Close to You (Fusion 2)

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but, Landon, you have an urgent call from a Mia.”

I frown and my gaze immediately meets Ringo’s.

“You can take it on this phone,” he says, and hands me the receiver, punching the button for the correct line.

“Mia?”

“Landon, I’m sorry to call like this, but your cell kept sending me to voice mail.”

“It’s fine, what’s up?”

“First, I don’t want to freak you out. I went to Cami’s to check on her like you asked, and she looked horrible. She started throwing up and couldn’t stop, and kept complaining about her shoulder. I finally talked her into going to the ER, and she’s been admitted. I really think you should come home as soon as possible.”

Ringo, who can hear everything, says, “I can fly you up.”

“I’m on my way. Is she okay now?”

“They’re still assessing,” she says. “Just come home.”

“Can I talk to her?”

There’s silence for a minute, then Mia returns. “No, she’s talking to the doctor.”

“Mia, what aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing. Just get here.”

“Tell her I love her.” I hang up and immediately gather my things. “How fast can you have me up there?”

“Three hours, max.”

“That’s too long.”

“Sorry, man, I can’t control geography, and I’m flying a Cessna, not a Navy jet.”

“Fuck,” I mutter, and rush behind him out of the building. “She didn’t sound good when I spoke to her.”

“Beating yourself up won’t solve anything.” Ringo pulls out his phone. “I need the Cessna ready to go in fifteen minutes. I don’t give a shit, make it happen. There’s an emergency.”

He clicks off and leads me to his car.

“I appreciate you doing this.”

“You’re my friend, Landon. This is the least I can do. We’ll get there.”

I nod and stare at my phone, praying Cami’s okay.

BECAUSE OF THE fucking weather, it took us almost four hours to get to Portland, then it was another thirty minutes of finding my car and busting ass to get to the hospital.

When I finally find Mia and the others, I’m going crazy with worry.

“Landon!”

Mia jumps out of her chair and rushes to me, hugging me tight.

“Where is she?”

“She’s in surgery,” Riley says. Her eyes look tired. Steven is sitting with Addie and Jake, and Kat is on her phone.

“Your mom and dad are on their way down,” she says to Steven, who nods wearily.

“What the fuck is happening?” I demand.

“They won’t tell us much,” Mia says. “But there really wasn’t time.”

“Why?”

“Right after I hung up with you, the doctor told me that they needed to take Cami in for emergency surgery, and then everything happened so fast, before I knew it, they all rushed off, and I was escorted in here. I called the others, and that’s really all I know.”

“They didn’t say if the baby was okay? Or what she was having surgery for?”

“No,” she replies, visibly frustrated. She pulls Cami’s ring out of her pocket and passes it to me.

“Why do you have this?”

“They wouldn’t let her wear it in surgery.”

I march over to the registration desk.

“I’m here regarding Cami LaRue. She’s been in surgery for a few hours. Can you give me any information?”

The woman smiles. “Let me call back.” She speaks with someone briefly, then hangs up the phone. “The doctor should be out shortly. Cami was just taken to recovery.”

I sigh in relief. If she’s in recovery, she must be okay. “Thank you.” I return to the others. “She’s out of surgery.”

“Thank God,” Riley says just as a man in green scrubs comes through the electronic doors.

“Are you friends of Cami’s?”

“Yes,” I say immediately. “I’m her fiancé.”

He shakes my hand and frowns slightly. “Cami’s surgery went well, and she’s in recovery. As soon as we make sure she’s handled the anesthesia well and she’s settled in a room, you’ll be able to see her.”

“Thank you. What happened? Is the baby okay?”

He sighs. “Cami came in with symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy, meaning the embryo had implanted in her fallopian tube rather than her uterus. We did an ultrasound to confirm. Unfortunately, her tube ruptured and we had to perform emergency surgery. She lost her fallopian tube and the baby.”

I drop into a chair and stare at my feet.

We lost the baby.

“The good news is, the surgery went well and we were able to clean up all of the infection. She’ll have some recovery time of a few weeks, but she’s going to be just fine.”

“Thank you,” Riley says.

“I’m very sorry for your loss.”

Someone is rubbing circles on my back. The girls are talking about making calls and what they can do for her once she’s home.

It’s all just noise to me. I need to see her.

Finally, after what seems like hours, a nurse comes to get me and leads me to Cami’s room. She’s asleep, and I’m told that she’s been given a strong dose of pain medicine so she’ll probably sleep for a couple of hours.

I sit next to her and take her hand in mine. Jesus, she looks so small in this hospital bed. Aside from some circles under her eyes and the IV in her arm, she looks no different from when I left her yesterday morning.