HER

Chapter 27

Kaylie met Dana at the reception.

"Hey." Dana smiled as Kaylie approached.

"What are you doing here?" Kaylie asked as she asked.

"I came to talk to my dad but he doesn't want to listen I anything I have to say." Dana said. "I've been scrolling through Ground Upp and I haven't been able to stop. The buildings there inspired me and I have this plan."

Kaylie smiled.
"Does this have anything to do with those yummy things you bake?"

Dana smiled and nodded.

"That's great Dana." Kaylie said.

"Yea, I was until my dad puked on my dreams."

Kaylie frowned.
"You need to do this without his approval or anyone else's. You can do this on your own Dana, I trust you."

Dana smiled a gentle smile and sighed.
"There's something I want to talk to you about."

"What's that?" Kaylie asked.

"Your app, but it can wait till you're done for the day." Dana said. "Call me when you're done, we'll meet at Marco's?"

"Ok." Kaylie said. "See you later then."

Dana hugged her and walked out of the company building and went to the park which was better than going back to the house she was tired of.

Kaylie arrived at Marco's after work that day and took a seat at their usual table. She sat back and stared out the widow, her hands out on the table.

"Would you like to order?" Kaylie turned to the waitress.

"In a while, I'm waiting for a friend."

"No problem." She smiled.

"You're new here?" Kaylie asked.

The waitress smiled.
"I'm guessing you come here often."

Kaylie nodded with a smile.
"Nina or Gina takes knows my order."

"You know Nina and Gina." The waitress beamed and Kaylie nodded. "Gina's my mother."

"Small world." Kaylie smiled.

"Yea. Anyway, I'll be with you when your friend arrives."

Kaylie nodded.
"Thank you."

"Just doing my job." Catherine said before she left.

Dana arrived at Marco's a few minutes after Kaylie.
"Sorry, I hope you haven't been waiting that long." She took a seat across from Kaylie.

"No, I got here a few minutes ago."

"I can't believe this is the time you leave work." Dana said.

"I left earlier because you wanted to meet up." Kaylie smiled.

"I think you should just live at the office then."

"Ready to order." Catherine was back to the table.

"Yes." Kaylie looked from Dana to Catherine and froze. She looked back at Dana and back at Catherine.

"What?" Dana asked.

Kaylie frowned and shook her head.
"Nothing." She said and ordered, so did Dana.

"So, you wanted to talk."

"About your app." Dana said. "How did the presentation go?"

Kaylie shrugged.
"It went unexpectedly."

Dana watched her.
"Ok." She sighed. "Did my brother-in-law happen to make the same app you did or did he, you know, steal yours?"

Kaylie snapped her head up at her.
"What do you know?"

"I walked in on his presentation with Alex today, by the way Alex is a really nice man, anyway, I had a talk with Alex and we both figured out what was happening."

"Alex knows too?" Kaylie looked stunned.

Dana nodded.
"I told my dad but looks like he doesn't take my word for anything which I'm not surprised about."

"It's fine Dana, I've come to terms with it."

"Well you should let my dad know."

"Your dad believes Sebastian and he almost fired me, I need this job, you know that. I can't afford to lose it."

Dana knew that Kaylie's income was what supported her family and her parent's income was an added bonus for the family.
"You can get a job anywhere you want."

"I know that but I've worked so hard to be where I am at RevTech, I'm not going to give up now because of a small...mis-step."

Dana smiled at her wishing she could be as strong as the woman sitting in front of her.

Their food arrived then.

When Dana and Kaylie finally left, it was past midnight. Dana was energized with her talk with Kaylie and she arrived at the house with a smile on her face.

"Where have you been?" Dana heard as she stepped inside the house. She looked up to find Kevin waiting for her.

"I was with a friend."

"Not Lily I hope."

Dana smiled.
"I'm surprised you remember her name."

"I thought I told you not to see her again."

"First of all, I was with Kaylie and second, Lily is going to remain my friend whether you like it or not. I don't tell you who can't be friends with."

"That's because none of my friends are addicts."

"Also, because your friends don't know the meaning of grief." Dana said and walked to the room. After her conversation with her dad, she wasn't ready to have another similar to it.

Dana was asleep when the ringing of her phone woke her up.

"Turn that thing off."

Dana reached for her phone on the night stand and picked it up.
"Hello?"

"Hello, am I speaking with Dana Reed?"

"Yes, who's speaking?"

"I'm calling from GC Hospital; we have a patient who has your number listed on the person to contact for emergencies."

Dana snapped out of the bed; eyes wide, sleep the farthest thing on her mind.
No, Lily.

"Lily Kincaid." The woman said.

"Oh My Goodness, is she alright?" She had her hand on her chest and her heart in her mouth.

"She was brought in over half an hour ago with a friend...I'm sorry to be the one to deliver the news but Ms. Kincaid overdosed."

"I need to know if she's ok."

"She's stable now."

"I'm on my way." Dana said and hung up, she wore the first thing she saw in her closet and was out the door before she got get her shoes on.

Dana held the tears back as she drove to the hospital as fast as she could without breaking any laws. She parked her car and ran into the hospital and towards the front desk.

"Dana Reed, I was called in for Kaylie Kincaid."

The nurse behind the front desk looked up at her.
"Doris?" She called the other nurse who joined her. "This is Dana Reed."

"Hi." Doris said. "I was the one who called, do you have any form of identification?"

"Hmm..." Dana searched her pocket and pulled out her ID card she seemed to have put there when she was rushing out of the house. She handed it to Doris.

"Ok, Ms. Kincaid is on the eleventh floor, room number forty-three." Doris handed back her ID card.

"Thank you." Dana said and made her way towards the elevator, worried.

She just prayed Lily was going to be fine.