Her Dad’s Best Friend novel Chapter 53

“You’re welcome to look at whatever you’d like.” Everything is in an underground warehouse a few miles away from here. I don’t take my work home.

They walk away. Kelly is still quietly coughing next to me.

“Are you going to jail?”

“Not today, sweetheart.”

An EMT is walking over to us.

“She was the only one in the house when the fire started.”

Kelly starts coughing again.

“Can you walk?”

Kelly nods, even though her eyes are watering.

The EMT guides her into the ambulance. She puts an oxygen mask over Kelly’s nose and mouth. I follow. I don’t want to get in her way, but I’m going with them to the hospital.

Chapter Fifteen

Hospital

Kelly

The sirens are incredibly loud as they take me to the hospital. Iacopo has his hand in mine. I close my eyes.

“Just breathe.” I don’t know if the EMT is talking to me or Iacopo. His grip is really tight, but I find it reassuring.

Traveling at top speed in an ambulance gets us to the hospital in record time. Then we’re rolling into the emergency ward.

“Smoke inhalation,” the EMT spits as I’m taken out of the ambulance.

Iacopo is behind the EMT and the nurses who are looking at me.

There’s a crazy flurry of activity. I didn’t realize that smoke inhalation was life-threatening, because they’re acting as if I’m on the verge of death.

It must be Iacopo. I can’t even keep track of everything going on, but I can see him behind all the medical professionals. There’s soot on him, but nobody has even tried to force him to clean up or get checked for smoke inhalation. I feel reassured with him there.

Then the medical professionals seem to be done, because they leave me in the bed with an oxygen mask over my face. I can’t talk like this.

Iacopo takes my hand.

“I’m sorry,” he says, squeezing my hand gently. “You shouldn’t have been there. What’s going on between Ariana and me…it has nothing to do with you.” His jaw clenches. “And you should go home.”