tear while she struggled to get the car back in first and Lane tapped on the window.
“Slide over.”
She shook her head, still struggling with the transmission while he opened the door.
“I mean it. Slide over. You’re in no shape to drive.”
“She has headaches,” she said, sliding into the passenger seat. “I thought they were migraines. But what if…”
“Don’t think about it.”
He got behind the wheel and gunned the Malibu down the driveway. Sarah leaned forward, as if she could urge the car on like a racehorse.
“Drive faster,” she said. “It’s on County Road Six. You know that blue single-wide on the edge of town? That’s Kelsey’s.” She clenched her fists and pounded her thighs. “I need to be there now. Please, Lane. Faster.”
***
For once, Lane obeyed an order. He drove like he rode, careening around corners and skidding at stop signs with no regard for safety, but the ambulance still beat them to Kelsey’s. It was parked in the yard when they drove in, a boxy, decrepit vehicle with old-fashioned bug-eyed headlights and red faded paint on the side spelling out “Two Shot Emergency” arched above a first aid cross.
Sarah spilled out of the passenger seat while he threw the shifter into park. A pair of good ol’ boys in jeans and snap-button shirts had Kelsey strapped to a gurney. They were trying to load her in the back of the vehicle, one struggling to collapse the folding legs of the gurney while the other pumped up a blood pressure cuff. Mike was across from the technician, balancing Katie on one arm. The child’s sleep-flushed cheek was pressed into his shoulder, but her eyes were open, watching as Sarah ran to them. Sarah felt a squeeze in her heart at the sight of her niece limp in Mike’s arms.
Katie had been young when Mike and Kelsey had broken up, but she seemed to be wasting no time turning into a daddy’s girl—which was bad news for everyone if he left again. Sarah reached for the child, but Mike spun slightly away and pretended to be involved in stroking down her hair.
His own shaggy locks were spiked up from his forehead. Sarah knew he ran his fingers through it, front to back, when he was nervous. She knew because he was always nervous when he talked to her. Which was as it should be; after what he’d done to her sister, he should be nervous.
“One thirty over eighty,” said the EMT.
“Is that good?” Mike asked.
“It’s okay.” Sarah stepped up beside him. “Kelsey? How are you?”
“She’s not conscious, ma’am,” the EMT said.
“What’s wrong?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
She turned to Mike. “What happened?”
“Nothing, really. She just passed out. She had one of her headaches. She said it really hurt, and then she passed out. I called 911, and then I called you.” He kicked at the dirt with the toe of his boot.
“Where are they taking her?” Lane asked. Sarah had almost forgotten he was there.
“Casper,” said the driver.
“Isn’t there a doctor closer to here?”
The driver shook his head.
“Damn, Casper’s an hour away.”
“Forty-two minutes is the record,” the driver said.
Lane started to respond, but just then the second EMT managed to get the legs on the gurney to collapse and they slid Kelsey into the ambulance.
“Ready to go,” he said.
Mike turned and tipped Katie toward Sarah. The little girl stirred, blinked sleepily, and held out her arms.
“I thought you could take Katie over to the hospital, meet ’em there,” Mike said.
“You’re staying here?” Sarah knew he was a bastard, but she didn’t know he was that much of a bastard.
“Course not. I’m riding in the ambulance.”
Sarah was about to argue when the EMT crouching beside Kelsey lifted a cautionary hand. “Ma’am?” he said to Kelsey. “Ma’am? Can you hear me?”
Kelsey’s eyes fluttered open. “Uh?” She tried to talk, but all that came out was gibberish.
“Speech ataxia,” said the EMT. “Probably a vascular constriction.”
Sarah swallowed, feeling an ache in her throat as Kelsey’s eyes widened. Vascular whatever. It was a stroke. Kelsey couldn’t talk. How would things be if she didn’t recover? She and Mike would be all Katie had left.
They’d better start getting along.
“Wha…” Kelsey looked from side to side, panicked.
“It’s okay. I’m here, Sis,” Sarah said.
Kelsey moved her mouth, obviously trying to speak, but nothing came out. Finally, she closed her eyes again and clenched her fists.
“She’s trying,” said the EMT.
Kelsey opened her eyes again, and this time looking past Sarah. “Mike?” she said. “Mike?”
The exhale of Sarah’s relief that