Fifteen minutes later, I’d sucked back my second drink, there was still no sign of her, and my calls kept going to voicemail. So I raised my hand to call the waiter.
“I’m sorry. It looks like the person I’ve been waiting for is not coming to dinner.”
“No problem. Would you like to order for yourself?”
I shook my head. “Just the check, please.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
After I signed the bill, I took cash from my wallet and tossed enough on the table to cover the hour I’d wasted. As I got up, my phone buzzed.
“About time,” I grumbled.
But when I pulled my cell out, it wasn’t Amelia’s number on the screen. Though it was a local one, so I swiped to answer anyway.
“Hello?”
“Hi, is this Mr. Crawford?”
“It is. Who’s this?”
“My name is Lucy Cooper. I’m an ER nurse over at Memorial Hospital.”
I froze. “Memorial Hospital? Did something happen to Amelia?”
“I’m sorry to tell you this, but there’s been an accident.”
“What kind of an accident? Is she okay?”
“Ms. Evans was in a plane crash. She’s in very serious condition, Mr. Crawford.”
A giant lump formed in my throat and made it hard to speak. “I’m on my way.”
? ? ?
“Can you tell me where Amelia Evans is?” I’d paid the Uber driver an extra five-hundred bucks to blow any light he could to get to the hospital faster.
The woman behind the glass frowned. “And who are you to Ms. Evans?”
“I’m her fiancé.”
She nodded. “I was here when she came in. I think they took her upstairs. But let me check.”
She disappeared and came back a few minutes later. “May I see some identification, please?”
I pulled out my wallet and slid my license through the opening at the bottom of the glass. The woman examined it and slid it back. “Thank you. Ms. Evans is upstairs. They’re prepping her for surgery. But the gentleman who came in with her said he was her husband. They both came in via ambulance and went straight to the back, so I didn’t question it or see any ID.”
My brows pulled together. “Amelia doesn’t have a husband.”
The woman offered an apologetic smile. “Sometimes people lie about who they are so we won’t kick them out since they aren’t family. But your name is in our system as Ms. Evans’s next of kin. It’s on file from a prior admission for surgery.”
I nodded. “When her appendix ruptured last year.”
“Anyway.” She pointed to the left. “You can come on through the door. I’ll buzz you back. Then you’re going to walk straight down the hall to the elevator bank and go up to the fifth floor. The nurses at the station on the surgery floor should be able to give you an update on her condition.”
“Thank you.”
I saw a large desk right when I stepped onto the floor, so I walked over and waited for the woman in blue scrubs to get off the phone. When she hung up, I couldn’t even wait for her to acknowledge me. “I’m here for Amelia Evans. The nurse in the ER said she was in surgery. Can someone tell me what’s going on?”
“And you are…”
“Her fiancé, Merrick Crawford.”