don’t want to leave you,” Macy says as she stands reluctantly, grabbing her purse from the chair she’d attacked earlier. “But we should get some food, before I attack something bigger than that chair.”

“You can come back in a few hours,” I assure her.

Makenna smooths her blazer and leans down to adjust my blanket, just like she would do when Mom left her to babysit.

“If you need anything, I’ll be down in the lobby threatening to sue the hospital admin until they bring it to you,” she says with a small smile before brushing a kiss to my temple.

I laugh, weakly but genuinely, knowing that she absolutely means it.

Mom stands, too. She doesn’t say anything at first. She just looks at me with those same tired eyes that somehow still hold all the strength in the world—the same way they always had.

“We’ll just be downstairs,” she reminds me. “Get some rest, darling.”

She brushes the hair away from my face before kissing the top of my head—light, careful.

Then they leave, one by one, until I’m alone again, drifting back to sleep.