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She wheezes. “I’m not a child!”
“Where’s your inhaler?”
“I don’t need it.”
“Yes, you do. Where is it?”
“I can breathe just fine!”
“Sweetie, calm down.” Rose rubs her arm. “You’ll make it worse.”
“He’s making it worse!”
I step forward. “Mr. Kirby, she said she’s?—”
He twists toward me. “Shut it, kid.”
“John.” This time, my father moves to stand between us, his shoulder firmly bumping into John’s. “Cool it down. Now.”
John scoffs. “Or what, Morgan?”
“John.” Rose shifts a step down. “Now is not the time.”
He pauses, the hard lines of his jaw going soft. With a nod toward his boys, he moves forward to join his family. “Dana, grab your stuff. We’re going home.”
She shakes her head. “I’m not going anywhere with you,” she says, her voice so strong now.
“Dana.” Rose calmly extends her hand. “Come on. We’ll talk on the way.”
Dana looks at me, sadness overwhelming her gaze as she picks up her bag and lets her mother shuffle her back into the house.
“I’m very sorry for your loss,” John says to my mother, “but I need to take my children home now.”
Dana’s head swivels around in the doorway, her big eyes locking on mine until Alex and Ben block our views.
Before I can ask, I feel my father’s hand on my shoulder again, and I go quiet. The urge to run to her fades, eclipsed by a sudden thorn in my stomach.
“Dad, what’s going on?” I ask as my mother escorts them inside. “Where’s Courtney?”
“Your sister’s all right,” he says. “She’s in New York. She’s safe.”
I take a breath and wait, knowing there’s more. There has to be more.
My father sighs. “Connor, your grandfather passed away last night.”
CHAPTER 37
DANA
I reach for my phone as the alarm goes off, already wide awake. Might as well get up. Can’t stare at the ceiling forever, as fun as that sounds.
There are several notifications on my phone.
An email from Dylan asking me to critique a few new pages he drafted this week.
A bunch of new messages in a group chat with other Beta Kappas detailing upcoming house events on Greek Row.
A private message from Jacinda letting me know she’d keep my family in her thoughts and that she’d be there if we needed anything. That one surprises me a little. Our friendship is still young. Then again, she dated Connor for a year. She knows how much his grandfather meant to him.
