Chapter 48
It waslate morning when Emma woke alone. She pushed herself upright on her good arm and frowned. Then she vaguely remembered Blaze kissing her on the forehead earlier and telling her he had to go to the range.
She stretched as she reached for her phone, wincing at the pull in her tendon as she did so, and looked at the time. Shock rolled through her at the display. Nearly ten.
She never slept that late.
But staying up late with Blaze, talking, making love, sleeping, waking to talk some more and make love again, had taken it out of her.
That and the way she’d stressed so hard over dinner with her parents. But it had turned out fine.
One of her favorite parts was Blaze and her mother playing off each other without any prior agreement to do so.
She hadn’t loved it at the time, but she did now. It meant that Blaze was comfortable with her parents, and they seemed to like him too.
Her heart ached as she thought about all they’d said and done last night. She didn’t know where they were going, but he’d given her the chance to end it. More importantly, he’d said he didn’t want to when she’d asked him.
Maybe it was crazy to throw herself headlong into this thing with him when there were still things he hadn’t told her, couldn’t tell her, but she didn’t really have a choice.
She loved him.
And that meant she was sticking by his side until she had a damn good reason why she shouldn’t.
Yeah, it was scary. Yeah, she was worried. But going about her business without him, seeing him around town, and not being able to touch him or kiss him was too shattering to contemplate.
So she was in it, and she hoped like hell it didn’t explode in her face.
Emma let Sassy out and padded into the kitchen, where she found a note from Blaze that said all she had to do was turn on the pot for fresh coffee. Emma grinned to herself as she hit the button. She was sure it was a goofy grin as she hugged herself and went over to open the curtains.
The sun shone brightly. It was still slightly chilly outside in mid-March, and the wind swayed tree branches, but the promise of short-sleeve weather was evident in the daffodils sprouting all over the downtown area. Easter was still a month away, but the daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths would be in full flower by then.
Emma had missed spring in the south the past few years. Chicago was still windy and cold and would be for quite some time. Hell, it’d been cold in May every year she’d been there. She’d grumbled her way through it, eager for June when it finally got warm enough to feel like she wasn’t going to freeze her Southern ass off.
After she’d poured a cup of coffee and picked up Sassy, who purred as she snuggled in close, Emma set about fixing toast one-handed. Sassy swiped at it as Emma lifted the buttered slices to her mouth, and she laughed and called Sassy a tyrant before setting her down again so she could race across the living room and bat one of her balls around.
Her phone lit up with an incoming call from Theo. Emma swiped to take it.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“I was wondering if Rory is with you.”
Emma’s blood chilled. “Not with me. She isn’t answering her phone?”
“No. We were supposed to meet at the Dawg at nine-thirty to go over the receipts for the week, but she didn’t show up. She usually calls if she’s running late, but I haven’t heard from her. I thought maybe she’d stopped to see you and lost track of time because y’all were gabbing.”
The thread of panic that uncoiled inside her was icy cold. If Rory weren’t diabetic, Emma wouldn’t go from zero to a hundred on the worry scale so quickly.
“I haven’t talked to her since last night. You need to get to her house and make sure she hasn’t had a problem with her insulin.”
“That’s my next move. I’m already headed for the car.”
She could hear his booted feet traveling down the stairs of the building where the Dawg was located.
“I’ll meet you there. I need to grab some supplies just in case, but I’ll jump in the car and be right behind you.”
She wasn’t supposed to leave the apartment without Blaze, but she wasn’t going to sit inside while her dearest friend in the world might have a potential medical emergency.
Sure, she could call 911, but they were farther away than she was. She could be there in five minutes. It’d take an ambulance ten.
Insulin pumps were extremely reliable, and Rory was a pro, but it was always possible to fail to get the cannula into the skin properly. She could think it was fine when it wasn’t, and that’s where the danger came in. If she didn’t get her doses on time, she could go into diabetic ketoacidosis and be confused or lethargic and too tired to insert the pump properly.
Emma didn’t think Rory was that careless with her insulin and glucose monitoring, but stuff happened, and Emma would rather act than find out later her friend could have used her help.
Emma dressed quickly and headed for the door. She called Blaze on her way downstairs to the practice.
It went to voice mail.
She frowned and tried again as she unlocked the door and went inside for a medical kit and insulin supplies.
Voice mail.
Emma’s heart hammered as she went outside alone. She hadn’t been without an escort in a while now, and it was odd. But the parking lot was bright, and Colleen waved from her table on her rear patio where she was chain-smoking cigarettes after smudging the area. Emma’s car was parked in a slot where Colleen would see her as she got inside.
If Simon was waiting, Colleen would know it.
Emma waved back, unlocked her car, and tossed in the bag, looking at the back seat where her belongings used to be piled high but no longer were thanks to Blaze, and got inside to start the vehicle.
She tried Blaze again as she fired up the car and drove out of the lot.
Voice mail.
“Blaze,” she said when the beeping stopped. “Theo hasn’t heard from Rory and we’re afraid she’s had an incident. She’s diabetic, which you may not know, and this could be an emergency. Theo is headed to her house. I’m right behind him in case she needs help. An ambulance would take too long, and I’m not staying in the apartment and wringing my hands when she could be in trouble. I’m sorry. I hope you understand. I’ll call you when I know more, and I won’t go anywhere alone, I promise. Theo will be with me at her house, and if we have to go to the hospital, I won’t leave until it’s safe. I?—”
Emma swallowed as she cut off the words. She’d started to say I love you, but maybe now wasn’t the time. Blaze would be upset when he got her message, even if he understood why she’d disobeyed instructions, and that wasn’t the time to hit him with those words.
So she calmly told him she’d see him later and hung up the phone.
When she turned into the long, tree-lined driveway that led to the house where Theo and Emma had grown up, her heart was beating fast and hard. Theo hadn’t called her to say he’d found Rory yet. She didn’t know if that was good or bad.
Bad if he’d found her and she wasn’t responsive.
Good if he’d found her and was giving her hell for not answering her phone or keeping their appointment.
Emma hoped it was option two, though she couldn’t imagine what would keep Rory from calling her brother or answering the phone.
Theo’s car was under the big oak tree in front of the house. Rory’s car wasn’t there, but it could be in the detached garage her grandfather had built behind the house about twenty years ago.
Emma grabbed her bag and supplies, slipped her phone in her pocket, and hurried up the steps to the front door. She didn’t bother knocking. She simply turned the knob and stepped into the living room.
Into a nightmare.