Iwas woken from a deep sleep to my phone buzzing relentlessly on my nightstand. My first instinct was to roll over and ignore it, but then I realized that it was the middle of the night—and if someone was calling me, it was probably an emergency.
Adrenaline rushing, I grabbed my phone and squinted at the glowing screen.
It was Stefan.
“Hello?”
“Tori’s in labor,” he said, sounding terrified and excited at the same time.
“Ohmigod!” I said, the shock of the news jolting me fully awake. “I’m coming home! I have to be there!”
“I’ll send the jet,” he said.
“There’s no time for that,” I told him, stumbling out of bed and flailing for the light switch. “I’ll take the next available flight out of LaGuardia. Just text me the hospital address. I’m on my way!”
I hung up and hopped into a pair of jeans, frantically throwing clothes into a carry-on bag, and that’s when I realized there was a wrinkle in my plans. A wrinkle that was sitting in his dog bed, looking very confused as to why we were both awake in the middle of the night.
Munchkin.
Usually I’d take him with me, but I’d be going straight from the airport to the hospital and dogs were definitely not allowed there. I couldn’t just leave him here alone.
I knew what I had to do. I didn’t want to do it, but I had no other choice. This was my most logical option and I needed someone I trusted to take care of my fur baby.
Ford answered on the first ring.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing’s wrong,” I assured him. “But Tori went into labor, which means I need to fly home for the baby. Can you watch Munchkin for a few days?”
“No way,” Ford said, and my heart sank.
“Okay,” I said, trying to remember if the doggie daycare I dropped Munch at sometimes offered longer term boarding options.
“I’m coming with you,” Ford said. “I’ll get the building manager to take care of him instead. It’ll be fine.”
Welp. That wasn’t the way I’d thought that would go. But I didn’t have time to worry about it. It was fine. Ford could do what he wanted. I wasn’t traveling with him, though.
I hung up to let him contact the building manager, Louie, while I used a travel app to book a flight. A single ticket, for myself. It was the last open seat on a nonstop leaving in a few hours, at six a.m., so I’d have just enough time to Uber to the airport and get through security before they started boarding. Then I called Andrew.
After apologizing for the late hour, I told him I wouldn’t be in that day and explained why. He was incredibly gracious about the whole thing.
With my weekender packed, I threw together a bag of dog food, toys, bowls, and Munchkin’s harness, and then walked him up to Ford’s apartment. The door swung open before I was even done knocking.
“Are you ready?” he asked. “I’ll just drop Munch off with Louie. He’s down the hall.”
“I’m ready,” I said. “I’ll head down to the lobby while you take care of that.”
Ford took Munchkin and his supplies from me and I booked an Uber in the elevator on my way downstairs. But instead of waiting for Ford, I immediately walked out the door and after about two minutes, I got into the Uber and asked the driver to get me to LaGuardia as quickly as possible. I knew ghosting Ford wasn’t exactly fair, but I didn’t feel guilty.
Okay, I felt a little guilty. But it was all for the best.
Ford wasn’t my family. He didn’t need to come with me to Chicago.
Despite my excitement, I managed to conk out for most of the flight, waking up just in time for our descent into O’Hare. All I could think about was what Tori must be going through. And Stefan, who was probably freaking out. Their lives were about to change forever.
It was a thirty minute drive from the airport to Northwestern Memorial, so by the time I got a cab and rushed into the hospital it was almost ten a.m.
“Labor and delivery, please!” I practically yelled at the receptionist, out of breath from running across the parking lot.
