Page 74 of Made for You
The house phone rang, and Nikki froze. I didn’t know how often she got calls on that line, but from her expression, it wasn’t often. She scrambled out of bed and bolted out into the hallway, thundering down the stairs and reaching the phone just after the third ring. I followed close behind, lightly regretting not pulling on pants over my boxer briefs, but the look on her face had sent alarm rattling through me and I’d known before her face blanched entirely once she answered that something was wrong.
“Okay. Okay. Can I talk to her? Okay. I’ll be right there. Yes, thank you for calling. Yes, that’s the number. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ll be right there.” She hung up and turned to me. “Gram. She passed out. They don’t know if it was another stroke or what, but they’re taking her to the hospital. They—” She swallowed, eyes staring blankly at my chest. “They called my phone earlier. It’s on silent. I didn’t hear it.”
I took her hands, urged her chin up so she’d see my face. “Let’s get dressed. I’ll take you over there, and we might even beat them if they’re just getting her into the ambulance.”
She still looked ill. “I should’ve answered.”
I held her a little tighter. “You did. You just did and now you know. She’s in good hands and we’ll get there. Let’s get dressed.”
She nodded, then seemed to finally switch gears into action. She sprinted up the stairs two at a time, and in minutes, we were both dressed and loading into my car. I checked my phone as we walked to the door. No word from Kiley, but she and her friend were likely sleeping late after staying up all hours. I’d sent her a message last night, one last thought before I came here, and she’d given it the obligatory thumbs-up. We’d had a long talk a while back about acknowledging my messages in some way, even if she didn’twantto, so I knew she was okay. She’d given me that, at least, and so I’d give her a little more time before I checked in this morning. Marcus would be picking her up so I had plenty of time to be with Nik and see to Rosie before I needed to be home for Kiley.
After another few minutes of tense silence, I dropped Nikki at the emergency entrance and parked the car. Fifteen minutes later, we were seated in the ED waiting for word from the doctors.
“She’s awake. This is good. I guess she said she’s fine. They just wanted to figure out if she’d had a stroke, so they are doing the test now and then I can see her.” She’d repeated this update a handful of times in different words, her knee bouncing as she sat and tried not to crawl out of her skin.
I didn’t want to give her false encouragement, but I had to say something. “It sounds like they were right there and that the staff did everything right. There’s nothing you could’ve done by being there, and now she’s getting checked out. This is a good hospital, and if she needs something they don’t have here, they’ll transfer her. I promise you she’s in good hands and they are going to do everything they can.”
“Nikki? Oh, I’m so glad you’re here.” Dove pressed a hand onto Nikki’s shoulder, and Nik jumped up and accepted the hug her friend offered.
Such an odd moment to see her take comfort in someone else, and yet, it wasn’t jealousy I felt, but relief. The more people Nikki had here, the more support and people in her corner, the more likely she would be to stay. And even though we’d had an amazing twelve hours, I worried what something like this might be doing to her.
The half hour proceeded slowly, even with Dove there to keep up conversation. Something was nagging at me, a worry that wouldn’t stop even now that we were here and were learning more. But I figured it would dissipate any minute—certainly once Nikki got to go back and see Rosie.
But then my phone buzzed with a text from Marcus. “Is Kiley with you? I just got to Tara’s house and they said Kiley got picked up an hour ago.”
“I’m going to step outside to take a quick call. I’ll be right back.” I kissed Nikki’s temple and kept my expression as placid as possible when she checked my face for clues. Appeased, she squeezed my hand and released it, turning back to Dove while she spoke.
I exited the building as quickly as possible without arousing alarm and dialed Marcus as I went. “She’s not with me. Last I heard from her was about eleven last night.”
“I swear I was on time. I called her and texted, but she isn’t answering.”
Crap.“You guys are good, though? I know it’s been a little up and down. I hate to pry, Marcus, but I need to know she doesn’t have any other reason for screening your calls.”
“No, sir. We’re good. Really. I know we’ve had our stuff lately, but we’ve been good.”
“Good.” Andcrap.Because this wasnotgood.Thiswas what had been niggling at me since this morning. I’d chalked up the no-contact to Kiley being with her friend and not being worried about me. That was all normal. But things around here hadn’t been normal. She’d been on guard against me and likely Carl, too. She seemed to move from curious but upset with the situation a few weeks ago to most recently disgusted and disappointed.
Would she go with him if he showed up? I didn’t think so. She might agree to talk, though, and maybe he’d know he shouldn’t stick around somewhere a responsible adult would see it and let word get back to me.
Maybe they were sitting at Diner sipping coffee and eating pie for breakfast like Kiley loved to do. It could be that simple.
“Can we call the police? I have a really bad feeling about this, Mr. Camden.”
The way his voice edged with fear made me want to shake him and hug him at the same time. He might’ve been seventeen, but he was just a kid. Fortunately for me and Marcus and Kiley, this was what I did best. I stayed calm, made a plan, and executed it with precision. If we needed reinforcements, I happened to know some guys.
If I had a black pit opening inside me and threatening to swallow me whole with a senseless fear like I’d never known? Well, that was just the reality of being a parent, I guessed. And for now, that hole could shove it. I didn’t have time to get taken alive by the what-ifs. I’d find her and it’d be just fine. Everything would be fine.
“I need to wrap something up, but I’ll call my guys. We’ll start looking. If we can’t find her in town, we’ll get the police involved. We need some kind of evidence that Carl has her before we can justifiably send out an amber alert. Keep trying her phone, and if you’ve got any friends who might know where she is, call ’em. This isn’t the time to be shy.” This was the more the merrier.
“Okay. Yeah. I’ll start calling and check with everybody. I’ll run over to the school just in case she was going to work on the chem lab she needs to make up, but I don’t even think it’s open yet.”
He was babbling a bit now, but he stayed focused. The kid was handling the situation remarkably well.
“Good plan. I’ll check in within the hour.” I hung up and immediately fired off a text to Tristan and Wilder, then jogged back in but slowed my pace before reaching Nikki.
A nurse was talking, smiling and nodding like she was giving good news. As I got close enough, I could hear, “You’re welcome to come back and see her. She’s been asking for you.”
Nikki turned to see me, and I slipped a hand behind her back and kissed her head. “This is great. I’ve got to run and deal with a work thing really quick, but you can get me on my phone, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
