“No … maybe.” The pain in his left side was spreading again, and his breaths came quick and shallow. He unlocked his phone and pulled up the last text message she’d sent him when he’d told her he was going into work. A kissy face and a “Come see me when you’re done” stared back at him. But it was too much effort to type. He handed the phone to Keith.
“Text her … please?”
“Let’s call, that’s faster.” Keith took the phone and hit the dial button. “Actually, it’s Keith, Rosie.”
Matt started to zone out while Keith was on the phone with his girlfriend. Fuck, something was really wrong. He couldn’t focus on anything, not even the brick wall in front of him. His vision was going hazy. Then Keith was pressing his phone back into his hand and telling him to get back inside, and he’d deal with Bruce.
Rosie pulled up to Orange Blossom and called Matt’s number.
“Yeah?” He croaked in her ear.
God, he sounded awful. “I’m out front, do you need me to come in?”
“No, no. I’ll be right there.”
It felt like an eternity before she saw her boyfriend lumber out of the employee entrance and over to her car. He all but fell into her passenger seat, sweating profusely. Immediately Rosie put the back of her hand to his forehead, but he didn’t have a fever.
“What’s wrong, Matt?”
He grimaced and clutched at his chest. No, no,no! Flashes of the last time she saw one of the Lundholm men do that raced through her head. She pushed them from her mind as she reached across him and grabbed his seat belt, then buckled him in. They needed to act, not fret.
“I’m taking you to the emergency room.” Matt gave her a pained look. “Trust me, it’s for the best.”
After consulting with her GPS, she realized the closest emergency department was the University of Maryland Medical Center. Pulling onto the street, she started talking to fill the silence.
“Okay, we’ll head to UMMC. I did a clinical rotation there in the pediatric unit back in college.” Matt grunted and the car shifted. When she turned to look at him at the next red light, he had turned in the seat so he could face her.
Needing the distraction, she kept talking. “I love working with kids. It’s so much better than adult care. Kids won’t argue with you or look up bogus articles on their phone to try and play doctor on themselves. The worst part with kids is the tears. Then you give them a sticker and they’re fine again. They’re so much easier to distract. And less likely to get violent.” She shuddered. “I heard horror stories from some classmates that got assigned to the psych ward. No, thank you.”
They still had ten minutes to go. Rosie started spilling what happened the night before.
“Your sister didn’t show up to game night. Jake didn’t either.” A quick glance to her right showed Matt’s brows drawn together in a scowl. “She told Nadia that she wasn’t feeling well. And Jake told Caleb it was because of … me.”
Matt sighed.
“I know. I feel awful, that she’s taking this so badly. Especially now that the others are being affected.”
Finally, the turn for the hospital came into view. Flicking her signal on, she pulled into the patient drop-off and put the car in park. He looked so worried, and it was her fault.Whydid she have to bring that up? This wasn’t what he needed to be thinking about right now. Turning to Matt, she laid a hand on his cheek. “It’s not your fault. Don’t worry about the squad right now. Just hang in there, okay?” He closed his eyes and nuzzled her hand. She unbuckled their seat belts and opened her car door. A security guard was right there on the sidewalk.
“Do you need a wheelchair, miss?”
“Yes, that would be helpful.” She opened Matt’s door and helped him up, into the wheelchair the guard brought over.
“We only allow five minutes parking in front of the door, but the garage is right around there.” The guard pointed.
“Thank you, sir. I’ll just get him inside and checked in.” The guard nodded and she pushed the chair through the double doors.
A quick check-in at triage, a rundown of his symptoms, and Matt was situated in the waiting room, waiting to be called back. The triage nurse had given her a helpful name tag that said “Support Person” that would give her clearance to stay with him once she parked the car. She kissed Matt on the cheek and promised she would be right back.
As she drove her sedan through the garage, worry tickled the back of her brain. Olivia should be here. She was his only family in town, and she’d know how to get in touch with his parents. After parking, Rosie made up her mind. This wasn’t a conversation they should have over text. She needed totalkto Olivia. As she marched back to the ER, she called Olivia’s number. As predicted, she got her voicemail.
“Hi, you’ve reached Olivia Lundholm. Please leave a message.”
Rosie took a deep breath. “Olivia, it’s Rosie. I know you’re mad at me right now, but it’s an emergency. You need to call me back as soon as you get this message. I had to take Matt to ER, and I don’t know your parents’ number. Call me and I’ll get you the information.” She wiped tears from her eyes as her voice cracked. She still loved Olivia like a sister, no matter what Olivia thought of her right now.
Sucking air deep into her lungs, Rosie headed back to the waiting room where Matt was just being wheeled back.
“Miss, are you family?” The aid pushing Matt’s wheelchair asked her.
