Page 88 of The Heartbreak List

Still nothing.

I pick her number from my contacts. Put the device to my ear. It connects, and my breath stalls as I listen to it ring and ring.

I stare at the building entrance as her voicemail gives me the option to leave a message. I don’t like this, but it’s probably nothing.

I pull away from the curb to do another loop. No doubt they’ll be out by the time I roll back around. My chest has grown tight and I rub at the flesh over my heart. This is nothing to worry about, right? Indy is fine. She was excited and happy this morning. She didn’t even take pain killers because she said she felt good.

I was worried these past few days that we’d have to cancel the trip, so when she woke up in high spirits this morning, I was so relieved. But now…there’s that feeling…that pins and needles feeling that tells me something is wrong.

An ambulance speeds past me, lights flashing. My heart moves to my throat. I can feel it thudding below my tonsils.

“It’s not for Indy,” I mutter to myself between breaths, even as my head spins. She’s fine. Just fine. “Why is this traffic moving so fucking slow?”

It takes forever to get back to where I started. Throwing the truck into park, I jump out and run inside. I spot the paramedics before I spot America. I remember her from that night at the club. She stands beside them with her fingers pressed against her mouth while she stares down at the cluster of bodies.

I shove through people to get closer. I can’t see Indy and I can’t breathe until I do. Pain grows in my left side. In my jaw and my shoulder. Down my arm.

“Indy?” The paramedics have her blocked off. But those are her boots and those are my roses on her leg. My world comes to a screaming, shuddering halt.

“You need to keep back.” A man in an airport security uniform thrusts his arms out in front of me, blocking me from getting to Indy.

I go through him anyway. He barely slows me down. And then she’s in front of me. So pale and quiet. Eyes shut. Her expression as peaceful as it was this morning while I watched her sleep. Two men in paramedic uniforms are on the ground with her, working to stabilize her so they can transfer her to the hospital.

“Is she going to be okay?”

“You need to back up and let us work,” one of the men says as they prepare to lift her onto a stretcher.

“Theo?” America approaches me. Wraps both hands around my elbow. “You’re Theo, right?”

“Yeah, I…” grab at my hair as I glance at the woman beside me. “What happened?”

“One minute we were walking and then…” She presses her fingers to her mouth. “She lost consciousness. I watched her fall…”

The two men move Indy onto the rolling bed and then raise it to height. The people loitering wander away now that there’s nothing interesting to see.

Indy’s eyes flutter open. Her voice is a whisper. “America?”

“I’m here.” I take her hand as the paramedics roll her past us. “I’m right here, sweetheart.”

“Theo.” She squeezes my hand weakly.

“I’m here too.” America walks with me beside the stretcher as we make our way outside. “You scared the hell out of me.”

She scared the shit out of me too. I’m still shaking.

“I’m sorry.” Water dribbles from the corner of her eye. “I’m so sorry I’m ruining our trip.”

“Don’t even worry about it.” America starts to cry too.

I’m numb though. Completely and utterly numb. Seeing her like that… “Let’s just concentrate on getting some rest, huh?”

She nods as her eyes drift closed. “Okay.”

The paramedics move the stretcher into the ambulance. One of them climbs up with her. The other moves to the front.

“We’ll meet you there,” I tell her.

They close the doors and the ambulance departs. I carry America’s luggage to my truck and toss it on the backseat. She climbs up beside me in the front. “Has that happened before?”

---