Today, she felt no differently than she’d felt the day he’d slid the engagement ring on her finger.
It was just…she couldn’t seem to quell the strange, edgy sensation of panic that had been hounding her mood for hours now. “I can’t wait for tonight!” she assured him brightly.
But when she hung up the phone, guilt smacked her in the heart. What kind of goofy woman was she that she’d rather spend the evening unpacking old crates in the back of her gallery than go out to a romantic dinner with a man she loved?
Four-thirty in the afternoon, any weekday afternoon, always turned into a work frenzy. Garrett Keating had hired a driver about four years ago, not because he didn’t enjoy driving himself-even in the craziness of downtown Manhattan-but because the crises automatically seemed to kick in during that late-afternoon time frame. This afternoon, typically, he’d left his investment-banking firm less than ten minutes ago, yet his cell had rung nonstop. As he sat in the backseat, his briefcase was open and papers were scattered everywhere.
“Keating,” he barked into the receiver for the latest interruption.
An unfamiliar female voice answered. “Mr. Garrett Keating? Caroline Keating-Spence’s brother?”
Immediate worry clawed his pulse. “Yes. What’s this about?”
“Your sister asked us to call you. This is Mrs. Henry, the senior day nurse in ICU at Eastwick-”
“Oh my God. Is she all right?”
“We believe she will be, in time. But the circumstances are a little touchy. Your parents have been here, but they seem to upset your sister more than help. Because Mrs. Keating-Spence is in such a fragile state of mind, when she asked for you-”