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The nurse assistant gave me a nod that was clearly iven better care than she could receive here"

I gave her a hard look "Is she on a ventilator now?" I’d tried to mentally prepare myself for this possibility, especially with how , but it was still a harsh blohen the young wohed and nodded

"Yes It happened only a few hours ago We tried to call you, but there was no answer"

"My phone got wet," I said numbly, in drastic understatement "I need to see her"

"Of course," the woman murmured "This way"

She led me to the third floor, a section of the hospital that looked like a hospital, with beepingabsence of hope She directed me to a room that held three other patients, each separated by a curtain

I don’t kno long I stood there, struggling to reconcile the knowledge that this was her body against the sight of the degrading fornizable as being Tessa was the frizzy blondlank and lifeless against her skull

I finally took the necessary number of steps forward to put me beside the bed andin reaction to the feel of eht toward her desperately I know you’re out there somewhere You need to coentle hand on my shoulder and I looked up, surprised to see Jill Then I realized that she’d been withently "You need to go ho to be fine"

I looked up at her for several heartbeats, then nodded and slipped ed by Mr Rai was happening with Tessa, that maybe she was on her way back But all I could feel was a desperate need to see so but the fading body that surely wouldn’t last hed down and empty I started down the corridor toward the elevator, then abruptly spun back and headed for the nurses’ station

"My aunt is not a DNR," I said to the nurse beyond the counter, nearly snarling "Do you understand me? She does not have a Do Not Resuscitate order on her chart If anything happens to her, you people will fucking do everything in your fucking power to keep her alive You got that?" I could feel Jill’s hand onto do anything more confrontational than snarl

The nurse didn’t seem particularly cowed by ht I was in denial and was being unrealistic, but fortunately--for her--she didn’t give voice to any of that "Yes, e to repeat what I’d said, to tell her again that she needed to keep my aunt’s body alive It wouldn’t make any difference, I realized If h the motions but wouldn’t uided attempt to spare me and my aunt a torturous wait for an inevitable end

I looked at Jill "I want to go ho on my front door jerked ot to be kidding me," I moaned as I yanked the pillow overcaain about three seconds later, and I lifted a corner ofOkay, so I’ve slept for twelve hours, but that doesn’t mean I don’t deserve even more sleep Especially after the heinous day I’d endured

I sighed as the pounding ca to the door There was only one person ould bother to drive out here just to yell at rumbled an obscenity underas every bruise, scrape, and pulled muscle announced its presence I plodded to the front door and pulled it open without bothering to look through the peephole

"Your car went off a fucking bridge and you didn’t even fucking callsun A deep scowl etched his angular features, and a small vein stood out on his left temple He didn’t look as if he was about to lose his cool He ay beyond that "My phone got wet," I said I’d thought about calling hiy that calling hiht take, especially since our last conversation hadn’t exactly ended on a pleasant note

He htened on his own phone, and for a brief crazy instant I thought he was going to squeeze it into a cruain "You couldn’t find another phone to callhi to the kitchen "What are you, my father? I was a little occupied and a lot exhausted The only real rest I had yesterday was the ambulance ride to the hospital"

He shut the door and followed me "Were you hurt? How badly? Why did you need an ambulance?"

The level of stress in his voice surprised me and--I had to admit--sort of secretly pleased me It was cool to know that anyone would worry about me like that--especially hilanced back at him as I pulled the carafe out of the coffee and a cracked rib" I duan to wash the carafe out "I submitted to the ambulance only because I knew I’d be able to lie dohich I would not have been able to do in the back of a state police vehicle" Since the accident had happened on a state highway, the state police had taken over the investigation Unfortunately, that detail hadn’t kept everyone with the barest trace of authority in Beaulac PD fro on the ER to question ht?"

I gave him a nod, surprised at how tired he sounded Maybe he’d been as upset about our fight as I had Hearing that I’d al awful, especially considering that our last words were less than pleasant "Yeah Car’s toast Lost ave a fatalistic shrug "I’h" I hesitated a breath "I’ht"

He jerked his head in a nod of acceptance of y, then frowned, eyes on me as I shuffled around to make coffee "What happened?"

"Still not really sure I don’t know if it was an accident or an attack" I got the coffee started and then leaned back against the counter, sighing "I blew a tire and al blue pickup rammed into me and I went over the side"

He sat down at the kitchen table, expression dark and troubled "I don’t like it"

"Well, I wasn’t exactly liking it yesterday either And I don’t really much like it now, to be honest, since I hurt like hell"

Ryan glowered "Let ht for observation, and you refused"