Page 114 of The Homemaker
“Don’t die,” I whisper, staring at him unblinkingly. “Swim.”
Behind the paramedics, Blair and Vera sob with their hands over their mouths. That’s when I realize it’s Murphy holding me back from Hunter.
I turn in his arms. His lips move. I think he’s talking, but I don’t know.
“I didn’t save him. I let everyone die.”
He flinches.
I wriggle out of his hold and stumble past him toward the back door. “I have to go.”
Vera’s going to miss him. And all the things he did to drive her crazy will leave the biggest holes in her heart. She’ll regret everything she ever said to him that was anything but kind.
Chapter Forty-Three
Murphy
Tragedies are so tragic because it’s never the right time for everything to fall apart.
Time is our worst enemy.
We tooka walk around the lake after dinner. Hunter didn’t go because he had indigestion.
It takes a moment to realize what’s happening. Vera and Blair scream. I call 9-1-1, but just as they answer, the paramedics come through the front door. Alice must have called them.
They ask her to step back, but she ignores them, so I have to pull her away while she whispers, “Don’t die. Swim.”
Blair and her mother are falling apart. My future father-in-law is dead on the floor. But the only thing I can focus on is Alice. I’m losing her again.
This can’t happen.
She escapes my hold, but I can’t let her go, not with that distant look in her eyes.
“Don’t do this,” I say, grabbing her shoulders, pressing her to the back door before she can open it. “Do you hear me?”
For the first time, her wild eyes shift and lock with mine.
“Alice, no one is drowning. Okay? He’s okay. You’re okay.” My voice cracks under the lies and desperation. I whisper, “Okay, baby?”
She blinks, sending fat tears down her face.
I have never felt so internally conflicted in my life. I can’t be everywhere at once. Is this it? Is this the moment I have to choose? It’s a new level of fucking cruelty.
“I need you to focus on me. You. Are. Okay.”
Callen’s truck is on the street. I never thought I’d want him here as much as I do now.
“Don’t move. Stay right here. Okay?”
Tears cling to her long eyelashes.
“Alice, answer me.” I press my hands to her face and kiss her.
She doesn’t respond.
“Alice,” I whisper over her lips. “Hi,” I say on a breath like a prayer.
She moves her hands to my wrists and leans in to kiss me. I sigh through my nose in relief. Then I pull back and smile past the pain and panic. “There you are. There’s my Alice. Stay right here. Okay?”
