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“I will,” she said, her voice tre as her chin lifted just a fraction

“It’ll be okay,” I said as her face fell and she started to cry again

“You got a black eye wrestling with one of the kids,” Will said as he parked at the hospital

“I have a black eye?” I said as I climbed out of the car

“Oh, yeah,” Kara said as she followed me

The e roo not to call attention to myself, I hurried toward them, my heart in my throat

“Took hiery,” my dad said as I reached him He wrapped his ar yet”

“We should be upstairs, then,” Will said

“Just waitin’ on you,” Tommy said

We headed toward the elevator, and Kara let go of me to walk beside my dad A wave of pain hit me so hard that I nearly stumbled as she put her small hand in his and he looked down at her in surprise

“He’ll be alright,” To his arm around my shoulders “Man’s built like a bull”

“Like a Mack truck,” Will said as we stepped into the elevator

“That’s why he’s called Mack?” I said in surprise “I thought it was because his last name is MacKenzie”

“Both,”down at Kara

“His real name’s Jacob,” she said “My Nana and Grandpa call him Cubby”

Tommy snorted “Oh, hell, yes,” he muttered

“Cubby, huh?” Will said with a chuckle

“Your dad’s gonna kill you,” my dad said to Kara

“My dad’s naot off the elevator “But you should hear the names my mom calls him”

“Hey, now,” my dad said “Don’t be tellin’ tales”

I was so thankful that ht as possible for Kara, but as I checked in with the wo to cave in at any second

Mack had been in really bad shape when I’d left him, and I had no idea how much worse he’d been by the tiue, but it was a while before I had the chance to ask them

“I’ up from his phone “They just pulled in”

“I’ll go with you,” I said quickly Everyone looked at me in surprise “I need to move”

“I’ll go, too,” Kara said instantly, getting to her feet

“Nah, baby,” ht back”