Cody stood, unmoving, his eyes glassed over and focused on only one thing—Louisa. And the pain of that sliced straight through her like the knife through Maggie’s last birthday cake.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

CODY KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN.

His mother might be the only person in the world Louisa couldn’t charm. And that would drive her crazy. Of course she’d balk. Of course she’d run away. Of course she’d say that horrible thing about not wanting to take more family members away from him. She was Louisa—fixer of all people.

He glanced at his mom, who quickly averted her gaze. Anger rose within him. These people were adults—why weren’t they acting like it?

He watched as the crowd gathered around Maggie. Louisa sang heartily, doing an impressive job of acting like things were fine, but as the song came to a close, she looked his way, and he saw that sometimes, even she was good at pretending.

Maggie leaned forward and blew out her candles, and just as JoEllen whisked the cake away to be cut, the crowd dispersed and the old woman started coughing. Louisa was at her side with a bottle of water, which she opened and handed over, but Maggie seemed unable to stop long enough to take a drink.

He’d been around long enough to know now that these coughing fits could be brutal, and he imagined Maggie didn’t want to have one in front of her guests, but at this point, moving her wasn’t an option.

He made his way toward the beach where Maggie sat. Ally was trying to distract the crowd, but it was clear people were curious. How many of them knew about Maggie’s condition?

Cody caught Louisa’s eye just as the old woman drew in a difficult breath, and he saw the worry skitter across her face. He came in closer and took Maggie’s hand, while Louisa did the same on the other side.

“What do you need, Mags?” Louisa asked.

Maggie’s cough sputtered to a halt. “You two—” she clung to them both, struggling for breath—“together.”

The cough had subsided, but Maggie clung to her chest as if she were in pain. Her breathing turned labored. Louisa’s eyes flashed with fear. She raced off toward the house. Cody pulled out his phone and called 911. He gave the dispatcher their information and quickly hung up. By the time he’d finished the call, Louisa had returned with Maggie’s home oxygen tank. Cody put the mask over the old woman’s face. Behind them, the crowd had hushed.

“Just try to breathe,” he said quietly. He wrapped his fingers around her wrist and took her pulse, noticing that Maggie’s skin had gone pale. The siren in the distance gave him hope that they’d get her to the hospital in time, and the oxygen appeared to be helping, at least a little.