My brows dive together in confusion. “What are you talking about? I saw the bump. She said—”

“She has ovarian cancer. The bump was a tumor. They have to operate—”

When Jackie cuts off mid-sentence with another sob, guilt immediately crushes me for all the awful thoughts I’ve been having about Karma. My elbow lands on the breakfast bar hard enough to rattle the dishes.

Lincoln’s head jerks at the sound, and he must see the horrified expression on my face. He rushes toward me, ready to do battle with whoever might be on the other end of the phone call for upsetting me.

I reach out, and he grasps my hand. “We’ll be there as soon as we can, Jackie. I’m so, so sorry. I love you.”

She dissolves into sobs and whispers out a quiet thank you before the call ends.

“What?” Lincoln asks.

“Get the chopper. We have to go to the hospital, and I have no idea how the hell I’m going to tell Cricket.”

Lincoln and I climb out of the chopper after it lands on the helipad in front of the Riscoff Memorial Hospital, but Cricket sits frozen inside.

Hunter unhooks her buckles and guides her to the door, but she looks like a zombie. As soon as they clear the blades, I thread my fingers through hers and squeeze her hand.

“Are you—” I start to ask if she’s okay, but Cricket speaks before I can get the question out.

“I was so mad at her. She ruined everything. I wanted her to hurt like she made everyone else hurt. I said I wanted her dead, and now she has cancer.” Cricket’s stricken expression breaks my heart. “What kind of horrible person am I? She—”

“Stop. You can’t think like that. It’s not your fault. It didn’t happen because of what she did or what you thought. It’s . . . it’s just life handing us another shock we didn’t expect. We’ll get through it, just like we’ve gotten through everything else. She’ll have top-of-the-line care, and she’ll be fine.”

“The doctors here are all handpicked, and if she needs specialists, we’ll fly them in right away.” Lincoln’s calm and reassuring tone makes me love him even more. He leans down to kiss the top of my head as he squeezes me tighter against his side.

As we walk into the hospital as a unit, I know this won’t be the last time, but I wish it were. Especially because it seems like our lives are irrevocably changed every time we step through these doors.

It terrifies me what changes could possibly come now, but like I told Cricket—we’ll get through it. We don’t have any other option.

Jackie meets us in the lobby, and her lined features look like she’s aged ten years since I last saw her. “Thank God, you’re here.” She rushes to Cricket and hugs her.

“What happened?” Cricket asks with tears already running down her cheeks. “Where are the girls?”