Page 104 of Midnight Valentine
“And whether you choose to accept it or not, the truth is that you died at 12:02 in the morning on the seventeenth of May five years ago—your name was Cassidy Michael Dunn, and you were the love of my life!”
Crying openly now, Theo turns and sprints from the room.
As his footsteps pound hollowly down the stairs, I lose the strength in my legs. I sink to my knees, the room spinning. In a few moments, the front door slams with a boom that rattles the windows. The roar of a car engine breaks the still of the morning outside, followed by the angry squeal of tires spinning against pavement, then another roar as the car takes off at top speed down the street. I don’t have to look to know the car is mine. Theo obviously took my keys from my purse.
I kneel in the same spot for a long time, blank and drained. My mind doesn’t sharpen until I hear the wail of sirens far in the distance.
Then the blankness is replaced by a terror so powerful, I’m still frozen in place when the phone begins to ring.
* * *
I run.
I run so hard and with such focus, I don’t see Coop’s red truck blast past me down the boulevard leading into town. I can’t see anything, I can’t hear anything except the solemn voice of the young man calling from the hospital. The words play on a dark, terrible repeat inside my head.
“We found your number in his clothing. There’s been an accident.”
Accident.
Three simple syllables with the power to ruin lives.
I pump my arms and legs as hard as they can go, my chest heaving, hot tears streaming down my cheeks. I’m barefoot, but I don’t feel the cold asphalt of the road under my feet. I don’t feel the misty morning air on my face, or hear my harsh, labored gasps, or smell the sea breeze. I’m half-dead already.
If Theo’s gone by the time I get to the hospital, the rest of me will follow.
“Megan!”
My name sounds as if it’s been shouted at me from underwater. It’s muffled, distorted, a long way away. I keep running.
“Megan!”
A red truck pulls next to me in the street. The window is down. Coop is shouting my name. I remember I called him to come get me because I didn’t have a car, and sob in relief.
I slow just enough to yank open the door and throw myself inside. Without waiting for the door to close, Coop slams his foot against the gas pedal, and we rocket down the street.
“How bad is it?”
My teeth chatter so hard, I can barely manage to answer Coop’s question. “I don’t know. They didn’t say. They just said come quick.”
“Fuck.”
No more words are spoken. In a few short minutes, we screech to a stop outside the emergency room doors of the only hospital in Seaside. I’m out of the truck before Coop has time to shut off the engine.
I burst through the doors and look wildly around, panting in panic. I throw myself at the admission desk, startling the plump brunette sitting behind it when I start shouting.
“Theo Valentine! I’m here for Theo Valentine! Where is he? Where is he? I have to see him!”
“Ma’am, please, calm down!” She rises, hands held up, eyes wide.
I know I look like a madwoman, but I don’t care. Furious, I pound my fists on the desk and scream, “Take me to him now!”
Coop grabs my shoulders and peels me off the desk.
“Mornin’, Angela,” he says to the brunette, firmly wedging me under his arm. “Sorry ’bout that. We’re all upset—got a call they brought Theo in.”
I lean against Coop and weep into his flannel shirt, so scared, I’m delirious.
“Yes, not long ago,” says the brunette, sounding rattled. “I’ll see if I can get someone to come out and talk to you. Why don’t you have a seat in the waiting room?”
