I slump in the uncomfortable hospital chair while Diana dozes in the bed. I’d busted my ass last night at The Frog, trying to manage solo the shift we both usually work. Timothy, the bartender and manager, pitched in as much as he could, but he warned me that if Diana doesn’t return soon, he’ll have to replace her. If that happens, he won’t be able to hire her back unless there’s another opening.

Blake stayed here all night, but he needed to get back to Dive Love. With only the two of us to make living expenses for all three, we can’t afford to piss any employer off right now.

I close my eyes and listen to the other families. It sounds like a dozen people speak rapidly in the Jamaican patois language of the island. Their melodic voices hum like music and my mind drifts to where it always does these days.

Zach.

I wonder if he knows Jonas found me.

I wonder if he cares.

He’s the least of my worries right now but he’s always there, in the back of my mind. Lingering. Waiting for me to close my eyes so I can see him smile at me…

“Miss.” Someone shakes my shoulder. “Miss.”

I open my eyes. A black man in a white lab coat stands in front of me and I blink, trying to remember where I am. Slowly I recognize the hospital.

I search out Diana and she’s awake, but she looks far worse than earlier, if that’s possible. The bruises are still deep purple, though a few of them seem to be fading to the damaged banana look. But her eyes are glassy, as if she isn’t really inside.

I jump up and push the man back, my heart rising in my throat. “Diana? Are you okay?”

She closes her eyes and doesn’t move.

“Miss,” the man says again. “I am Dr. Bodden. We have a problem.”

I spin around. “What’s wrong with her? She’s supposed to be getting better.”

He puts a hand on my arm and tries to pull me back to the chair, but I resist. “Your friend is going to need another surgery.” He speaks with an island accent.

“Surgery?” I hear him, but I can’t accept it. “No, she’s already had her surgery. She’s going to be fine.”

His voice is quiet and calm, but it doesn’t help my racing heart. “There are signs of internal bleeding and perhaps some infection.”

“No. You took care of that.” I shake my head. “She’s okay.”

“I’m afraid the beating was severe.” Compassion stirs in his bottomless eyes. “Quite a bit of damage. We may have missed something.”

There was a time when I believed that things always worked out in the end. That was before Mom died. Now I know bad things can happen. That things just are and you can hope for anything more than what you’re given.

A flush of panic heats me. “But she is going to be okay, right? After the surgery?” He doesn’t answer immediately. I want to grab this doctor by the throat and force him to fix Diana.

“I believe she has a good chance, yes.” The corners of his mouth droop and his shoulders follow suit. “But she’s not a citizen and she doesn’t have insurance. We have no assurance of getting paid for the previous surgery, let alone this pending one.”

No fucking way. “I can get the money. Just do the surgery.”

The sadness sinks deep in his face. “If it was up to me, I’d do it immediately, with or without the payment. But it is not under my authority. If you cannot pay, we will have to transfer her to another hospital. I don’t recommend moving her. The best thing is for her to have the surgery within the next few hours.”

Thoughts fly around my brain in a flurry and I can’t grab any and hold on to them. I have about twenty dollars to my name. “How much do you need?”

“Our accounting department will have to receive a payment to cover the first surgery before they will do the next. $8,000 dollars.”

Eight thousand dollars.

The figure hits me like a physical blow. It might as well be eight billion.

Diana can’t die because we have no money. Blake already paid Columbia, so he’s tapped. Diana might have $200 saved up. I feel like my head is about to break into forty-thousand pieces.

Last time.

Just like last time.

I fight the image of standing in Mom’s hospital room. The feeling of helplessness when I finally understand she’s going to die and there was nothing I could to save her.

I’m alone.

I’m going to have to watch Diana die, just like I had to watch my mom slip away.

No.

Not again.

I grab Dr. Bodden’s arm. “Make the arrangements for Diana’s surgery. I’m going to get the money.”

I know he doesn’t believe me, but he nods. “Okay Miss.”

Relief floods through me. I race out, through corridors, past other rooms with other desperate and sad people, and burst from the door. A young couple climbs from a taxi, the woman holding her very pregnant belly and looking uncomfortable, the man appears downright panicked. He reaches over and pays the driver and before he joins his wife on the curb, I jump into the backseat.

“JK Investments building in the financial district.”