Page 85 of Mountains Divide Us

“Penicillin tablets.”

“And do you know how old he is?”

Their conversation faded away as I thought about Murphy out in the storm, fighting to stay alive, trying to find a safe harbor. He was alone when he passed out. The fear he must’ve felt was settling inside me like an anchor, and suddenly, I couldn’t catch my breath. I just kept seeing Murphy’s brown eyes, looking up at me, begging me to help him.

I was trying to blink through tears, trying to find oxygen, gulping air into my mouth.

Frank knelt in front of me on the floor. “Samantha, take a slow breath.” He held my hands, squeezing them hard. “Look at me.” When I looked up, the doctor had disappeared, and Frank said, “Focus on me. Nod if you can hear me.”

I nodded quickly. “I-I’m sorry.”

“Carey’s outside waitin’ for you. He’ll take you back to the community center. G’on, get some sleep. I’ll come see you soon.”

* * *

Carey drove me back to the center, trying the whole time to convince me everything would be okay. I wasn’t so sure. When he dropped me off, Juni was at Ace’s House, riding out the storm there, too, since Max was stuck out at Milson Ranch.

As soon as I walked in the door, she was there, hugging me. “Sam, are you okay? How’s Frank? Brady said he was in an accident.”

As I looked around numbly, I realized half of Wisper was there. They had a film projector in the gym to my left that was casting Legally Blonde onto a huge white screen hanging on the wall. There were at least twenty-five people snuggled up on cushions and sleeping bags, watching and eating popcorn while the storm wrought havoc outside.

“Frank’s okay,” I said, and my knees gave out. I collapsed to the floor in the foyer, landing in a puddle of melted snow. Oh, what did it matter? My clothes and coat were already soaked.

“Sam? Oh my God, Sam!” Juni dropped to the floor next to me, and then Brady was there, wrapping a blanket around me.

“It’s all my fault. I think I killed that boy.”

“Who died?” a man asked, and I looked up to see Carly from book club standing next to a chubby man with a beard. She was cradling a toddler in her arms, her two older children attached to her hips.

“Sam? What’s goin’ on?” she asked.

“There’s a missin’ kid,” Brady explained. “Carey and Frank have been lookin’ for him.”

“Well,” the chubby man said, “did they find him? Frank was out at Milson’s askin’ about the food that was stolen. Is it the same kid?”

I nodded.

“Here,” Carly said. “Take the baby. I’m gonna help Sam.” She shoved her baby into the man’s arms. “Don’t worry,” she told me with a sly smile. “This is my Buckey.”

“Oh, hi. How come you’re not at the ranch with Juneau’s boyfriend?”

I didn’t know why I’d asked. I wasn’t thinking straight, but he laughed. “Howdy, ma’am. Nice to meet you. I’ve heard quite a lot about you girls over at the library. I ain’t at Milson’s ’cause the roads out that way are closed. We live out in the country on the opposite side of town. We knew we’d lose power, so we came here to camp out till tomorrow. Max and the other guys will be fine without me.”

“Oh.”

“Kids, help your daddy with baby Drew,” Carly said, and her family wandered off while baby Drew tried to climb over his dad’s head like it was a jungle gym.

Juni and Carly pulled me up, and we went upstairs to find dry clothing in the center’s donation room. Brady called it the “free clothes store.”

Thinking about Murphy was making my stomach hurt, but something else was building up inside me as I thought about why he was out there alone. Where were his parents?

Come to think of it, where were mine? I wasn’t injured like Murphy, but I was still hurting, and they should’ve been there for me. No movie could be more important than your own family. Nothing should be more important than your child, no matter how freaking old they are.

“What happened out there?” Juni asked while I dressed in a pair of gray men’s sweatpants and a mustard yellow Buckin’ Broncos T-shirt three sizes too big for me.

I sat next to them on the floor, crossing my legs like a little girl. “They found Murphy, but he was hurt. Dr. Whitley’s treating him, but he told us Murphy is septic, and he doesn’t know if he’ll be okay.”

“Oh my gosh,” Carly said.

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