Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 108905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Neil’s brothers and sister, however…
I weighed the importance of waiting to find out if Neil wanted to make the call himself against the likelihood that Neil would be emotionally capable of thinking of such things at all. I didn’t want to step on his toes, but I didn’t know if any of this would make the papers. They couldn’t find out that way.
They all went the same way. I apologized for calling at such an early hour. Then, I blurted, “There’s been an accident, and Emma and Michael were killed,” because there was no way to gently ease into something like that, and it somehow got easier when I could robotically repeat the same thing over and over. The reactions were mixed; Fiona dropped the phone. Runólf’s wife, Kristine, just said a sad little, “Oh, no,” and promised she would tell her husband as soon as he woke. Geir wept openly and begged for details. They all asked when the funeral would be—something I hadn’t even considered, yet—and how Neil was handling things. Did we need anything? And, the most heartbreaking, had Olivia been hurt?
By the time I was finished, there wasn’t an ounce of anything left inside me. I was just a vessel for bad news. I couldn’t cry, or even feel sad, really. All I felt was worried, because Neil was still in that room with his dead daughter, and I couldn’t fix anything.
My phone rang, and Tony’s cell number lit up the screen.
“H-hello?” My stomach jumped up to my throat. Nope, it was just bile. I swallowed back my heartburn.
Mom’s voice came on the line. “I saw you called, but my phone is dead.”
I winced at the word choice. “Uh huh.”
“Is everything okay?” she asked, the weight of caution in her tone.
I nodded. I don’t know why I do that on the phone. “No. Emma and Michael got into a car accident. They died.”
“What?” Mom asked, though I knew she’d heard me and wouldn’t make me tell her, again. “When did it happen?”
“They were on their way to the benefit.” This conversation was going about the same as all the other ones. Was it ghoulish of me to be relieved for the routine?
“Olivia wasn’t with them, was she?”
“No. She was at home. Is at home, actually. I don’t know if we should do something about that or…” I blew out a long breath. If Mom had been here, maybe I would have hugged her and cried. But she wasn’t here, and there was really no reason to cry when someone else was going to need to cry to me later. My stamina was running out, and I couldn’t exhaust myself before we even got back to the apartment. “I just wanted to let you know. I don’t want to ruin your weekend. Stay there, but if something changes…”
“Honey, of course we’re not going to stay here!” Mom exclaimed. In the background, I heard Tony’s voice. “Look, we’ll head back first thing in the morning, okay? Or maybe the afternoon.”
“No, no, just stay there.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Call me in the morning, okay?”
“Sure,” she agreed with obvious reluctance. “Are you okay?”
I lowered my voice and looked nervously down the hall. “No. I don’t know how Neil is going to deal with any of this. He’s such a wreck.”
“I can only imagine.” The thing was, Mom really could imagine it. Emma and I were the same age. Neil losing his daughter was like Mom losing me. She was already so paranoid about everything she probably wouldn’t sleep at all tonight.
“I’ll call you in the morning, okay?” We said our I-love-yous and hung up. Then, there was nothing to do but wait.
A passing nurse gave me a sympathetic glance and headed into the door where Neil, Valerie, and Laurence were still with Emma. I followed her in, expecting her to tell us we all had to leave, that we’d been there too long. Instead, she told them that the funeral home had arrived.
Neil signed some paperwork to release Emma’s body. The nurse left, and Laurence put his hand on Valerie’s shoulder.
“They’re going to have to take her,” he said softly, rubbing his thumb across her arm.
Valerie nodded but broke down sobbing, again. She still held Emma’s hand; she hadn’t let go since we’d first come in.
I wished I could be as comforting to Neil as Laurence was to Valerie. I didn’t have whatever brain chemical causes a person to not be awkward in the face of tragedy. I just stood there like an idiot while Neil rose from his chair and leaned down to give Emma one last kiss on the cheek. He closed his eyes and whispered to her, something I couldn’t hear.
There had been times when I’d hated Valerie. I mean, really, really hated her. But I couldn’t imagine ever feeling that way toward her, ever again. Not after seeing her so wounded. Neil went to her side, and Laurence stepped back. He and I were in the same situation; we had to watch while our partner went through this loss on their own. The least we could do is let the two of them be there for each other.