Page 12 of The Burning
“I don’t know who that is, but—”
She gawked at him. “What do you mean, you don’t? It’s an American series and it’s George Clooney and you don’t know?” Elodie arched again.
“Guys?” I said in my head about three times before I actually said it to them.
They both looked over at me. Elodie was ghostlike now.
“Okay. Okay. We should go.” She agreed with me before I even had to force her.
“Elodie, can you stand up? Should we just go straight to the emergency room? Let me Google it. Just to check.”
I knew that she was having a panic attack of some sort and it would probably pass soon or get worse, you just never knew, but with a baby growing inside of her, there were no chances to be taken, especially since she had gotten a call from her doctor about her blood sugar level just an hour ago. I Googled her symptoms and within seconds found confirmation that we should definitely be going to the emergency room at this point.
“Yep. We need to go. Let’s go, El.”
Her phone vibrated on the counter. I checked to make sure Elodie wasn’t looking at me and turned the phone over so I could see the familiar photo of her father filling the screen once more. I ignored the call while flipping the phone back upside down.
“We just need to make sure the baby is fine. It won’t take long. I’ll go with you.”
“The ER won’t be as busy right now. I’ll come, too,” Austin assured her.
“You don’t need to come, Austin.”
Elodie sighed and I watched the rise and fall of her chest. She sounded like she could breathe better than a minute ago, but she was clearly not okay. “Austin can come.”
I looked at her quizzically, but it wasn’t the time to question her. Elodie nodded as Austin bent down and tucked his arms under her legs, lifting her body into his arms like she was a bag of groceries.
“I can walk,” Elodie protested, but didn’t make a move to get down.
He shook his head and lifted the hood of her jacket back over her hair to cover it from the rain and she sighed. As Austin carried her across my yard to the car, I searched for my keys, which turned out to be in the pocket of my uniform the entire time. My hands were trembling even though everything felt pretty normal. Well, not normal, but not like in the movies where everyone is screaming and rushing and someone’s crying and it’s just completely chaotic.
My hands being in my pockets reminded me that I had to get to work, like right now.
Fuck my life.
Running past them, I opened the back door of my car, and Austin gently placed Elodie on the seat. When he finished and I ensured she was comfortable, it took everything in me not to tell my brother to sit in the back, or—better yet—to go back to Kael’s house where he was likely still staying. His presence was clearly making Elodie feel better, maybe because she thought, rightfully so, that I would have no clue what to do here, but Austin wouldn’t, either. Whatever her reason, she seemed to be calmer now that he had arrived. She had her face buried in her hands with her head leaning against the backseat.
As he opened the passenger door, I sighed dramatically, hoping he would hear me, and got in the car. Immediately I turned the music on and checked on Elodie again. Austin was staring out the window as she wept in the backseat. His leg was shaking like it always did when he was worried. I thought I saw his lips moving, but I couldn’t hear anything over Ryan Seacrest’s voice on the radio. I didn’t know what to say to either of them, so I just drove the car.
When I pulled onto the highway, my service engine light came on.
When it rained, it poured.
Literally.
“El, do you have your military ID?” I called to her over the squeak of my windshield wipers, ignoring the engine light.
I hoped she did, because, depending on the gate guard’s mood, being a woman in pain wouldn’t stop them from turning us away without it. Even her blotchy, tearstained face and pregnant stomach most likely wouldn’t sway them.
“I grabbed it from the entertainment center,” Austin told us. “Kare, listen—” he started as I switched lanes to pass a semitruck.
“Don’t,”I snapped.
He put his hands together on his lap and I added, “Not now.”
I glanced at Elodie in the rearview mirror. She was looking down at her stomach, tears streaking her face. She didn’t need to get dragged into this building blowout between Austin and me.
Elodie caught my eyes. “I never had these attacks until I moved here. Everything is such a mess lately.”
