Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Jack
The next morning, I spoke with the private investigator regarding Bradley. He had a lead as to his whereabouts, and he would call me back later. I looked at the clock. It was ten minutes after eight. I opened my office door and noticed Lorelei wasn’t at her desk. I walked down to Coco’s office and asked Franny if she’d heard from her.
“No, Mr. Sutton. She hasn’t called?”
“No. She hasn’t, and this isn’t like her to be late.”
I walked to my office and pulled my phone from my pocket. I dialed the business phone I gave her. No answer. I called down to Garrett.
“What’s up, Jack?”
“Do you have Lorelei’s cell phone number? She hasn’t shown up for work, and she hasn’t called. I tried calling the business phone I gave her, and she didn’t answer.”
“That’s odd. Hold on. Let me pull her file.”
A few moments later, he rattled off her number as I wrote it down on a piece of paper. I dialed it.
“Hello,” a soft voice answered.
“Lorelei?”
“No. This is Hope.”
“Hope. It’s Mr. Sutton. Where’s your mom?”
“She’s sleeping. When I went into her room, she was lying on the floor, so I helped her back to bed. She’s really sick, Mr. Sutton.”
Suddenly, a wave of fear overtook me.
“Hope, I’m on my way over. So when you hear a knock at the door, you ask who it is first. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Mr. Sutton.”
“I’ll see you soon.”
I grabbed my suitcoat and flew out of the building. Tony was already waiting for me.
“We need to get to Lorelei’s apartment fast.”
“I’ll do my best, Jack, but it’s rush hour.”
“I don’t give a damn whether it’s rush hour or not. Get to Lorelei’s as fast as you can.”
Despite the traffic, Tony got me to Lorelei’s building in a decent amount of time. Shit. I forgot about the security door. I pushed the button to Lorelei’s apartment. The door buzzed, and I pulled it open, flying up the steps to Lorelei’s apartment.
“Hope, it’s Mr. Sutton.” I knocked.
She unlocked the door and let me in.
“Can you show me where your mom’s bedroom is?”
I followed her down the hallway, and when I reached Lorelei’s room, I ran to her side and placed my hand on her forehead.
“Oh my God, you’re burning up.”
Lorelei slowly opened her eyes. “Jack?” she whispered.
“Shh. You’re going to be okay. I’m taking you to the hospital. Hope, go get dressed. We’ll take your mom to the hospital so the doctors can check her out.”
“Is she going to be okay?”
“Yes. She’s going to be fine. Go get dressed and hurry up.”
I placed my arms underneath Lorelei and picked her up from the bed. She laid her head against my chest.
“Hope, are you ready?”
“Yes.” She came running into the living room.
On my way out the door, I noticed Lorelei’s keys sitting on the table. I grabbed them, and as soon as we stepped out of the apartment, I had Hope lock the door. When I got down to the limo, Tony was standing there with the passenger door open.
“Hope, I need you to sit up front with Mr. Tony. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Tony helped me place Lorelei in the back seat, and I climbed in next to her as she laid her head in my lap.
“I told you to go to the doctor. Now, look at you.”
She moaned. “Hope.”
“She’s with us. She’s up front with Tony.” I stroked her hair.
Tony pulled up to the doors of the emergency room. I climbed out and went inside, telling them I needed help. Two nurses brought out a stretcher as I picked up Lorelei and laid her down.
“What’s going on with her?” one of the nurses asked.
“She’s been coughing badly the past few days and not feeling well. She’s burning up.”
“Are you her husband?”
“No. I’m her boss. This is her daughter.”
They wheeled her inside and down the hall. One of the nurses told us to have a seat in the waiting room and that they’d be out shortly. Hope wrapped her small hand around mine, and when I looked at her, all I could see were eyes filled with fear. I led her over to the chairs in the waiting room.
“She’s going to be just fine, Hope. I don’t want you to worry. The doctors will take good care of her and get her better.”
“I want my grandma and grandpa.”
“I can call them. Do you by chance have their number?”
“No, you can’t. They’re on a cruise.”
“Oh. Okay. Is there anyone else I can call?”
“My Auntie Stella is out of town visiting her boyfriend’s father who’s really sick.”
“Okay. What about your other grandparents?”
“I don’t have any other grandparents.”
I pulled my ringing phone from my pocket. It was Coco.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Jack, where the hell are you?”
“At the hospital. I had to bring Lorelei in. She’s very sick.”
“Oh no. What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure yet. I’ll call you when I know more.”
“Okay.”
I put my phone in my pocket and looked over at Hope.
“Are you hungry or thirsty?” I asked.
“Kind of. I didn’t eat breakfast.”
I looked around and saw a vending machine. “Let’s go see what they have in the machine.”
We stood in front of it and Hope looked through the glass.
“There’s Pop Tarts.”
“I only like strawberry. Those are blueberry.”
“How about a granola bar?”
“Ew. Those are gross.”
“Okay. How about those little muffins? They look good,” I lied.
“Sure. I like chocolate chip muffins.” She smiled.
I reached inside my pocket and pulled out my wallet, taking out two one-dollar bills and putting them in the machine.
“Press the buttons for the muffins,” I told her.
She did and reached inside and grabbed them.
“How about a drink? There’s orange juice over here in this machine.”
“I want apple.”
“They don’t have apple. How about some cranberry juice?”
“Yuck.” She made a face at me, and I smiled.
“Go sit down. I’ll track down some apple juice.”
I walked over to the nurses’ station. “Excuse me, but I need someone to go find me some apple juice for that little girl over there.”
“We have apple juice in the cafeteria,” one nurse said.
“Well, I can’t very well leave at the moment.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. “Whoever goes and gets that little girl some apple juice can keep the change.”
The nurse named Samantha took the twenty from my hand. “I’ll go get some apple juice for you.”
“Thank you.” I smiled.
I took a seat next to Hope as she sat there and ate her muffins.
“Your apple juice is on its way.”
“Want one?” she asked as she held the mini muffin up to my face.
“Umm. No thanks.”
“Just try it. They’re good. I know you’ll like it.”
“No. No.” I waved my hand. “You eat them all.”
“Please, Mr. Sutton,” she whined. “Just taste it.”
I sighed as I took the muffin from her hand and put it in my mouth. God that was the worst thing I had ever tasted.
“You like it, don’t you?” She giggled.
I nodded my head. “Yes,” I lied.
The nurse came back and handed Hope her bottle of apple juice. A few moments later, a man in blue scrubs entered the waiting room.
“For Lorelei Flynn?” He looked around.
“Yes.” I stood up.
“Lorelei has pneumonia and a pretty serious case of it. We’ve stabilized her, and we’re trying to get her fever down. She’s very weak and dehydrated. It’s a good thing you brought her in when you did. I’m going to admit her. She will be here the next few days.”
“May we see her? This is her daughter.”
“You can visit with her but only for a few minutes. She needs total rest.”
“Thank you, doctor.”
“Follow me. I’ll take you to her.”
Hope once again wrapped her hand around mine as we followed the doctor down the hall and to the room where Lorelei was. When we walked in, she opened her eyes and tried to smile when Hope ran up to her.
“You’re in a good place, Mommy. They’re going to make you all better.”
I stood in the doorway and stared at Lorelei lying in that hospital bed. My heart ached seeing her like that. Then I thought of something else. If she was admitted to the hospital, who would look after Hope? Shit.
I walked over to Lorelei’s bed and placed my hand on her arm.
“I want to go,” she whispered in a weak voice.
“You need to get better first.”
“Hope.”
“Don’t worry about Hope. I’ll see that she’s taken care of while you’re here.”
Lorelei shook her head no at me. I was offended.
“I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to leave now. Our patient needs her rest,” the nurse spoke.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be okay,” Hope spoke as she laid her head on Lorelei’s arm. “Get better, Mommy.”
A tear ran down Lorelei’s cheek. I pulled a dollar from my pocket and handed it to the nurse. “Could you take Hope to the vending machine and buy her a candy bar?”
“Sure, thing.” She smiled.
When they walked out, I placed my hand on Lorelei’s head and leaned closer to her, wiping the tear from her cheek.
“I don’t want you to worry about anything. Hope is going to be well taken care of. I’ll see to that. You focus on getting better. I need my personal assistant back in the office.” I smiled.
She slowly nodded her head and then closed her eyes. I pressed my lips against her forehead.
“We’ll be back to visit you as soon as they say we can.”