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chapter two
Zoë walked into the kitchen and looked up at her mother. She watched her mom dial 911 and frowned. 911? Why on earth was her mom calling 911? She walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. She bumped into Taylor on her way.
“Oh, sorry Tay,” she said, and kept on walking.
“Wait,” he said. “Where are you going?”
“To see why Mom’s calling 911,” she said matter-of-factly.
“What?” Taylor said.
“Mom’s calling 911. Go see for yourself.” He eyed her suspiciously and left for the kitchen.
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Mrs. Hanson rushed into the kitchen and grabbed the phone. Her long, perfectly manicured fingers quickly dialed the digits. 9-1-1.
“Hello,” a voice answered. “What is your emergency?”
“Um, yes. My name is Diana Hanson and there was a car crash outside my house. One of the victims was a young man my daughter knows. I don’t know who the other one was. I don’t know what happened.”
“Okay, ma’am. What is your address?”
She rattled off the address and hung up the phone with the promise of an ambulance as soon as possible. As soon as the phone was out of her hand, Taylor entered the room.
“Mom? What’s wrong? Zoë said you were calling 911.” She sighed.
“Jessie’s boyfriend, Andy, he was in a car crash. Right outside our house, of course. She’s real upset.” He frowned.
“Oh.” He walked back into the living room.
“What happened?” Zoë demanded.
“Jessie’s boyfriend was in a car crash.”
“Oh. Where?”
“Outside.”
“You mean like, right outside the house?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh. Wow.” She looked down at the ground.
“Come on,” he said, reaching out for her hand. She clutched his hand in hers, and they walked outside to see the damage.
The cars were both in pretty bad condition. Andy’s car had run into an electric pole while swerving to miss the other car, which had hit a different power line.
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After the paramedics had looked over the scene, they spoke with the Hansons. As soon as they said, “died immediately,” the tears started to well up in Jessie’s eyes. Then, one of the paramedics said that they had found something on him. He revealed a small black box. He looked at Jessica.
“I think it’s for you,” he said, holding it out. She looked at him, and he nodded. With shaking hands, she reached out and carefully took it from him. She shakily opened it and removed the small piece of paper. On it was a single sentence.
She stared down at the contents of the box for a few minutes before breaking into tears, dropping it all on the lawn, and running into the house. Zac leaned down and picked up what she had dropped. The box held a ring, and on the paper was written,
Jessie, will you marry me?