“And who do you suggest—my critically ill wife?”
At least Robert had the decency to blush.
Nora Mae scowled and said loudly, “I’ll go book that flight.”
“Thank you,” Felix called after her, and tugged on his coat.
“Seventeen-year-old boys get into accidents all the time. I’m sure he’s fine. You don’t have to rush off like some superhero.” Robert fiddled with his suspenders, and in that one second, Felix hated him in a way he had never hated anyone except Pater. Then Robert stood tall. “You can’t leave. It’s that simple.”
“No, I’ll tell you what’s simple,” Felix said with a calm he didn’t know he possessed. “My son needs me, and you are in my way. That gives you two choices. Either you step aside, or I will break your jaw.”
“But—but . . .” Robert flushed scarlet from the collar of his shirt up to his receding hairline.
“And now I’m going to ask you very politely to leave my office.” Felix selected Katherine’s number on his mobile. “While I make arrangements concerning my critically ill wife.”
“You’re going to reimburse me for that flight with interest,” Robert said as he marched out.
“Fine,” Felix said, and slammed the door.
Katherine answered on the first ring. “Hey.”
“Are you sitting with Ella?”
“I certainly am,” she said. “Do you want to speak to her?”
“No. Just listen and don’t react. Harry’s had an accident. He has a concussion, and I need to fly up to Boston.”
“Uh-huh.”
Good, Katherine understood.
“Tell Ella I have to pull an all-nighter at the office. She won’t be suspicious.”
“Uh-huh.” Katherine varied the pitch of her voice slightly.
“When I know what’s going on, I’ll call you, and we can decide what to tell Ella.”
“Excellent plan,” Katherine said cheerfully.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to put you in the middle again, but I don’t how she’s going to take this news, and there’s no point upsetting her when I don’t have the information.”
“Oh, don’t worry about us. We’ll rack up your bill on pay-per-view. Don’t work too hard.”
And she hung up.
He typed a text.
Thank you.
Bring our boy home safe. Don’t worry about Ella. I’ve got it covered.
Felix opened his door. “Nora Mae?”
She was tapping away on her computer. “No seats on the JetBlue flight, but I’m working on something else. Go to the airport. I’ll text you the flight details.”
Then she shooed him away without raising her head from the screen.
As he ran to the car, he called Ella’s friends in Boston and explained he would come by tomorrow to pick up the boys’ belongings. Then he broke every speed limit between his office and the airport.
Felix paced the overlit, overheated terminal that was strangely devoid of people. Not a peep from Max since a two-word text with the hospital name: Mount Auburn. Felix had never heard of it.
A little boy with a metal airplane that was not even remotely age-appropriate toddled up to join him at the window, and Felix glanced around the gate. Was the child unaccompanied?
“Look, Mommy!” A pudgy finger pointed at a jet landing on a distant runway.
“I see,” a young woman said, and resumed her phone conversation. How could she not be on high alert in a public place? How could she be so careless with her son’s safety? Felix watched over the child until he returned to his mother’s side, but even so, glanced back periodically to make sure he’d stayed put.
His mobile finally rang. “What have you got for me, Max?”
“Hang on, Dad,” Max said with heavy emphasis on Dad.
There was some mumbling and scuffling.