Page 10 of Cluelessly Yours

I nod. He’s called me about business dinners enough times for me to have his number programmed into my phone.

“I really don’t mean to cut this short, but we better get moving,” I hedge carefully. “My sister is in the hospital, and we’re heading there now to visit her.”

“Oh no. Is she—”

The sound of my ringing phone interrupts Gavin midsentence. One look at the screen, and I hold up a finger to apologize. Though I’m so anxious to hear about my sister, I don’t do much else. Truth be told, I’m not even sure if I say anything before answering the call and turning away so I can hear better.

“Is everything okay with Brooke? I’m on my way now.”

“She’s doing great, Sammy.” Noah’s voice is in my ear. “I just wanted to update you that they’re going to run a couple of tests to make sure it wasn’t something outside of her normal episodes. Benji alerted but not nearly as quickly as normal, so they just want to make sure she doesn’t have something else going on with her blood pressure that might mask warning signs.”

“What kinds of tests?” I ask, concern for my sister and the sweet baby growing inside her belly making my whole body tingle. “They don’t think there’s anything wrong with the baby, do they?”

“No, no, the baby’s fine. Ultrasound showed the baby’s heart rate is excellent and amniotic fluid is at a healthy level. But they want to rule out every possibility for that reason, specifically. Anything that might be underlying would be a bigger risk with the pregnancy, so we’re not taking any chances.”

“Wait…are you still with her?”

“Yes. Of course. I’ve stayed with her the whole time, and Chase should be here any minute,” he confirms, and there’s a part of me that’s taken aback by his kind gesture. “Dr. Cummings is actually running her care since he’s the OB on call, but rest assured, I’m keeping my eye on things.”

“Thank you so much, Noah.” The urge to get to my sister as fast as humanly possible makes my nerves grate at the edges of my raw stomach. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

I hang up the phone quickly, and before I can even say anything, Gavin is shaking his head. “No, no. Don’t worry about me or let me keep you. You obviously have somewhere you need to be. I hope everything works out and your sister is okay, and if you need me at all, just give me a call. Yeah?”

I nod, clutching Seth’s shoulder and pushing him forward. “I will. Thanks, Gavin.”

He turns on his heel, heading in the opposite direction from us, and I guide my little troublemaker back toward the hospital.

But not even thirty seconds later, Seth starts asking questions.

“Who was that guy, Mommy?”

“Just someone I know from work.”

“Does he want to marry you?”

I laugh outright. “No, buddy. He just wanted to go out to dinner. Sometimes adults do that with other adults.”

“That’s what Aunt Brooke wants you to do with Noah.”

That pulls me up short, and it takes a Herculean effort not to stop right here in the middle of the sidewalk.

“What?Where’d you hear that from?”

“I heard Aunt Brooke talking about it to Uncle Chase. She said you and Noah are lobsters. What does that mean? How can people be lobsters?”

Good grief.My sister needs to stop watchingFriendsreruns. She also needs to mind her own beeswax when it comes to the love life I don’t have time for.

“It means your aunt Brooke is silly.”Andlucky she’s already in the hospital.

Because if she weren’t, there’s a good chance I’d put her there.

Benji is perched at the foot of Brooke’s hospital bed, his snout resting between his paws. Her eyes are closed, and her mouth is slack as Seth and I shuffle quickly into her room on the fourth floor of St. Luke’s.

The line to check in at the front desk was long, and the haul to the OB unit wasn’t much shorter. My nerves are shot, and it’s not even four p.m. yet.

My sister shifts just slightly, causing a moan to roll from her lips. Panic freezes me at first, but when a second groan rents the air, I take off to her bedside with concern.

“Brooke,” I say gently, shaking at her shoulder to wake her from her painful slumber. “Brooke, are you okay?” I ask as her eyes struggle to open. She looks pale and completely exhausted, and the guilt of being at the center of causing her hospital admission multiplies exponentially.

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