Page 27 of Cluelessly Yours

“What?” he questions, searching my eyes for an explanation. “Did I say something wrong?”

“No, not at all. I’m just thinking that you should probably wait for this date to end before you decide if you want another,” I tease. “I mean, our first date didn’t exactly go swimmingly. What if this one also ends in disaster? Shouldn’t you take some kind of precaution to protect yourself?”

“Sammy, you’re incredibly beautiful and funny and kind. You’re everything I look for in a woman.” Gavin gently squeezes my hand from across the table. “Trust me, I don’t need this date to be over to know that I want another one.”

When he says it like that, I have to wonder if I’d be crazy to turn down another date.

Gavinishandsome and successful and charming—he’s all the things a woman hopes to see in a potential partner. And he sees the same in me?

I start to open my mouth to commit, to rip off the Band-Aid and put myself out there and go for the gold, but the shrill sound of my phone ringing from inside my purse stops me in my tracks before the first syllable can leave my lips.

“Shoot. Sorry,” I apologize, digging for it desperately to shut it off. “I thought I put it on silent.”

When my fingers finally make contact, I pull it out and scramble for the volume button, but with Zoe’s name flashing on the screen, panic over the noise I’m making quickly switches to an entirely different kind of anxiety altogether.

Zoe never calls me when I’m out unless it’s important.

“It’s my nanny,” I explain in a rush, and I don’t wait to see his response before I hit accept.

“Hey, Zoe,” I whisper into the receiver, even cupping my hand around my mouth and the bottom of the phone so as not to interrupt the other guests around us. “Everything okay?”

“Uh…well…not exactly,” she says, and her voice has an edge that makes my heart stop for what feels like a good five seconds. “We’re in an ambulance right now—”

“I’m sorry,what?” My voice rises with each word. “Did you sayambulance?”

“I’m so sorry, Sammy!” she bellows, and I can hear tears in her voice. “I let Grant and Seth play at the small playground by your place after dinner, and Grant fell off the swing and I’m pretty sure he broke his arm.”

“What do you mean, you’re pretty sure?”

At this point, I can actually hear Grant crying in the background. I can also hear Seth’s nervous chatter as he rambles off a million questions.

“Well…a small part of the bone is…sort of…” she drops her voice to a whisper “…not under the skin.”

“Oh, holy shit!”I exclaim, hopping up from my chair and tossing my napkin onto the table. “What hospital?”

“St. Luke’s,” Zoe says, and I quickly end the call with an, “I’m on my way.”

“I’m so sorry, but I have to go,” I tell Gavin as I grab my purse and throw it over my shoulder.

He’s already on his feet. “What’s wrong?”

“Grant. He’s been in an accident and is being taken to St. Luke’s Hospital.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“No, you don’t have to—”

“Sammy, I’ll go with you,” he says and tosses a wad of cash onto the table. “St. Luke’s is quite the trek from Lower Manhattan. We can take my car to save time. It’s in a garage half a block from here.”

His arm is at my lower back, and he’s guiding me out of the restaurant before I can even question him. And I don’t think twice about it because the only thing on my mind right now is getting to my kid.

“Just stop right here,” I practically shout at Gavin when I see the Emergency Room sign for St. Luke’s. I’m already getting out of his car before it even comes to a stop.

“I’ll find a place to park, and I’ll meet you inside,” he says, but I barely hear him. The only thing I can think about is that my youngest child is in a hospital without me. He’s probably scared and crying and worried, and his mother isn’t by his side because she was too busy going on a stupid date.

The emergency room doors slide open as I step up to them, and I run to the desk. “I’m here for Grant Brown. I’m his mother.”

“Room Twelve. You can go on back,” the nice lady behind the reception desk tells me and opens the doors without another question. I’m sure she’s seen enough frazzled moms to know which ones are the real deal.

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