Chapter 17: Nobody Asked

Hallie's POV

I dialed 911 before Kip had finished saying Bev's name.

I was standing in his bedroom in one boot.

The phone was at my ear before I understood I had reached for it.

"911, what is your emergency?"

"A man is collapsing at Bev's Diner on Broadway in Grove City.

"He's a kidney transplant patient and he hasn't taken his anti-rejection medication in a week.

"Send an ambulance now, to the back door."

"Ma'am, is he conscious?"

"I don't know. I'm twenty minutes away. Please don't wait for me."

"Units are on the way. Stay on the line."

I stayed on the line.

Kip drove with one hand on the wheel and the other held out to me.

I took it and didn't let go.

When we pulled into the alley the ambulance was already there, red lights moving over the brick.

I had not asked anybody.

I thought about that while I ran.

Nobody had said I could.

Dalton lay on the kitchen tile with his head on a folded apron.

His skin was gray and wet, and his hands shook on his chest.

The paramedic had an oxygen mask on him.

My mother knelt beside him with a wet towel and her glasses crooked.

"He walked in here at three," she said. "He said he didn't have anywhere else.

"Hallie, he's burning up."

"His hands are swollen," Kip said, crouching. "How long has he been like this?"

"Hal," Dalton said through the mask.

His eyes found me.

"I'm here."

"I'm sorry. I didn't call you.

"She said..."

"I know what she said."

I got into the ambulance with him.

Kip followed in his car.

At University Hospital they took Dalton behind a curtain on the fifth floor, where a nurse started two lines.