Page 24 of Doctor Daddy Dilemma

I had come too far, waited too long for this evening to turn out like this. Charlie was totally in the right. She deserved better than for me to show up forty-five minutes late to something I invited her to. I had hyped her up, telling her how incredible this weekend was going to be because I was so excited about it, and I had already let her down. Though, I didn’t understand why she’d have gotten so upset by my delay that she’d leave.

“Come on, come on!” I urged my phone to charge faster so I could call her, but even when the thing turned on and I made a connection, the call went straight to her voicemail. That was followed by at least four missed calls from her and a smattering of other notifications I’d missed. “Figures…” I sighed and sat down on the white leather stool behind me, trying to think of where she might be going.

For the past few months, we’d been staying with each other, so a hotel was out, unless she was booking it now. Which meant she was either going straight to the airport or she’d be in limbo looking for a place to shelter tonight. It bothered me that I didn’t know, and it bothered me that she wasn’t answering my calls.

“Sir… Is there something I can do?”

I looked up to see the captain waiting in the doorway. I had no plan now, but I felt an intense urge to find her and stop her from leaving Miami without an explanation. I felt awful for leaving her sitting here waiting on me. I also felt awful for the way our last encounter went too, when I stepped out to help a patient and left her home alone. I knew this was my life and I had chosen it, but she was coming into this and being shocked by it. There were things I had to change in order to make room for her and make a relationship possible. I fully intended to do those things. Breaking down on the side of the road was a fluke thing that never should have happened.

“Well, I am going to make a few calls and then I might need a car. Mine is on the bridge with a flat tire or maybe it’s already been towed. I’m not sure. Can I borrow yours?” I stood and picked up my phone, still tethered to the charger.

“Of course, sir. Anything you need.” He reached into his pocket and produced a key fob, and I thanked him as I took it. The phone was already pressed to my ear, dialing in to an acquaintance of mine who worked at a travel agency.

The captain backed away and I turned to let my eyes rest, focusing on the small ripples of waves on the bay. It was a beautiful evening for going out on the water and I’d be spending it running around the city trying to track down Charlie, but if I did any less what sort of man would I be? I could only imagine how hurt she was or why she felt like she had to leave instead of waiting, but I still didn’t blame her. If it were me, I’d have stayed and been upset, maybe lectured me for not respecting timelines, but Charlie wasn’t me.

“Blue Waves are calling. This is Stephanie; how can I help you?”

“Steph, it’s Lex Hartman, I have a job for you.” I leaned on the stool and crossed my arms over my chest as I pinned the phone to my ear with my shoulder.

“Lexy, baby, it’s been so long! How are you?” Steph, a former weather lady for Channel Ten News, had come to my office for implants after having survived breast cancer. She was the very reason I told Charlie my job was more than just making people look better.

“I’m doing well, thank you. Listen, I don’t have much time. I’m trying to track someone down. They’re in the city tonight, but they’re from Tampa. I think she’s probably booking a hotel or maybe getting a flight—I hope the former.”

I heard her fingers going on the keyboard before I even finished my sentence and she said, “What’s the name.”

“Charlotte Martinez.”

Charlie’s full name didn’t roll off my tongue quite the way I thought her nickname did, but Steph would have a hard time finding her under “Charlie.” I heard more typing and Steph sighed and made a few humming noises. Then she said, “I’m not seeing any hotel bookings in that name, but you know I don’t really get the info on the cheaper end of the spectrum.” More typing in the background only had me on pins and needles. It was a long shot, and maybe if Steph was a detective and not a travel agent, she’d have better luck with this, but I didn’t know any cops.

“What about flights? We usually fly Southwest or American.” I hoped by naming the specific airlines we frequented that it would allow her to narrow down her search, and I was right.

In less than twenty seconds she said, “Manifest for American flight 5265 to Tampa has her listed as checked-in and awaiting boarding at gate G-19.” Steph’s words made my heart sink. Charlie was in the airport ready to leave Miami? Really? She was that upset with me for being late? Just what did she think I was doing when I didn’t show up?

“Christ…” I knew there was no way past airport security without having a ticket of my own but if that was what it meant, I’d do it. “Can I get a seat on that plane?”

There was more typing from Steph’s end of the call as I waited and she made a disappointed grunt. “I’m sorry, Lex. The flight is booked to capacity with three on standby already. I could get you on standby, but the next flight to Tampa is…” I heard more typing as she searched other carriers and came back to me. “Honestly, it’s tomorrow. Service to Tampa is limited anyway; all these flights are booked and on standby too. You’d have better luck just driving there.”

If my car wasn’t impounded, that is, I thought, frustrated with myself. I couldn’t very well take the captain’s car to Tampa. He needed it, because unlike me he depended on his car to get him to and from places. I just hired someone when I was in a pinch. I could literally go to the dealership and pay cash for a car right now, but I had little interest in driving four or five hours in traffic to ask Charlie why she was so upset.

“How about any flight to anywhere? I just have to get past security with a boarding pass.” It didn’t matter if the flight was to Shanghai, I was getting into that airport.

“Yep, looks like Toronto, Sydney, Houston… You name it, I have other spots available. Pick your poison.”

Thirty minutes later I was passing through the security queue with nothing but my heart on my sleeve and my phone serving as my boarding pass in hand. I rushed as quickly as I could toward the G concourse praying I’d catch her before she boarded, but when I got there, they were already closing the Jetway. I heard them announcing the boarding calls; I ran as fast as I could, but the uniformed stewardess stood in my way with a hand in my chest.

“Sir, please, we’re done boarding. You’re going to have to step back or I’m going to call security.”

I leaned into her hand, pressing farther toward the jetway which was now retracting from the side of the plane. “Please, you don’t understand. The woman I love is on that plane and I was going to propose…”

Her chin dipped with compassion and her eyes clouded, but she shook her head. “I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do now. The pilot has already made the call. They’re pulling away.”

I grabbed handfuls of hair and growled in frustration, which I was certain only made me look like a lunatic, especially given the state of my silvering mop of windblown hair. All I could do was stand there and watch the plane with its flashing lights and bouncing wings back away from the terminal. Why would she do this? It was the only question going through my head, and it hurt that I had no answer and no way to get an answer.

Every single rejection I’d ever suffered came back, haunting me in the ghost of Charlie Martinez as she jetted away from me without an explanation.

Like every time before this, I had no clue what I’d actually done wrong, because leaving town over being late for a date seemed irrational and overdramatic, and Charlie was neither of those things.

19

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