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"No, I’m a friend"

Susan nodded "Do you have the contact infor to be all right, isn’t she?" Nichole’s voice treive out information," Susan said

"Beth was just at our hoo" Nichole was visibly upset "I can’t believe this has happened"

Sa the accident had shaken his toward Beth one way or another She seeotten her otten his As soon as he realized she’d been finagled into this the same as him, he’d relaxed They’d both been in a rush to escape, nearly knocking each other over in their eagerness to get out the door He’d s at the ," Nichole was explaining to the wos

The hospital employee made a notation in the co in the area," Nichole supplied "Her fao"

"Do you happen to know the aunt’s nah the filter in her brain "I believe it’s Sunshine"

Susan McNeil glanced up and narrowed her gaze "Sunshine is her given name?"

"I … don’t know, but probably not"

The questions continued, with Nichole answering as best she could One thing was clear, the three of the for word on Beth’s condition

Once the hospital had collected asthe desk said, "If you’d like to wait, I’ll let you know about your friend as soon as any news is available"

"Thank you," Nichole whispered and turned away from the desk

Rocco and Sa area They were fortunate to find three seats in close proxiether and Sam took the chair across from them

As soon as they were seated, Nichole leaned forward "Tell us what happened"

Saain

"How badly injured was she?" This cauess is she has fractured ribs, and I suspect her hip is broken as well I heard the parae?" Rocco asked

Saasp "She’s going to live, isn’t she?"

Sam didn’t feel qualified to answer "I can’t say"

"Was she conscious?"

"Partly I spoke to her, but I don’t know if she heard reat deal of pain I could see she was going into shock I was the one who called for help"

"Did she say anything?" Rocco asked

"No" All Sam could think about was the way she’d locked her eyes with his as if holding on to hih this crisis In thinking about it, Beth had remained remarkably calm Sam wasn’t sure he would have reacted the same

When they first sat down, Rocco and Nichole had been full of questions As ti left to say

An hour passed Rocco bought therirow cold

He didn’t knohy it was taking this long He got up to stretch his legs and strolled past the front desk Susan McNeil glanced at hientle shake of her head as if to answer his unspoken question She had nothing to tell him

When he returned to his seat, Rocco studied hi to say If that was the case, it went unsaid

Solanced at the time It’d been almost two hours since the accident