Jane went a hard shade of pink. “I was having lunch. I was in the break room. I’m sorry. Uhm, I just got a call. Apparently they tried your cell phone. It’s the clinic.”

Fear suddenly took over anger. “What happened?”

“It’s your mother. There’s been an accident.”

Now he didn’t control his impulse. He took off running.

It looked like Charles might not be the one who took everything from him.

chapter eleven

Sylvie raced into the Papillon Parish Clinic, the door sliding open with a swoosh. Her heart was racing and she still couldn’t get Rene on the line.

“Cricket is fine.” Mabel Jenkins moved from around the reception desk, dressed in a pair of pink scrubs. She’d been the old doctor’s nurse and stayed on when Lila LaVigne had taken over the town’s health care. “She was shaken up, and Lila wants to take a look at her wrist to make sure it’s only sprained. There was a minor car accident.”

Sylvie gasped.

“She wasn’t speeding,” a familiar voice said. “We were at that light on Turner Street. You know the one that changes way too fast, and everyone is certain it’s Armie’s way of ensuring there’s always expensive coffee at the station house. Because he writes so many tickets from that one light.”

Hallie stood in the lobby, her baby in her arms.

“Cricket hit you?” Oh, god. This was worse than she’d thought.

“She tapped my bumper,” Hallie corrected. “I was driving Johnny’s truck because my car is having maintenance done and he’s on the rig for the month. I swear that truck is a tank. I can’t tell where she hit it. If I hadn’t felt it, I wouldn’t have known anything had happened at all. Gracie didn’t even wake up until we decided to bring Mrs. Darois to the clinic.”

Sylvie crossed the space between her and her friend. “Gracie’s okay? You’re okay?”

Hallie held her free arm open, welcoming Sylvie into her circle. “We’re fine. Like I said, it wasn’t a big deal. Cricket got out of the car and slipped on the grass. She fell pretty hard and her wrist was hurting. I thought we should bring her in. Louis drove her car here but I wanted to make sure she was okay.” Hallie’s hand patted her back. “Doesn’t it feel soothing to have a baby hug you? You could have your own and she would soothe you all the time.”

That got Sylvie to smile as she pulled back. It seemed like everything was fine and her worry was overblown. Especially if Hallie was still trying to tempt her into motherhood. “I’m glad you’re okay, and thank you for taking care of Cricket. But girl, if you want to trick me into mommyhood, you should change that child’s pants first.”