Page 87 of All I Desire

Chapter Twenty-Four

NATALIA

By the timea teacher leads Chloe into the principal’s office, I’ve controlled my shaking. More than anything, I need to be strong for her.

“Hey, sweetie.” I stand up when I see her. She’s wearing the school uniform, a blue skirt and a white blouse. She’s also toting a backpack emblazoned with the faces of—you guessed it—her favorite K-pop band.

“What’s going on?” she asks, looking from me to the principal, who shuts the door and sits on a sofa. She pats the cushion next to her, but Chloe edges closer to me.

Out of sheer instinct, or maybe because I’m the one who needs comforting, I slip an arm around her. She leans into me, probably sensing that something is terribly wrong.

“My dear, your father was in a… plane accident. He’s at the hospital. You mentioned Natalia as an emergency contact, but she’s not listed on your paperwork, so…” The principal looks at me, crushing a tissue in her hand. “Why don’t I take you both to the hospital?”

I gulp in a breath and nod. The hospital’s only a couple of miles away.

“How bad is he hurt?” Chloe’s face crinkles with worry.

“We don’t know anything right now.” I trace the rust-colored carpet pattern with my eyes. “Why don’t we get to the hospital and find out?”

“Wouldn’t they tell us right away if he’s dead?”

I wince. The directness of her question steals the breath from my lungs. This cannot be happening.

“Let’s think positively, okay?” I hug her to my side, and she gulps in a few big breaths. She’s trying not to cry, which makes me want to sob.

Stay strong. Stay strong, for her.

“Thanks for working with us, I know this probably isn’t school protocol,” I say to the principal. She nods and lunges for her purse, looking pale and alarmed.

The three of us are silent on our way to the hospital. I’m racking my brain, trying to think of who to call for more information, but I also don’t want to alarm Chloe by talking about possibly awful things in front of her. And I don’t know how I’d react if I got bad news over the phone. Well, worse news than I’ve already gotten.

We pull up to the emergency room entrance and the principal looks at me. “You two get out and I’ll go park.”

I nod, terrified. Chloe and I scramble out of the car and rush into the hospital. There’s an older lady behind a circular-shaped desk, and we run up to her, breathless.

“My dad’s here,” Chloe says.

“Matthew Mancini. Plane crash,” is all I can muster.

The woman nods and taps on a computer. There’s a pause that lasts seemingly for hours. I want to shake her. This is Paradise Beach, not Chicago, lady. How many plane crash victims have been admitted today?

“Go down that hall into the ER, and a nurse will meet you there.”

Chloe and I race off, holding hands. The ER is empty and spooky-silent. A woman in white bustles out of a doorway. I recognize her as someone I went to high school with.

“Hey, Linda,” I pant. “We’re here for Matthew Mancini. What can you tell us?”

“Hello. Yes, he’s here. Who are you to the patient?” she asks, looking from me to Chloe.

“I’m his daughter,” Chloe answers.

“And I’m his…” My voice trails off.

“Girlfriend,” Chloe pipes up. The almost-sobs are back.

“Okay. Well, here’s what I can tell you. Mr. Mancini’s quite lucky. He suffered a mild concussion, so we’re keeping him here overnight for observation. He’s given me permission to talk with his daughter and anyone else who comes in asking for him. Would you like to see him?”

I let out a huge breath and nearly start weeping. “God, yes.”

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