The View from Here by Hannah McKinnon

The View from Here by Hannah McKinnon

Author:Hannah McKinnon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Published: 2020-06-02T00:00:00+00:00


Phoebe

She was losing her mind. She knew it the second she signed into the hospital for her visitor’s pass and stepped out of the elevators onto the wing where Emma and Luci had been admitted. How lucky they are, she’d thought.

Hospitals were like an alternate universe. Time stopped, the normal push and pull of everyday life ceased. Here you did not worry about the onslaught of news, the mortgage bill you had to pay, the baths you had to give your kids, and the farmhouse sink you’ve always coveted for its deep recess but realize, come to think of it, the uncanny volume of dirty dishes it can contain might just prove cruel. Such concerns vanished, if temporarily, when you were admitted to the hospital. Here, people took care of you. Nurses strode purposefully between rooms administering to their patients. Trays of steaming food were plucked off carts and delivered. To one’s bed! There was staff who mopped, changed your sheets, inquired about your vitals. They even helped you shower if you needed it! As Phoebe walked down the corridor, even the views were intoxicating: the verdant hills of Litchfield rolled between window frames. She could stay here, like one stayed at a spa retreat. Suddenly, she desperately wanted a bed. Yes, she was losing her mind.

Focus, she chastised herself. This is not about you.

It was the first time she’d been allowed back to see any of them since the accident. The previous day, she’d felt useless. Only Amelia, Perry, and Olivia had been allowed back in the ER, and eventually her parents. Unable to loiter in the waiting room fielding construction texts from Dave and alerts from the bank, she’d tried to help instead, by running errands. It also gave her good reason to avoid the pressing matter of renovation issues, and she texted Dave just that: Sorry, but I can’t be reached today. She was needed here! This was her family. And this was what family did when crisis hit.

First, she’d gone back to her parents’ house to update Rob and say good night to the boys. Then she’d gone to Perry and Amelia’s to collect some things for Emma. She’d just been heading to the hospital when her mother called.

“Where are you?” Jane asked.

Phoebe had initially prickled. She was going as fast as she could. But then she understood why Jane was calling. “Olivia has her hands full here. I know it’s a bit of a drive, but might you head over to her place and pick up a few things? I think she could use our help.”

Twenty minutes later, Phoebe found herself sailing over the wooded hills of Washington’s Route 109 before being deposited into the cozy hamlet of the town center. She slowed as she drove through, soaking in its Norman Rockwell vibe: white clapboard churches, historic farmhouses, rustic red barns. When she pulled into the long gravel driveway of the address Jane had given her, Phoebe was met immediately by a kind-faced older woman in front of the main house.



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