As he walked out of Shelly's apartment building into the brisk night air, he thought about what just happened. 'I hope Shelly doesn't hate me and we can still be friends', he thought to himself. She helped him realize that he was in love with Claire and for that, he was eternally grateful. It had to be love—there was no other explanation for what he was feeling. He glanced at his watch—it was around 11:30. 'It's Friday night—Claire might still be up. Maybe I'll give her a call when I get home—just to say good night. We're going to see each other tomorrow—we can talk then.' He zipped up his jacket, put on his helmet and gloves, started his bike, and road off into the night.
Traffic was pretty light in the city that never sleeps. It was only somewhat congested, but kept moving. It occurred to him, as he waited for the light to change. 'What if she doesn't feel the same towards me? Well, there's only one way to find out.'
As he moved through the intersection, out of the corner of his eye he caught site of a silver sports car coming towards him. Everything from that moment on seemed to move in slow motion. He felt pain in his left leg, the sensation of flight, and then nothing.
The 2nd ring woke Claire out of a sound sleep. In fact, she thought for a moment she was dreaming that the phone was ringing. She picked it up before the machine. "Hello!" A familiar voice was on the other end.
"Claire, sorry to wake you."
"It's ok Adam. It's my night for important cases. Wait a minute, why are you calling me? What's wrong?"
He took a deep breath. "It's Jack, he was hit by a drunk driver. Guy ran a red light."
She was suddenly wide a wake. "Is he …?" She couldn't say it.
"All I know is he's in critical condition and they took him to St. Vincent's. Get dressed and I'll come by and pick you up. Claire? Are you still there?"
"Yeah, I'll be ready."
A black Lincoln pulled up to Claire's apartment building about 15 minutes later. She was out the door before it came to a complete stop. Adam got out and held the door for her to get in the back seat with him. They road I silence for a while, neither knew what to say. Finally, Adam patted Claire's hand "He's tough! He'll be fine!"
Claire shook her head in agreement. There was another moment of silence. Claire looked at Adam "I'm not sure if you know or not, but Jack and I are …" she couldn't hold back any longer she started to cry.
This time, he put a comforting arm around her shoulder. "I know!" was all he could say. He had suspected for some months, but now was not the time to go into it.