Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 96833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Sig: Heading to the supermarket. Didn’t want you to wake and forget I was making breakfast and instead assume I’d escaped to London without saying goodbye. I know I sometimes do that. But I’m not running this time. Well, except to buy stuff to make you pancakes. See you soon. P.S. Lavinia heard us last night. So if you get up before I get back, she might give you a look or something. That woman couldn’t keep her nose where it belongs if her life depended on it. P.P.S. Last night was fun.
Smiling from ear to ear, I put the phone back on my bedside table. I could hear downstairs that Sig was already back. Just as I was about to get dressed and head down, my phone rang.
When I saw that it was a Rhode Island number I didn’t recognize, I rushed to answer. “Hello?”
“Abby? It’s Doris Gray.”
Doris Gray was my dad’s neighbor. My stomach dropped.
“Your dad was just rushed to the hospital. I think he might’ve had a heart attack. He gave me your number in case of an emergency.”
My hands started to shake. “He’s alive, though?”
“Yes. He was alive when they took him to Newport Hospital. He was able to call nine-one-one himself.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“Are you there?” she said.
“Yeah.” I looked around my room. “I need to… I need to come home.”
“Can I do anything to help?”
“No. Just keep me posted if you hear anything more.”
After calling to book the next flight out of London, I grabbed my suitcase from the corner of the room and threw some clothes into it as fast as I could.
I ran downstairs to find Sig unloading items from a paper bag onto the counter.
“There’s the sleepyhead now,” he announced before catching the expression on my face. His smile faded. “Abby? What’s wrong?”
“It’s not the baby. Um…it’s my dad. He had a heart attack.” My lip trembled. “I have to go back.”
“Oh God.” Sig dropped what he’d been holding to come over and hug me. “I’m so sorry.”
“I just booked a flight. It leaves London in three hours. It was the first one I could get direct to Boston.”
He nodded. “Let’s leave for the city right now.”
“Thank you.”
Lavinia came around the corner. “Everything will be okay, dear. I’ll say some special prayers for your sweet dad.”
“Thanks, Lavinia. I’ll need them. I can’t lose him.” My voice cracked. “He’s all I have.”
“Don’t worry about the food, Sigmund,” she said. “I’ll put everything away.”
“Thank you.” He placed his hand on her shoulder, then turned to me. “Ready?”
“Yes.” I hugged Lavinia one last time, unsure when I’d be seeing her again. “Goodbye for now.”
On the way to the airport, I spent a half hour trying to get through to someone at the hospital to no avail, and my father was not answering his cell phone. I called my sister, Claire, to make sure she knew what was going on, and Dad’s neighbor had contacted her as well. Claire was also on her way to the airport.
Sig offered his hand to me. “You okay?”
I took it. “Trying.”
He let go to reach into the center console, where he took out a granola bar. “Here. I know you probably don’t have an appetite, but you need to eat something.”
“Thank you.” I reluctantly opened the package.
“Your sister is booking a flight?”
“Yeah. She’ll get there before me, most likely.”
“Don’t let her upset you,” he said.
“I’ll try. I know it’s not good for the baby.”
“It’s not the baby I’m worried about right now, Abby.” He took my hand again, his warm touch calming me for just a moment.
Sig parked when we got to the airport and insisted on walking me in.
My hands shook as I used the kiosk to check in. Sig excused himself for a moment to talk to the woman at the ticket counter. It seemed to be taking forever, but it wasn’t like we were in a rush. We’d made it here in good time, so there was still more than an hour before my flight.
When he finally returned, I noticed him holding something.
“What’s that?”
“It’s my ticket.” He waved it. “I’m going with you.”
CHAPTER 30
* * *
Abby
Track 30: “Daddy’s Girl” by Red Sovine
Feeling frantic as I entered the hospital, I was grateful to have Sig by my side. I still couldn’t believe he’d made that spur-of-the-moment decision. By some stroke of luck, he kept his passport in his glove compartment. I hadn’t even noticed as he’d reached over me and grabbed it before we’d exited the car at the London airport.
When we got to my dad’s floor, I told the woman at the desk I was his daughter, and she directed me to his room. Relief flooded through me when I found him sitting up in bed and talking to a nurse. “Dad!”
“Oh my God!” He looked like he might have another heart attack. “Abby!”