Page 71 of Never Fall Again

Landry woke the next morning to twenty-seven text messages.

She stared at the notification number on her phone. Had she ever had twenty-seven messages at one time?

She walked into the kitchen and scanned the screen. Five from Bronwyn. Four from Naomi. Two from Gray. One from Meredith. One from Granny Quinn. Granny Quinn texted?

Landry. This is Granny Quinn. You let us know if you need anything. Hope you and Eliza slept well.

The remaining messages were from two different group texts that she had not been part of when she’d gone to bed last night.

The first one was Meredith, Mo, and Cal. Meredith had added her, and it was short and to the point.

Landry—this is Meredith, Mo, and Cal. Let us know how you and Eliza are.

The next one was a larger group. It took her three texts to realize that it included Chad, Naomi, Connor, Carla, Cal, and...oh, sweet mercy...Cal’s mom and dad, Craig and Carol.

She’d been added to the Shaw family group text.

She set the phone down on the counter. She needed coffee. Lots of coffee.

All. The. Coffee.

She took her time getting the coffee exactly right. Then, cup held tight in both hands, she looked at her screen and read the first message.

Hi Landry. Sorry for bringing you into this chaos. Just wanted you to know that we’re here for you. We wanted to check on you and Eliza this morning. We also wanted to check on Abby, and to see how Chad and Naomi are. So it seemed easier to just send one big text. You’ll find that I (Carol) text.Dad (Craig) rarely texts, but he reads them and gets his feelings hurt if we don’t include him.

From a new number:

I don’t get my feelings hurt. And I do text. Especially when I’m being maligned.

From Carol:

Well, at least I malign you to your face and not behind your back.

From Craig:

I’m a blessed man.

Landry took a sip.

From Connor:

Sorry you’ve been dragged into this, Landry.

From Carla:

Run, Landry! It’s not too late. Get out while you can!

Carla had included a laughing emoji and a winking emoji.

From Connor:

Hey!

From Carla:

Love you, babe.

From Chad: