door is unlocked. I keep explaining to my mother that times have changed and she needs to think more about safety, but in this case, her oversight works in my favor.
“Makuahine?” I shout as soon as Masey and I step inside.
“Here.” Her voice sounds strained, weak.
Worry grips my throat. She can’t die from a broken ankle, but my mother has other health conditions that worry me. And after my father’s unexpected death from asthma a few years back, I take nothing for granted.
“The living room is that way,” I tell Masey, pointing. “Will you check on Ranger for me? I’ll be right there.”
She nods and jogs toward the brown-and-blue-checkered playpen while I hustle into the kitchen to find my mom sprawled across the floor. Her usual bun is unusually askew. She’s breathing hard. I see the pain on her face.
And her ankle has swollen to three times its normal size.
“Makuahine!”
The moment she sees me, she looks relieved. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. Of course I was going to come the second you called. I brought a friend of Harlow’s with me. Masey is with Ranger now.” And I’ll need to check on them. My boy is pretty friendly, but like all kids, when he’s tired and cranky, he doesn’t take well to strangers. “Let’s get you off the floor so we can get to the hospital.”
After bracing Mom’s back against my chest, I reach under her arms and hoist her up. Leaning on me, she hobbles on one foot, looking pale and spent. The pain, still all over her face, deepens.
Suddenly, Masey appears at the edge of the galley kitchen, a sleeping Ranger in her arms.
The sight does something to me. My breath catches. My gut tenses. My goddamn heart flips over.
“Hi, Mrs. Weston. I’m Masey.” She smiles, holding my son like he’s precious cargo. “A friend of Harlow’s visiting from LA. I’d shake your hand but…”
My mother manages a strained smile. “Nice to meet you. Any fuss from him?”
Masey glances at the boy. “A little when I picked him up. But I babysat my way through high school. I’m good with kids. I rocked him for a moment, and he fell right back asleep.”
That explains a lot. She looks like a natural.
But I don’t have time to dwell on why that makes me happy. “Let’s get you in the car, Makuahine. We’ll take yours since it has a car seat.”
“All right,” she sighs.
“Maybe we should get some ice around it to counteract the swelling?” Masey suggests.
“Good idea.” I settle my mother in a chair, grab the ice out of the freezer and a clean dish towel from the nearby drawer.
As I move to dump the ice in the terry cloth, Masey stops me. “Wait. It will last longer and be less messy if you put it on a large plastic baggie with a couple of tablespoons of rubbing alcohol.” Then she backs away. “Sorry. My mother was a nurse. It’s what she did for us as kids, and it always worked.”
“Don’t apologize.” I scramble to find everything, grateful the rubbing alcohol is sitting beside Makuahine’s first aid kit in the pantry. Once I do, I assemble the homemade ice pack, wrap it in the towel, and fasten it around my mother’s ankle. “Like this?”
Masey nods. “Perfect.”
My mother smiles her way. “Thank you.”
“Not at all,” Masey replies, continuing to bounce and rock my sleeping son.
I try not to be distracted by the sight. “Let’s go.”
“All right.” Makuahine sounds reluctant.
Clearly, she’s not looking forward to hobbling out to the carport. I don’t blame her. Crawling to her phone and waiting for me to arrive took a lot of her strength. But standing here is only allowing more blood to rush to her ankle, which will make the throbbing worse. And I’m sure she’s concerned about falling and risking further injury. I can’t let that happen.
“Hold on to me,” I tell her as I wrap one of her arms around my neck and brace one of mine behind her back.
“What are you doing?” she shrieks as I lift her against my chest. “I’m not a small woman. You’ll hurt yourself!”
“I’m fine. Don’t argue,” I insist as I head toward the back door, then glance back at Masey. “Ranger’s diaper bag should be next to the playpen. Can you grab it and lock the front door, then meet us out back?”
“Got it.”
As she spins off with Ranger, I try my best not to jostle Makuahine as I make my way across the grassy yard,