Page 144 of Now Their Starlet

Drew is too occupied keeping my dad alive to give me any more reassurance, but he does manage to drop a tissue box on the seat next to me that I barely manage to keep from flying across the ambulance at our next turn.

“I don’t—don’t know if you can hear me, Dad. But—but you can’t die,” I croak out. “You can’t. I still need you. You can’t leave me. Please⁠—”

“Pulling in now,” the EMT calls from up front.

I bump up and down in my seat as we pull into the emergency bay parking.

“Gonna get crazy,” Drew echoes from earlier, offering me a sympathetic smile.

“Crazy, yeah,” I nod.

“Just stay seated there while I get him out, okay?”

“Got it.”

The doors are pulled open. Drew was right; this is crazy.

There are half a dozen people, all moving in sync with each other.

“Male, collapsed, suspected heart attack, LUCAS in place...” Drew lists a whole bunch of things in his rapid report that I don’t understand, but everyone from the hospital immediately uses the information to take over.

They wheel my dad out and whisk him away. When I finally unbuckle my harness and try to get out of the ambulance, my knees nearly buckle and give way from underneath me.

I don’t think Dr. Brennar will be a big fan of all the stress I’m putting myself through.

But I’d be stressed the hell out, regardless of whether I’m in the hospital or not.

“Hello there,” a kind, feminine voice says from behind me.

I nearly jump out of my skin, turning around to see a young woman with dark hair and tan skin in a dark suit.

“H—hi,” I stutter, trying to force myself to take a deep breath.

“Are you family of the patient?”

“Yes,” I nod. “I’m his daughter, Andi.”

“Hi Andi, my name is Tish, I’m one of the social workers here. Let me bring you somewhere you can wait more comfortably, yeah?”

“Please, thank you.” I’m clinging to Eli’s hoodie like it’s a teddy bear.

The halls of the hospital feel long and endless before she stops in front of a door to a room with a couple of cozy-looking couches and dimmer, less harsh lighting than the fluorescent lights of the hallway.

“Is this... for me?” It seems to be a private room, considering the lack of anyone else waiting.

“Yes, it’s a family consultation room. More comfortable than our waiting rooms,” Tish says with a soft smile. “I know this must be a lot.”

“I have—have people coming to meet me. Packmates, would it be okay if they came and stayed with me too?”

“Yes, of course. When they enter from the front, tell them to ask the front desk to direct them to Wing F, room 218.”

“O—okay, thank you, Tish,” I pull out my phone from the waistband of my leggings as I step into the room.

“Do you need anything else? A blanket? There’s water in the corner,” she gestures to a water dispenser.

“A—A blanket would be nice, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“I’ll be right back.”