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He smiled. “I will. Now close your eyes, and I’ll send you back to Foster.”
I did, bowing my face and squeezing my lashes shut as hard as I could before I asked, “How long should I keep them shut?”
Near me, I heard Hayes whisper, “Oh, you can open them now.”
15
FOSTER
The hospital parking lot was more crowded this morning. I cursed as I drove the aisles, searching for the first spot I could find.
Throughout the drive over, I had checked the passenger seat every few seconds, thinking Raina would appear and tell me,wow, that was a freaky trip,or something bright and perky like that.
Except she didn’t.
And my chest kept getting tighter with every mile I drove.
Once parked, I jogged all the way to the front entrance and couldn’t seem to wait on an elevator, so I hit the stairs, wishing she’d scare the crap out of me again and just poke her head through the door on every level I climbed.
But she didn’t.
“Please don’t be dead,” I whispered as I reached the fourth floor. Then I drew in a deep breath and pushed my way into the rest of the hospital.
I turned down the wing where I knew her room was located, and I immediately spotted two familiar figures in the hallway outside her door, hugging and crying.
“Jaylani!” I called as I jogged toward her.
Jay pulled away from her girlfriend, Scarlett, and lifted her face to wipe at her eyes. “Foster?” she said in confusion.
“Hey,” I panted, out of breath, as I reached her. “I was over at Oaklynn and Damien’s when you called. How…?” I tipped my head toward Raina’s room, where I could see half a dozen orderlies through the glass walls, working feverishly as a doctor pressed a defibrillator to her chest.
I turned away, swallowing hard, then stepped out of the way as more doctors jogged up to assist.
“They’re still working on her,” Jaylani told me unnecessarily.
The nurse from last night who had escorted me to the elevator appeared in the doorway to the room. “Mr. Union. Back again so soon?” She opened her arms to get our attention and block us from seeing what was going on behind her.
I stepped forward. “Howdy, ma’am. Is she?—?”
“I’m going to need you and your friends to wait in the room down that hall to the right, please, and someone will be out to update you soon, okay?”
With a nod, I turned to Scarlett and Jaylani. “I’ll tell Damien where he and Oaklynn can meet us. They should be here any minute.”
So we retreated to the waiting room together, where the girls collapsed onto the loveseat, and I fell into a chair, wiping a hand over my hair and blowing out a long breath before texting Damien.
He and Oaklynn arrived five minutes later, and as she hurried over to Jay, Damien came to sit in the chair next to mine.
“No news yet,” I told him before he could ask. “They were still shocking her when I showed up.”
He nodded and rested his elbows on his knees, head bowed as he quietly asked, “And how are you?”
I rubbed my forehead. “Honestly, I don’t even know. I’m still trying to make sense of all this. I mean, why was she sent to me, only for this to happen barely two days later? I don’t…” I shook my head and looked to him for answers. “I don’t get it. What was the point?”
“I think I know,” a familiar voice answered near my chair.
I zipped my head up, and when I saw her standing there, barefoot and once again wearing the jumper I’d first met her in, I leaped to my feet, gasping, “Raina! Oh my God; you’re back.”
She had tears in her eyes and her chin was trembling, but she nodded to confirm it. “I’m back,” she said, her voice raspy and unsteady. “Your brother sent me back to you.”
