“Okay,” I thumbed behind me, walking backwards, “I’ll be outside.”
I dropped onto the couch in their bedroom, running my hands through my hair. Okay, who do I call first? Molly, she’ll know what to do.
It went to voicemail.
Double fuck.
“Mol, can you call me back please? It’s urgent.”
We needed to get to the hospital. Next call up was Ralphie.
“Hey, Clevs.”
“Hey, man, can you come back and pick me up right now please? We need to go to the hospital.”
“Yeah, sure, I can be there in twenty.”
“That’s good, but hurry.”
I looked at my watch again. The flight from Tampa was about three hours. How long did it take for babies to arrive? Longer than three hours, right? I could get him here, couldn’t I? I called my travel service and had a plane wait on standby for him at the private airport we usually flew into.
If I ever stopped playing hockey, I’d make an amazing PA.
Next I dialed Coop.
Voicemail.
So I dialed Drew.
Voicemail.
Then Jas, Huck, Murray, Gabrielle, Diane, Cooper again, both their dads, Drew again, Jas again, and Molly, again.
And it all went to voicemail.
Why the fuck was no one answering their phones on a Tuesday afternoon. Where the fuck was everyone?
I took a deep breath and stood up as Freddie opened the bathroom door and waddled out, wrapped in a towel.
“Did you speak to Coop?”
No, because everyone’s fucking vanished off the face of the earth.
I stuck with my calming, soothing voice, one I didn’t even realize I had and had never ever used before. “Not yet, they’re at practice, but don’t worry, I’ve left a message. Ralph is on his way to take us to hospital. Are you okay? Are you going to get dressed?”
“No, I thought I’d just go in my towel,” she snapped. “Of course I’m getting dressed!”
“Yep sorry, okay, sorry. Stupid question. What do you need?”
She started welling up. “Coop. I need Cooper.”
“I know, Angel. I’m getting him here, I promise. But for the moment, it’s just you and me, and we need to get to the hospital,but to do that, I need you to get dressed. Can you do that while I get some things together?”
She nodded. “My bag is by the door.”
“Your bag?”
“My hospital bag.”
