Page 22 of Myla: The Hawthornes

“Well, I’ve met him,” he said with a shrug. “Just in passing, you know. When Aisling moved in. He came and introduced himself. I thought your sister was going to sink through the floor in embarrassment.”

“Sounds like him,” I said with a small smile. “Thanks for your help.”

“Good luck,” the guy called as I left.

I was going to need it.

The doors to Aisling’s car were locked, so all I could do was peer in the windows. Nothing inside gave any clue as to what she’d been up to or where she would’ve gone the night before.

With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I headed back to the hospital. It was getting late, and while I knew Aoife wasn’t going anywhere, I wanted to give the rest of the family a chance to head home and get some sleep.

I was dragging ass as I made my way into the waiting room.

“His kidneys are working,” Aoife said the second I walked out of the elevator. “They said they’re working.”

“That’s good,” I rasped. Jesus, I was wide awake and still seriously fucking exhausted.

“I’m going to go back in,” Aoife replied, grabbing her purse from the waiting room couch. “You want to come with me?”

I shook my head.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, you go,” I said, waving her off.

I couldn’t go in to see Richie until I’d found Aisling. It felt wrong.

“I’m coming too,” Saoirse called as she hurried after Aoife. “Wait for me!”

“She wasn’t at the apartment?” Ronan asked as I dropped down beside him.

“Nope. Neighbor said he saw her leavin’ last night with some guy.”

“What guy? What did he look like?”

“No clue.”

“You didn’t ask?”

I shook my head and leaned it against the wall.

“What the fuck is happening?” Ronan muttered to himself. He dug his fingers into his eye sockets, and when he pulled them away, his eyes were bloodshot and watery.

“Why don’t you head home for a few hours?” I said quietly. “Take Aunt Ash with you.”

“I’m fine,” Aunt Ashley argued.

“Go home,” I ordered gently. “Go get Sean so he can sleep in his own bed. You two won’t be any good to Aoife if you’re fallin’ asleep here.”

“What about you?” Aunt Ashley asked, grudgingly getting to her feet. She knew I was right. She’d been awake since the night before, waiting on news from Richie, and she looked ready to drop.

“I’ve got Saoirse to keep me company. Once you guys come back in the morning, we can go crash for a few hours.”

After that, there was no argument and very little fanfare as Ronan picked up Aunt Ashley’s bag of random crap and led her toward the elevators.

I sat in the silence and stared at the random pattern on the carpet as I waited for Saoirse to come back out of Richie’s room. From what I understood, there was only one visitor allowed at a time, so I hoped she’d be back soon.

Memories of Richie played through my mind. On the day Aoife married him—the way his hands had shaken as he tied his tie, the way he’d grinned as I walked her up the aisle, how after a few drinks at his reception, he’d started singing along obnoxiously to every song the DJ played, staring at his new wife. The way Aoife had thrown her head back and laughed at his antics.

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