Chapter 2 - The Weekend He Chose)
At 12:03, Grant finally looked at his phone.
There were four missed calls.
Three from Amelia.
One from Claire.
Jason Mercer leaned across the restaurant table.
"You planning to spend your birthday staring at that thing?"
Grant turned the screen over.
"No."
"What does the wife want?"
Grant picked up his drink.
"New mom stuff."
Jason nodded as though he understood.
"Rough?"
"She's exhausted."
"You left her with a six day old baby?"
The question came from Marcus, who was sitting across from them.
Grant looked at him.
"She's not helpless."
Marcus lifted both hands.
"I didn't say she was."
"Her sister's checking on her."
Jason grinned.
"See? Covered."
Grant smiled and raised his glass.
But his phone vibrated again.
This time he glanced.
Claire.
He declined the call.
Jason noticed.
"You are officially banned from family drama until Monday."
Grant laughed.
"Agreed."
Two hundred miles away, Claire stared at her phone in disbelief.
Grant had rejected the call.
She tried again.
Straight to voicemail.
She sent a message.
Call me.
Then she called Amelia.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Claire stood from her desk.
Her coworker looked up.
"Everything okay?"
"I don't know."
That was the truth.
At 12:28, Amelia finally answered.
Claire nearly shouted with relief.
"Where have you been?"
"Upstairs."
Amelia sounded breathless.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know."
"Tell me."
"I'm bleeding more."
Claire grabbed her coat.
"How much?"
"I don't know."
"Amelia, I need you to call the doctor."
"I did."
"And?"
"They said if it gets worse or I feel faint, I need emergency care."
Claire stopped.
"Do you feel faint?"
Silence.
"Amelia."
"Sometimes."
"I'm leaving now."
"You don't need to."
"Stop saying that."
Owen cried in the background.
Claire heard Amelia take a shaky breath.
"Can you call Grant?"
"I did."
"He didn't answer?"
"He declined."
Amelia did not respond.
Claire closed her eyes.
"I'll be there as fast as I can."
"I think I'm going to lie down."
"Keep your phone with you."
"I will."
"Promise me."
"I promise."
They ended the call.
Claire drove faster than she should have.
Traffic on Interstate 47 barely moved.
A delivery truck had broken down across one lane.
Claire watched the estimated arrival time on her navigation screen increase.
Forty two minutes.
Forty seven.
Fifty one.
She called Amelia again.
No answer.
At the resort, Grant's group had moved to the pool.
His new watch cost $4,800.
He had not intended to buy it.
Then Jason had seen it in a boutique window and said it suited him.
Grant had laughed.
Ten minutes later, his credit card was on the counter.
"Birthday present to myself."
Jason slapped his shoulder.
"That's the spirit."
Grant took a photograph of the watch against the blue water.
He almost sent it to Amelia.
Then decided not to.
She was already upset.
No reason to make things worse.
Instead, he opened her messages.
I need you to come home.
He stared at the words.
For the first time, discomfort moved through him.
Maybe he should call.
Then Jason shouted from the water.
"Grant!"
Grant locked the phone.
He told himself he would call in twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes became forty.
Forty became an hour.
At 1:41, Grant finally called Amelia.
No answer.
He frowned.
Then called again.
No answer.
He sent:
How are you doing?
He expected a response.
None came.
He called Claire.
Straight to voicemail.
Grant looked toward the pool.
Something uneasy shifted inside him.
He called Amelia again.
Still nothing.
Then he noticed a notification from the home security system.
Motion detected upstairs.
Grant opened the application.
The nursery camera was not part of the security network. Amelia had insisted on keeping the baby monitor separate.
But the hallway camera showed movement.
The image was blurry.
A figure near the nursery door.
Grant zoomed.
Amelia.
One hand against the wall.
He watched five seconds of footage.
She disappeared into the nursery.
Grant stared at the screen.
Then Jason climbed out of the pool.
"You coming in?"
Grant looked up.
"Yeah."
He slipped the phone onto the chair.
Back in the nursery, Amelia was trying to reach her phone.
She had brought it upstairs after speaking to Claire.
Then she had placed it on the dresser while changing Owen.
When the dizziness hit again, she reached for the edge of the dresser.
Her hand struck the phone.
It slid.
Fell.
Bounced once.
Then disappeared beneath the crib.
"No."
Amelia lowered herself to one knee.
The room spun.
She held the dresser.
Owen began crying.
"It's okay."
She tried to crawl toward the crib.
A sharp wave of weakness moved through her.
Her arms trembled.
She stopped.
Her breathing became fast and shallow.
"Okay."
She whispered it again.
"Okay."
She could see the phone.
Less than five feet away.
It might as well have been across the street.
She dragged herself forward.
Her shoulder hit the rocking chair.
The chair rocked violently.
Owen screamed.
Amelia reached.
Her fingers brushed the edge of the phone.
It slid farther beneath the crib.
"No. No, please."
Tears filled her eyes.
Not because of the pain.
Because Owen was crying.
Because she could not reach him.
Because Grant had told her she would be fine.
The baby monitor sat on the dresser.
It had a voice activated emergency feature connected to the home's central assistance hub.
Grant had made fun of Amelia for paying for that feature.
Who is going to call emergency services through a baby monitor?
Amelia had almost canceled it.
Now she looked at the glowing device.
She tried to sit up.
Her first attempt failed.
She tried again.
Her hand gripped the rocking chair.
Her elbow shook.
Slowly, painfully, she pulled herself upright enough to face the monitor.
"Call emergency services."
The monitor chirped.
"I'm sorry. Please repeat."
Amelia's eyes widened in desperation.
"Call 911."
A tone sounded.
Connecting emergency assistance.
Amelia nearly sobbed.
A dispatcher's voice came through the speaker.
"Emergency services. What is your location?"
Amelia gave the address.
Her words slurred slightly.
The dispatcher immediately changed tone.
"Ma'am, are you alone?"
"My baby."
"Is your baby injured?"
"No."
"Can you get to the front door?"
"I don't think so."
"That's okay. Help is coming."
Owen cried.
Amelia turned toward him.
"Can you reach the baby?"
Amelia stretched one arm through the side opening of the bassinet.
Her fingers reached Owen's tiny foot.
He kicked against her palm.
"I'm here."
The dispatcher kept talking.
Amelia could no longer understand every word.
The room seemed very far away.
Her head lowered against the side of the bassinet.
Owen's foot remained beneath her fingertips.
"Stay with me, ma'am."
Amelia's eyes closed.
Downstairs, the smart lock automatically released for emergency responders.
At 2:06, paramedics entered the house.
At 2:09, Claire arrived.
She saw the ambulance before she saw the front door.
She stopped her car in the middle of the driveway.
Then she ran.
A paramedic carrying Owen met her at the entrance.
Claire's entire body went cold.
"Where's my sister?"
"Are you family?"
"Yes."
"Come with us."
"What happened?"
"We need to move now."
Claire looked toward the stretcher being carried down the stairs.
Amelia was on it.
Her face was pale.
Her eyes were closed.
Claire covered her mouth.
"No."
She rushed forward.
"Amelia."
No response.
The paramedic beside her said something about blood loss.
About blood pressure.
About emergency surgery.
Claire barely heard him.
Her phone was still in her hand.
She called Grant.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
No answer.
She looked at the screen.
Then at her sister.
Then at the newborn crying against the paramedic's chest.
Claire sent one final message.
May you like
AMELIA IS IN AN AMBULANCE. ANSWER YOUR PHONE.
At the resort, Grant's phone was locked inside a poolside locker.
