Chapter 19

Once Terrance left, after Charlotte profusely assured him that she was alright and that if she needed to talk that he would be the first person she called, she threw herself into her work.

She started back working on the invitations and inserts that she designed that morning. Since most of her business is spread through word of mouth and websites online, she posts everything that she does in her blog so that potential clients can see what she is capable of doing before they hire her.

She was just about to send her design to the client, when an instant message box popped up on the screen. She didn’t recognize the name, but then again, her computer had been set up to keep her permanently logged in since forever ago, which was the last time she actually logged into it. As she was thinking back on it, she had no idea what her password was. But regardless, there, smack in the middle of her screen was a small box from ‘ibzdaone’.

Ibzdaone: I miss you.
WhosThatLady: Who is this?
Ibzdaone: Who else would be telling you they miss you? You talking to somebody else already?
Ibzdaone: You cheating on me, Charlotte?
WhosThatLady: Damien?! What do you want? Why are you sending me an IM? We broke up! Move on!

When she realized it was Damien she got upset. She hadn’t talked to him since they broke up. She hadn’t really even given him a second thought after she’d hung up the phone with him that day. But, leave it to Damien to act like that day never happened.

Ibzdaone: What do you mean ‘we broke up’? You talking ‘bout that little spat we had over the phone the other day? That didn’t mean anything. Baby, I miss you. Can I come see you tonight? I miss you so much.
WhosThatLady: OMG!!!
WhosThatLady: Are you serious? Are you out of your mind?!
WhosThatLady: I can do this right now. Don’t IM me, don’t call me, don’t text me, don’t send me emails!!! It’s over. We are not together anymore. You are no longer my boyfriend, man, significant other… whatever you used to call yourself. ITS OVER!

Then she closed out the window. She also clicked on the little smiley face in the bottom right corner of her screen and logged out of the messenger. She never used it anyway, so it didn’t matter anymore.

But she couldn’t believe his audacity. After days of not hearing from her, especially after the conversation they had that morning, he still thought that they were together.

She scoffed at the idea that he was serious and pushed it to the back of her mind, dismissing it as a joke he was playing to see if she would fall for it and roll over for him. Those days of her dismissing her anger with him were long over.

She went back to her design and sent it off to the client with a note asking them to get back to her as soon as possible so that she could get started on her project. She was getting that giddy feeling that she usually got when she was working. It was one of the reasons that she chose to do what she was doing. She loved her job and she loved working for herself.

She started thinking back to her younger days when she first started thinking about her career. Her mind immediately turned to Jeremy.

He played such a huge part in her life growing up, it was a wonder they let all that time pass since they’d seen each other.

Thinking about him just made her start thinking about the earlier events of the day. She wondered if Jeremy would take her call or if she had to wait for him to call her, if he ever did. She thought about calling his house number, but then decided against it when she checked the time. Robin could’ve been home. Her voice was the last one she wanted, or needed, to hear right now.

She went to her bedroom and grabbed her cell phone off the bed and dialed Jeremy’s cell number. After four rings, it went to voicemail. She hesitated at first, but then decided to leave him a short simple message.

“Jeremy, this is Charlotte. Please call me when you get this message. We really need to talk, especially after today. Whenever you get this message, and it doesn’t matter what time it is, please call me. I love you.”

She tossed the phone back on the bed and walked to her bathroom.

She hoped a nice, long, hot bath could help de-stress her. She was definitely ready for Calgon to take her away.
____________________________________________________________________

Jeremy pulled into the first parking spot he saw in the small lot of the emergency room at Hermann Hospital. He didn’t care that he was crookedly parked across two lanes. His wife was in the emergency room. If he got a ticket, he figured he’d deal with that later.

He ran across the lot and straight into the building up to the nurse’s desk.

“Excuse me,” he said to a nurse who was standing behind the counter looking into a file cabinet. “My wife, Robin Johnson, was admitted here a little while ago. Can you please tell me where I can find her?”

The nurse told him that she was in with the doctor at that moment, but that she had some paperwork that needed to be signed first.

He looked at her like she had five heads sticking out of her neck. He didn’t care about the paperwork, he wanted to see his wife and find out what was going on. He didn’t even know yet why she was admitted.

“Look, lady, I don’t have time to sign insurance papers or whatever that is. I need to find my wife and find out what’s going on. I don’t even know what she’s doing here. This morning, before she went to work, she was fine. Then I get a call saying that she’s in the hospital and still no one has told me what’s going on or what happened?”

“I can tell you what happened,” a voice said from behind Jeremy.

When he turned around, there stood a tearful Greg.

“I can tell you what happened to Robin.”

“Wait, you work with her, right? I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name.”

“I’m Greg, Greg Taylor. I…”

“Mr. Johnson,” a doctor said, walking up to him from the nurse’s station. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’m Dr. Randall, your wife’s doctor. I need to get some information from you. We need to get this paperwork signed.”

“Like I told the nurse, I can handle the paperwork later. I want to see Robin. Now.”

“Mr. Johnson, we need to get that paperwork signed. We can’t perform any surgeries or do the proper blood work without it. Your wife is incapacitated right now and you have to make the decisions, but you need to do it now. What blood type are you?”

Jeremy had taken a step back from the doctor. He had no clue what was going on with Robin, but from what the doctor was telling him, she was in really bad shape. He didn’t know what to think or do. But he knew that he had to listen to the doctor. Whatever he needed to do, he was going to.

“I’m A and she’s O. We found that out when she had her miscarriage a few years ago. Doctor,” Jeremy said, “I can’t give her blood if she needs it.”

“I can,” Greg said.

Jeremy looked at Greg, who still had tears in his eyes. He wondered what this man’s deal was. He was grateful that Greg was there when Robin needed someone and it was very noble of him to stay at the hospital for her support until he could get there, but Jeremy was becoming uncomfortable with the situation now.

“That’s very nice of you, sir, but...,” the doctor started to say before Greg cut him off.

“I can’t explain it right now, but this is something I have to do. Losing Robin is not an option,” he said, and then looked at Jeremy, “for either of us.”