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I had no idea what the hell was happening, but I was about to find out since the next thing I did was book the first flight to Utah I could get.
***
“Do you have any cars available?” I stood at the rental counter at Cedar City Regional Airport in Utah.
“You don’t have a reservation?” the guy on the other side asked.
“No.”
“Let me check.” He clicked on his keyboard for a minute before looking up again. “I only have SUVs available.”
“That’s perfect.”
“Okay. And when will you be returning it?”
I had no damn idea. “Can I book it until tomorrow and call and extend if necessary?”
“Sure.”
I had my grandmother’s typed itinerary, so I knew where she was staying. But on the plane I remembered she’d also given me access to her location with the Find Myapp. So once I got in the rental, I set the GPS to her exact location, rather than looking up the hotel’s address. It was eighty-two miles to wherever she was, but the roads were wide open, so it was only a little over an hour before the navigation directed me to exit the highway. A few miles down a busy road, it had me make a left…into Cannon Memorial Hospital’s parking lot.
What the fuck?
My heart started to race. My grandmother was in the hospital? Why the hell wouldn’t she tell me? The GPS flashed that I’d arrived at my destination, but I had no idea where the hell to go from here. So I parked near the main entrance and walked to the information desk.
“Hi. I’m visiting a patient, but I’m not sure of her room number.”
An older woman wearing a pink blazer withVolunteeremblazoned on the front smiled. “What’s the name?”
“Louise Aster.”
She typed into the computer. “I don’t see anyone with the name Aster. It’s after eleven, though. Could she have been discharged already today?”
I opened the Find My app on my phone and refreshed. My grandmother was definitely here somewhere. Perhaps she was being wheeled down from the floor she was on at this very moment. I shrugged and pointed to the door I’d just entered. “Maybe. Is this where she would come out if she was being discharged right now?”
The woman nodded. “Usually, yes.”
I looked around the lobby. There was no sign of my grandmother. “Alright. Thanks.” I started to walk away, but then... “Actually, what about Nora Sutton—Eleanor Sutton?”
The woman typed into her computer again. “Ms. Sutton is in ICU bed four.”
It felt like a punch in the gut. “Can you tell me how to get there?”
She pointed toward a bank of elevators. “Take the east elevators to the third floor and make a right. You can’t miss it.”
“Thanks.”
I could feel my heart beating in my throat as I rode the elevator up. It was less than thirty seconds, yet my gut was tied in a knot by the time I stepped off. I turned right and strode quickly toward a set of double doors marked Intensive Care.
The unit was a big, open room, with a nursing station in the middle and glass-partitioned rooms lining the perimeter. I walked over to the first person I saw in scrubs. He was on the phone, but that didn’t stop me.
“Nora Sutton. Bed four?”
The guy pointed and went back to his conversation. I did a double take as I walked in the direction he’d motioned. Holy shit. Was that even Nora? I took a few more steps to be sure. Nora didn’t look anything like Nora. She was pale and seemed so tiny, and there were a million wires and monitors hooked up to her. A nurse was adjusting one as I walked in.
She smiled politely. “Hello.”
I couldn’t take my eyes from Nora to give the nurse the courtesy of looking at her when I spoke. “Is she okay?”
