Page 61 of The Wrong Track

It was ok. It was ok, I told myself. I was ok. I looked at one light in the ceiling of the emergency room, focusing on that.

A nurse came. “They wanted me to let you know that the baby is fine. Someone named Hannah—no, Hazel has her at your house and everyone is great.”

Then Ella was safe. I felt myself relax a tiny bit. If Hazel was there, then Hatch would be, too, and that would help. Hazel would protect the baby and Hatch would protect her.

“The police are here,” she also said, and there was Tobin.

“Don’t cry, it’s ok,” he told me. But his face was so pale. I reached for his hand and held on to it. “Don’t cry because it will be harder to breathe.” He put his other hand on my forehead. “Hell, Remy, what happened?”

“It’s not drugs,” I whispered.

“I know that.”

I cleared my throat. “Tell your mom. Make sure she knows.”

He nodded. “I will.”

“Ella is ok. I stayed awake—I tried to stay awake until Hazel could get there. I had the monitor.”

“I know. My mom had to pull it out of your hand.” He stroked my hair. “I saw that you tried to call me and I’m sorry…no, Remy, don’t cry. What are you doing?”

Trying to sit up more, that was what I was doing, because I put my head on his shoulder and hugged him. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry. They said I can go home if I don’t have another asthma attack.”

“Did you have a nightmare?”

“I think it was from running. Or from everything starting to grow outside.” I turned my face into his neck, letting myself hide there for a moment against the scars where the dog had bitten him. Even if it did make breathing a little harder, I felt so much better in that spot. His arms held me, not too tightly, but enough that it felt like he wouldn’t let go. “Can you talk to Hazel and see if Ella is still ok?” I asked.

“Sure.” But he didn’t make a move to leave. “In just a minute. This time I’m going to stay at the hospital, all right? I’m not going to go home if you’re here.”

I nodded. “Yes. Please stay.”

He did, until they said that I was breathing well enough to get discharged. Tobin sat next to me holding my hand and only let go when I asked him to text Hazel or to assure his mom that I wasn’t actually a drug addict. Not anymore.

But I remembered perfectly when she’d asked me what I was on, what I’d taken. As I lay there when he left to use his phone, I replayed it all in my mind, how it was the first thing she’d thought of while I’d been on the floor. She’d still been upset and had wanted to help, of course, but that was what she’d thought of me.

“Ready?” Tobin held out his arms to help me off the bed and we walked out through the emergency room. It was getting light outside because a new day was already starting.

“Ella will be up soon. I don’t think Hazel knows how to—”

“My mom is there, too,” he told me. “They can handle it. Put this on.” He took off the coat he was wearing and draped it around my shoulders. “Wait here and I’ll go get my car.”

I did, watching him the whole time as he walked through the parking lot and then as the car approached. “I want to go home,” I said as I sunk into the passenger seat.

“That’s where we’re headed, right now.” He reached over again and put his hand on my knee. “There are people there waiting to see you.”

“Who?” I asked. Why would there be people waiting to see me?

“Haze, of course, and my mother. Monica, Hatch. My aunt Evelyn, the one who came over last night with my mom. They were out partying when Haze called her and since they were closer, they got to the house first and found you.” His fingers squeezed my leg and then released. “A lot of people are on a big group text wanting updates. Annie organized it because she’s been freaking out.”

“No, I’m ok.”

“You weren’t last night. How do you know that you’re using the right prescription? When was the last time you saw a doctor about the asthma?”

“It’s been a few years.” I yawned, but carefully because I wasn’t sure how my lungs would fill. But I was so much better, so, so much better. “I know I went to see someone when I was in school because they made us fill out forms. I guess the last time was when I was a junior.” I remembered that because it had been at a clinic and the nurse practitioner wanted to talk to me about birth control, but I’d told her it wasn’t necessary. I didn’t need that because sure, I’d had a boyfriend, but we weren’t anywhere close to having sex for the first time.

“What?” Tobin asked.

“I didn’t say anything.” But I wanted to see Ella so much that I did swear out loud when we got caught at a red light only a few blocks away from the house. When we finally pulled into the garage, I was out of the car before Tobin had fully stopped it.

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