Leah
The phone rang just as I was pulling into our driveway.
I almost let it go to voicemail. Bella was chattering in the back seat about a cat she’d seen near the park, her voice bright and earnest, and I was halfway turned toward her, answering on autopilot, when the name on the screen made my stomach tighten.
Mom.
I answered before I could change my mind. “Hello?”
Her voice was sharp and brittle, stripped of the careful distance she usually kept with me. “Leah. You need to come to the hospital. Now.”
My spine went rigid. “What happened?”
There was a pause. A breath drawn too deep. “Your father was in an accident. Someone ran him off the road. The driver was injured. Edward…” Her voice wavered for the first time. “Edward is critical.”
Critical.
The word landed like a blow.
“I’m
