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Helips Cradling his precious son in his ared to the stairs Water strearabbed her phone Doreen answered immediately, and Ari shouted instructions she couldn’t actually hear over the roar in her ears

"I think he hit his head" Matt ran his shaking hand over Noah’s scalp "It’s okay, buddy Daddy’ll take care of you"

He carried Noah across the deck while Ari followed Matt’s sodden suit left a trail over the sun porch, then the floor, and Doreen met them at the front door

"The car’s ready" Matt’s driver took in Noah’s pale face and Matt’s ruined suit, then ran down the front steps to open the car door, her blond ponytail bouncing, so perky and out of place in the moment

They piled into the backseat, Noah in Matt’s arainst them, her hand on Noah’s forehead

She couldn’t feel a lump, and she prayed he’d suffered no more than a scrape and a bruise He’d taken a tuhts out of theaze from Noah And saw Matt’s stricken face

How could I have let this happen?

Matt shouldn’t have surprised them And he should have beenby the pool But Noah sped everywhere, and he was always excited when Matt got ho to be just fine," Ari said softly

She was trying to soothe him, but just as he hadn’t stopped Noah’s tue, he couldn’t stop the juhts either

He sed hard, his teeth grinding together Noah no longer whi car through the streets Thank God the hospital wasn’t far

"It’s probably just a scrape"

He could barely hear Ari’s words when he was so frozen with terror and when he kept seeing Noah falling on repeat inside his head

"It was an accident," she said softly "That’s how kids are, always rushing"

But accidents didn’t happen to Noah Matt had vowed to always protect his kid Always He orth , and if he couldn’t protect his kid no matter what, then as the use of all that money?

He wanted to yell at Doreen to drive like the wind An aer to get to them