Midnight Run by Charity Hillis Read Free Book Online Page A

punched in the number her dad had given her; neither of her
parents had a cell phone, something which she’d teased them about
mercilessly for years, but when a strange woman answered with the
words, “Mercy Hospital,” all thoughts of teasing fled.
    “My dad called,” she stammered. “His name is
Richard Willson.”
    “Hang on a minute.” Hold music filled the
line, and Nora jiggled her leg nervously. A couple walking into the
diner glanced at her before moving away quickly, and Nora slid down
the building to a spot in the shadows.
    “Peanut, is that you?” Her dad’s voice was
scratchy, almost as if he’d been crying, and Nora felt her whole
body clench in fearful anticipation.
    “Dad? What happened?”
    “Your mom had a heart attack.”
    Nora stared at the dark city street,
unseeing. “What?”
    “She’s still in the ICU, but I’m hoping
she’ll be better soon. The doctors are running some tests; we
should know more in a few hours.”
    “But, Dad, how? Mom won’t even touch fried
food!”
    She could practically hear his shrug over the
phone. “Like I said, we don’t know much right now. Can you come
home?”
    She paused, remembering suddenly that she was
supposed to start her new job in a few hours. “I’ll have to
see.”
    “Peanut, I don’t want to worry you,” he
stopped for a moment. “But the sooner the better,” he finally
said.
    Nora’s throat constricted. It’s that
bad? “I’ll catch the train into Philly first thing in the
morning.”
    “I might not be able to drive out to pick you
up.”
    Nora shook her head impatiently. “I’ll figure
something out.” Her voice started to break, but she pushed the
words out. “Dad? I love you. Tell Mom I love her, too.”
    “We love you, too.”
    Nora hung up the phone fighting back tears.
“Damn it!” Her words were loud on the deserted street, but Nora
didn’t care. Her brain still couldn’t quite grasp everything her
dad had said, but it was having an even harder time sifting through
what he hadn’t said. One thing was certain; if her dad was
pushing her to come home immediately, her mom was probably worse
off than he was letting on.
    Quickly, Nora fired off a text to Todd
letting him know that she’d had a family emergency, and then she
poked her head inside the diner. Lynne looked up immediately and
frowned in concern, but Nora didn’t want to talk about it. “A
family thing,” she managed to say. “I’m sorry, but I’ve got to
go.”
    “Of course! Let us know if you need
anything.” The words should have sounded empty coming from a near
stranger, but Nora could tell that Lynne meant it.
    “Thank you.” She hesitated. “I might not be
at the run for a few nights.”
    “Don’t worry about that. We’ll see you
whenever you’re able to come out.”
    Nora nodded, almost smiling. She wasn’t
really big on sharing the details of her personal life, but she had
a feeling that if she kept up with the running group, she and Lynne
could become friends.
    Pushing that thought to the back of her mind,
Nora hurried across town. When she got to her dark apartment, she
hesitated for a moment. Part of her wanted to wake Carl up; she was
feeling desperate for someone to talk to about the whole thing with
her mom, but since she barely knew anything, she decided to let him
sleep. I can always call him from the train , she reasoned,
tossing some clothes into her shoulder bag. She didn’t bother
checking online for tickets; trains ran every few hours from Grand
Central to the 30 th Street station in Philadelphia, and
she knew she’d be able to catch one, even at such short notice.
    After leaving a sticky note for Carl, Nora
hailed a taxi a few blocks from their apartment, and the sun was
just coming up when she made it to the train station. Instead of
stopping to admire the beautiful architecture like she usually did,
Nora pushed through the crowd to a ticket kiosk, and in moments,
she had a ticket in hand for a train leaving in half