CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
LOU
Lily’s face has gone white.
“Calder?” she says into the phone, her voice cracking. “Calder! Calder, answer me!” Her hand visibly shakes as she pulls the phone away from her ear.
“What’s going on?” I ask her, running over and shifting Ramona in my arms. I’ve just managed to get my little girl to stop crying. “What happened?”
She doesn’t answer. Instead she hits a couple of buttons on the screen, presumably calling him again. I glance over at Ward, but he looks just as shocked and confused as I feel.
After a moment, Lily drops the phone, her eyes wide with horror.
“What happened?” I ask again, my stomach sinking further with every passing second. Something is wrong. Something is desperately wrong. Ramona starts to whimper in my arms.
“Lily,” Ward says firmly. “You have to tell us what’s happening.”
Lily glances up, blinking, as if she’s suddenly remembered she’s not alone.
“Something happened,” she whispers. “Something happened to Calder.”
She’s in shock, that much is clear. The bottom falls out of my stomach.
“I’m sure he’s all right,” I hear myself tell her. “He’ll be here soon.”
But Lily is shaking her head. “No, no… no, he’s not all right. He’s not all right. He’s—” She winces and grips the arm of the couch as she has another contraction.
I glance back at Ward, and his expression doesn’t reassure me. He has a look on his face that I’ve only seen a handful of times in my life—and I know we both sense that this night is about to get a lot worse.
“Lily,” I say when her contraction has passed. “Lily, what happened?”
Ramona starts to cry in earnest again, and I bounce her on my hip, but it’s hard to concentrate on anything until I hear what happened to my brother.
“I think… I think there was a crash,” Lily says. “There was a horrible sound, and he… he’s not answering, and I…”
“I’m sure he’ll call you back when he can,” I say. “He’s probably dealing with the other driver now. And calling the cops. And dealing with all of that stuff.”
But she keeps shaking her head. “There aren’t any other drivers. He said he was almost to the bridge. It was just him. If he’s… If he…”
I don’t even want to think about that. My brother is fine. My brother is fine. My brother is fine. If I think it enough times, maybe I’ll start to believe it. I can’t afford to panic right now.
I look over at Ward again, and he’s watching me with a look in his eyes that I can’t name. Ward and Calder aren’t exactly best friends yet, but I can tell this news is affecting him as much as it’s affecting me and Lily.
And then suddenly he goes over to Lily, picks up his phone, and then turns and walks toward the door.
“I’m going to go get him,” he says over his shoulder.
Wait—what?
I hurry after him. “Ward!”
He pauses at the doorway, waiting for me to catch up to him. Ramona has gone back to whimpering, and Ward’s eyes soften slightly as he looks down at her.
“The road is underwater,” I remind him.
“I’ll drive until the water is too deep and then get out and walk. Or swim.”
“Your car—”
“I’ll take yours.”
It’s clear he’s thought this through, but I’m torn. On the one hand, my brother is out there. Possibly hurt. Possibly worse—but I won’t think about that. We need to do whatever we can to help him.
On the other hand, the idea of Ward going out there in this weather, with the storm on top of us and flash floods rising with every passing moment… it makes me sick to think of it. And he wants to swim through it? No way. No, no way. If anything happened to him…
He touches my cheek. “I’ll be careful, Lou, I promise.” He glances over my shoulder. “We need to be strong for them right now. I’ll go find Calder. You need to stay here and help Lily. I’ve got my phone if anything happens, but you should call nine-one-one. They’ll tell you how to help Lily.”
Curse him, he’s right. I nod, but my heart aches.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” I tell him.
“I won’t. And I’ll bring your brother back.” He reaches down to Ramona, who quiets a little at his touch. One side of his mouth curls up, and he leans down to kiss our daughter on the forehead before looking back up at me.
“I love you,” I whisper.
“I love you, too.” He tugs me toward him and kisses me fiercely—so fiercely that it makes my fear come back in a rush—before releasing me.
And then, without another word, he’s gone.