“Is it just me, or are your cheeks really sore, too?” I said in a low voice, my aching smile still frozen on my face.
“It’s just you. I’ve never been more inclined to smile in entire life.” Neil looked down at me, his eyes wet. They were tears of joy, I could tell. He blinked them back, but I was so glad to see them. They were such a beautiful change from his tears of pain I’d become used to.
“I’m so proud of you.” I wouldn’t kiss him, because I didn’t want to leave a lipstick print. But I reached up and brushed my thumb across his cheek, and it was a suitable stand in.
I wouldn’t even point out all the many occasions in our personal life when he’d had plenty of reason to smile. Like our wedding day, for example. I would tease him about that later.
A figure in a black dress cut a line through the crowd, headed straight toward us. It was Penny, flushed, her hairline glistening with sweat. Her dress was rumpled, or maybe it just looked that way from how she was holding it up to avoid stepping on it as she practically jogged across the floor.
“Penny?” I asked, and she handed me my phone, her eyes wide.
“I’m so sorry. I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to miss the first call. They were only ten minutes apart, but I feel terrible. Just really—”
“Calm down, Penny,” Neil said gently.
“Yeah, it’s just a phone call.” I slid my thumb across the screen.
Presbyterian Hospital?
The same number lit up my screen, and I answered. “Yes?”
“Is this Sophie Scaife?” the voice on the other end asked brusquely.
I looked up uncertainly at Neil, then turned my attention back to the phone. “Yes, it is. Who is this?”
“This is Officer Sue Granger with the NYPD. You were listed as an emergency contact in Emma Van der Graf’s cell phone. We’re going to need you to come down to Presbyterian Hospital as soon as possible.”
“Wait, I don’t…I don’t understand. What’s happened?” I asked, and Neil reached out as if to take the phone from me. Which was exactly what I didn’t need, because he would freak out and it might be nothing.
“Ms. Van der Graf has been in an accident. We need you to come down.” She paused. “You might want to contact her family.”
“I am her family,” I said, my lips numb. There was a buzzing noise in my head. “I mean, we’ll be there.”
I hung up and turned to Penny. “Get into my email and search my contacts. You’ll find a number in there for Valerie Stern. Tell her to go to Presbyterian Hospital immediately.”
“Sophie, what’s happened?” Neil’s eyes were so wide I swore I could see his panicked pulse in them.
“It’s Emma.” My chest tightened. I barely had enough breath to get my next words out. “She’s…there’s been an accident.”
CHAPTER FOUR
I’d never actually feared for my life while Neil was driving before, but he ran nearly every red light trying to get across town to reach the hospital. The words of the officer kept repeating in my mind. Mrs. Van der Graf has been in an accident.
I was Emma’s emergency contact? Had she been drunk when she made that decision? I was so going to make fun of her for that, once she was feeling better.
Neil parked on the street, and we raced inside, through the emergency room entrance. The hospital staff directed us to the surgical floor. The ride up seemed to take forever, and Neil practically charged the elevator doors before they opened. I spotted Valerie and her new boyfriend, Laurence, through the windows of the waiting room. They sat with their heads close together. Their coats lay over the backs of the uncomfortable looking chairs.
When we entered, they looked up, Laurence’s face grim, Valerie’s eyes bloodshot and full of tears.
“What…” Shallow breaths interrupted Neil’s speech. “What’s happened?”
“An accident,” Valerie said, her voice quavering. “Michael is dead.”
I couldn’t breathe. My chest felt too heavy, and I couldn’t fight against it. This is what it feels like to drown. I leaned back on the closed door. Michael was dead? He wasn’t. I’d just heard him, talking to Emma as she spoke on the phone with me.
He’d…he’d just been alive.
Neil’s hands came up to cover his mouth. His eyes searched the room, as though the solution to this awful problem were somewhere to found. “Emma. My god, she must be devastated.”