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“Is Emily with you?”
“What? No. Why would—”
“Have you heard from her?”
“No. What happened? Did you have a fight?”
“No. Well, sort of. She was coming back from playing racquetball with Josh, and I saw them together in the lobby and kind of lost it. So I stormed out. But I came back thirty minutes later, and she was gone. And she’s turned her cell phone off.”
“She’s probably upstairs.”
“I checked already. I think she must have left with Josh.”
“I doubt it. Josh and Brad are on the night shift in the emergency room tonight. You could call, I guess, but he won’t answer his phone if his shift has started.”
“Where could she be?”
“I don’t know, but if you got her upset, she might be walking around on the street somewhere.”
“But that’s not safe.”
“Seriously? This is Emily we’re talking about. Since when do you think she wouldn’t do something hazardous? She’s cautious and afraid about things that are actually safe, and totally oblivious with actual danger, like she doesn’t have any common sense.”
He groaned at the constriction in his chest. She could be walking around in a daze by herself on the streets of New York City at night. “What should I do?”
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“I take it she’s not answering her phone?”
“She turned it off, unless it’s dead.”
“You call Charlie and see if she has any ideas. And give Josh a call, in case he hasn’t started his shift yet. I’ll call Brad, too. And I guess you’d better wait there in case she comes back. She’ll probably walk back inside any time now, and you can straighten this whole thing out. But you better let me know the minute she comes back, because I’m really worried.”
He disconnected, attempting to tamp down the feeling of dread in his stomach. Gherring’s words kept coming back to haunt him. “I almost lost her. I don’t want you to make the same mistake.” He hadn’t even talked to Charlie or taken her grandmother’s ring to the jeweler yet. He’d lost her before he even purchased the ring. He felt the small lump of the little ring box wedged in his front pocket. He’d thought he might have a chance to go to the jeweler today on the way to dance class, but found it closed.
He pulled the box out, opening the lid and gazing at the old-fashioned ring. He imagined how it would feel to have Emily’s actual engagement ring, to give it to her, to see it on her hand. He tried the ring on himself, but it would barely slide onto his little finger. It was a sweet, old-fashioned setting. There was one central round diamond in a gold carved background that made it appear as a flower. On the side, going down the band were tiny little round diamonds, four on each side. It was probably only half a carat in total, but it would add nicely to the diamond he intended to buy for her. If he ever got the chance.
He tucked the ring safely back into his pocket and called Charlie.
*****
Josh was exhausted. The emergency room had been extraordinarily busy, probably because it was a full moon. Everyone said the full moon brought out the crazy people. There were stabbings and gunshot wounds, car accidents, women giving birth. One guy, who’d gotten his hand stuck inside a glass jar, had to wait for four hours because there were so many other more pressing emergencies.
He and Brad walked back to the residents’ room to retrieve their things. When he turned on his phone, he found several phone messages and texts.
Brad, who was checking his phone simultaneously, said, “Emily’s missing. Did you get a text about her?”
“Yes, and I think I know where she is.”
“Where?”
“She left me a message to pick her up in the maternity ward waiting room.”
“Are you kidding me? She’s been here all night? We better let everybody know. They’re all crazy worried.”
“No, don’t. Not yet. Her text is begging me not to tell anyone where she is. Let’s go talk to her first.”
When they reached the waiting room, they spied her at once, curled up on a hard plastic loveseat, asleep, with her head resting awkwardly on her purse.
