Page 45 of The Homemaker (The Chain of Lakes #1)
Chapter Forty-Three
Murphy
Tragedies are so tragic because it’s never the right time for everything to fall apart.
Time is our worst enemy.
We took a walk around the lake after dinner. Hunter didn’t go because he had indigestion.
It takes a moment to realize what’s happening. Vera and Blair scream. I call 9-1-1, but just as they answer, the paramedics come through the front door. Alice must have called them.
They ask her to step back, but she ignores them, so I have to pull her away while she whispers, “Don’t die. Swim.”
Blair and her mother are falling apart. My future father-in-law is dead on the floor. But the only thing I can focus on is Alice. I’m losing her again.
This can’t happen .
She escapes my hold, but I can’t let her go, not with that distant look in her eyes.
“Don’t do this,” I say, grabbing her shoulders, pressing her to the back door before she can open it. “Do you hear me?”
For the first time, her wild eyes shift and lock with mine.
“Alice, no one is drowning. Okay? He’s okay. You’re okay.” My voice cracks under the lies and desperation. I whisper, “Okay, baby?”
She blinks, sending fat tears down her face.
I have never felt so internally conflicted in my life. I can’t be everywhere at once. Is this it? Is this the moment I have to choose? It’s a new level of fucking cruelty.
“I need you to focus on me. You. Are. Okay.”
Callen’s truck is on the street. I never thought I’d want him here as much as I do now.
“Don’t move. Stay right here. Okay?”
Tears cling to her long eyelashes.
“Alice, answer me.” I press my hands to her face and kiss her.
She doesn’t respond.
“Alice,” I whisper over her lips. “Hi,” I say on a breath like a prayer.
She moves her hands to my wrists and leans in to kiss me. I sigh through my nose in relief. Then I pull back and smile past the pain and panic. “There you are. There’s my Alice. Stay right here. Okay?”
After a beat, she nods.
I give her one last kiss on the forehead and hurry back to the kitchen just as they’re loading Hunter onto a gurney. Blair flies into my arms, sobbing.
“He has a heartbeat,” Vera says, blotting her eyes. “I’m riding in the ambulance.”
“I have to go too.” Blair releases me.
I nod. “I’ll drive the car and meet you there.”
Her face contorts into a cry again, Vera wraps an arm around her while they head out the front door. I return to the back door where Alice is staring at her feet, unmoving like a statue. It almost looks like she’s asleep.
“Ready?” I take both of her hands and bring them to my mouth. Kissing her knuckles one at a time.
“Ready,” she whispers.
“Hunter’s heart is beating. He’s alive because of you.”
She squints like it’s too much to process.
“Let’s go.” I lead her to the guesthouse and open the sliding door.
“Baby, what took you so long? Take off your clothes and get your sexy ass in here,” Callen calls from the bedroom.
“It’s not just Alice,” I say.
He appears around the corner a minute later, shirtless, jeans on but not fully fastened. My jaw clenches briefly, but I don’t have time to be mad or jealous. Tonight, I’m incredibly fucking thankful that he’s here because I have to leave, and she can’t be alone.
“What do you know about her past?” I ask.
He eyes her. “What do you mean?”
“She had something tragic happen. And certain things trigger PTSD. Hunter just had a heart attack, and that triggered it.”
“Jesus,” he says pulling Alice into his arms.
She leans into him like a limp doll.
“I have to get to the hospital. Stay with her until I get back. Got it? ”
Callen eyes me, and something passes between us. I’m sure I’m doing a shitty job of hiding my deep concern. I’m sure he sees every emotion I’ve ever felt for her, bleeding from my face like a flashing sign.
“Of course, I’ll take care of her,” he says with a tighter voice.
I turn and run back to the house to get the car. When the adrenaline wears off, I’ll break open a bag of marshmallows and roast s’mores over the dumpster fire that is my life, but for now, I have to keep going—keep everyone else from falling apart.