in time, and the oxygen appeared to be helping, at least a little.
Ally had successfully moved the majority of the crowd away from them, but when he glanced up, he found Warren and JoEllen standing behind Louisa, and his mom and sister standing behind him.
Maggie’s hands tensed and she reached up to remove the mask.
“Maggie, don’t,” Louisa said.
But the old woman wanted to speak, even in her weakened state. She choked out one word: “Enough.” Slowly her gaze moved from Cody’s family to Louisa’s. “Forgive. Before it’s too late.”
Cody didn’t look at the rest of them—he couldn’t. He was too afraid all he would find on their faces was the same stubbornness that had always been there.
A cough silenced her just as two paramedics Cody knew from work rushed around the side of the house and down toward the beach. He stood, waving them over, then gave them her vitals and helped load her onto the stretcher.
“Is she going to be okay?” Louisa asked, her voice breaking midsentence.
“We’re going to do everything we can for her,” the paramedic said. They fastened the belt around Maggie, and Louisa let go of her hand as they wheeled her off.
“I’m going to the hospital,” Louisa told Ally. “Can you handle things here?”
“Of course.”
She ran off, her parents close behind, leaving him standing with his mom and sister.
“This is heavy,” Marley said.
His mom’s eyes had filled with tears. “I didn’t get to say goodbye.”
For a brief moment, he wondered if she was talking about Maggie or his father.
“Let’s go to the hospital,” he said. “We should be there.”
His mother looked away. “I don’t know if they want us there.”
“Who cares?” Marley said. “Maggie is our friend too. We should be there.”
“She’s right,” Cody said. “Maybe it’s time we start listening to what Maggie said.”
Anger flashed across his mother’s face. “What do you mean?”
“Mom—” he placed a hand on her arm—“aren’t you tired of being angry?”
Her jaw twitched.
“You loved them once. All of them.”
A tear slid down his mother’s cheek. “That was a long time ago.”
“I’m going to the hospital. Are you coming?”
His mother didn’t move for a long moment; then finally she nodded. “Let’s go.”
Louisa paced the waiting room of the Nantucket Cottage Hospital. Since they weren’t family, none of them were allowed to go back while Maggie was being examined. It was an absurd rule—she was more of a family to Maggie than anyone related to her by blood. And vice versa, sadly.
Her parents sat in the corner, Mom watching an HGTV show that droned on from a television mounted to the wall and Dad flipping through an issue of Forbes magazine. They’d only been there about ten minutes when Cody and his mom and sister walked in. Time stopped. He looked concerned, a line of worry deeply etched in his forehead.
He met her eyes. “Any word?”
“Not yet. We can’t go back because we aren’t family.”
His nod was followed by an unbearable beat of awkward silence.
“Do you mind if we wait with you?” he finally asked.
Louisa’s eyes drifted from Cody to his mom (who wasn’t looking at her) to Marley. “Of course not.” She motioned toward an empty row of chairs. Marissa and Marley sat.
“Should I get us coffee?” Cody asked.
It was strange, having a stilted conversation in front of the rest of them. She hated this distance between them. Hated that he was right in front of her and just out of reach.
“Do you guys want coffee?” she asked her parents.
“I’m okay,” they both said.
She turned back to Cody. “I guess we’re okay.”
“You’re okay?” His question was so earnest, it nearly broke her heart. She wasn’t okay. Not even close.
She nodded and sat down next to her mother, aware that her family was on one side of the room and his was on the other. Marissa whispered something to Marley, and JoEllen looked from the television to the pair of them. Never in her life had Louisa experienced this kind of tension. They sat in silence for what felt like hours but was, in reality, only minutes. She worked hard to avoid Cody’s eyes, praying silently that Maggie would be okay. She wasn’t ready to lose her yet.
Did anyone else in the room remember how it had felt to love each other? Did anyone else have memories of the good times? The laughter? The endless days and nights they’d spent together? Did anyone else want that back?
After about twenty minutes, Dr. Smithton Jeffries entered the room. A white coat covered his dress