Page 1 of No Way Home
Prologue
MAGNOLIA, SIXTEEN YEARS OLD
The hospital roomsmelled like lemon disinfectant and devastating goodbyes.
“No—no, Mom, you can’t go,” I sobbed. “How will I know which college to go to? Or which med school?” My chest throbbed, fear pressing down so hard I could barely breathe. The doctors said we were down to hours. Not days—hours.
“Maggie,” Dad said from the other side of the bed, head down, eyes closed—so broken he couldn’t even look at me. “You need to let her rest.”
Mom squeezed my hand, but her grip was weak, almost nonexistent. “It’s…” Her chest rattled. “Okay.”
I’d been holding her hand for the past three hours. Irrationally, I kept telling myself that if I didn’t let go, maybe she wouldn’t either.
Her smile was small, but it was there. “You…already…know,” she whispered, her voice raw. “UV…” She swallowed, fighting for air. “UVA.”
It’s where my parents met—and where I’d always wanted to go. But what if I didn’t get in? Or what if I bombed the MCAT and no med schools wanted me?
I knew I was wearing her out with my endless questions, but there was one more I had to ask. “How will I know when I meet the right guy though? A girl needs her mom to help her decide if his yellow flags might fade to green or go full-blown red.” My free hand flew out. “Or what if the right guy comes along, but I’m so busy worrying whether he’s the right guy that I miss him altogether—and end up alone?”
“Hey, sweetie,” Dad said softly, just as gutted and lost as I was. “You’re a fantastic judge of character. And I’ll help you.”
I knew he would. If my mom was the best in the world—and she was—Dad was her equal in every way. But he couldn’t make up for this. Forher. And looking at him now, I knew he knew that too.
“Baby girl,” Mom whispered, her voice firmer than it had been in weeks.
Dad looked up, daring to hope.
Her chest rattled again. A brutal reminder that I could hold her hand all I wanted, but it wasn’t up to her. The cancer had taken over her lungs, and that was all there was to it.
“I’ll make sure…you know.” Her eyes closed, and panic shot through me.
“How?” I asked, desperate. “How will you make sure?”
Dad dropped his head again, his sobs shaking the bed.
Mom’s eyes cracked open just barely. “I will…make sure you find…the right one. The one who…w-will cherish y-you.”
“But how will I know?”
“You’llfeelit.” With the last bit of strength she had, she reached out and put her hand over my heart. “Ri-ight here,” she struggled to say. “Un—” she wheezed “—mistakable.”
And I believed her. If she made a promise, she kept it. No force in the universe could stop her.
“I’m going to miss you,” I said, tears blurring my vision. I wiped them away furiously, needing to see her.
“Magnolia.” Her gaze locked on mine. “I…might be dying…but I will not leave you,” she pushed past cracked lips. “I’ll never…leave.”
Those were the last words she ever spoke, and they became a part of me, as if they were written in my DNA. True to her word, I felt her everywhere: in the first rays of the sunrise, in the wind toying with my hair, in every song she loved, and in every goodnight prayer Dad and I said together.
But I’d never felt her closer than the moment I met Bowen Dupree. From my fingertips to my toes, all the way to the center of my chest, I knew he was the one.
Turns out, he was the reason I stopped believing in promises.
Chapter One
BOWEN
THE MURKY MIDDLE
