Five Minutes Late: A Romantic Comedy

by Rich Amooi

  Ellie stared at him in disbelief. “We both know what usually happens after a massage. I should have known. You want to be just friends? Ha!”

  The waiter returned. “Are you ready to order?”

  “No thanks,” said Ellie. “Just the check for the wine.”

  “Very well.” The waiter walked off.

  “No need, it will be charged to your room,” said Vlad. “I mean—”

  “Why would—” Ellie’s eyes widened and she studied Vlad for a moment. “Oh my God. You set this whole thing up? The conference?”

  Vlad didn’t answer.

  Ellie looked around the restaurant as she tried to piece things together. “I didn’t win the conference pass and hotel, did I? You paid for it. This whole thing was your elaborate plan to try to get me back. Admit it.”

  “That just shows you how much I’m sorry and how much I want you back.”

  “God, you haven’t changed a bit. You still think money can buy you whatever you want.”

  “I still love you, Ellie. Give me another chance.”

  Ellie stood up and dumped her wine onto his lap. “Not going to happen.”

  She went up to her room, changed into a T-shirt for bed, grabbed her cell phone and texted Cedric.

  Obviously you’re not into me anymore, but you don’t have the balls to tell me. Goodbye.

  Then she turned off the phone and the light.

  On Sunday afternoon, it was time for Ellie to head home from the conference. Considering the disaster that was her love life, she still had to admit the week was out of this world, thanks to the conference. She’d met so many people and learned things that she could apply when she took over as Branch Manager.

  She had planned on going downstairs early and waiting in line to grab the front seat again on the first shuttle, but couldn’t find her phone. She emptied her suitcase twice and looked under every crack and crevice in the hotel room. Another glance at the alarm clock caused her to freak out—she was going to be late.

  Ellie was never late.

  She could always contact the hotel when she got home to see if they’d found her phone, but more importantly at the moment, she needed to get that first seat on the bus.

  She flew through the sliding doors to the outside of the hotel, happy to see two buses waiting. Rolling her suitcase in the direction of the bus, she was sideswiped and passed by two young women obviously in a race somewhere.

  How rude.

  She wondered what could be so important that they would run into her and not even say a word. As long as they don’t get on the—

  Pickles!

  They were getting on the bus.

  No problem. There are plenty of seats on the bus and they will probably—

  Double Pickles!

  They were making themselves comfortable in the front seats. What are the chances? Ellie could take the second bus, of course, but that would mean she’d have to wait an extra hour for it to leave.

  She stepped up into the bus and smiled at the two women. “Good morning.”

  “Hello,” said one of the women, the other was glued to her cell phone, not even bothering to lift her head and acknowledge Ellie.

  “Did you enjoy the conference?” asked Ellie.

  “Very much,” said the first woman as the second woman continued to surf the net for something. Ellie didn’t like the vibe she was getting from the two women, but still needed to get that front seat.

  “Sorry to bother you, but do you mind if I have one of these front seats? I get motion sickness if I don’t sit in the front and it’s not a pretty sight.”

  “Well …” The first woman looked to the other woman, shrugging.

  “I’d rather not.” The woman finally found her voice, but didn’t give a reason. She turned her attention back to her phone.

  “Oh,” said Ellie. “Okay, well take care.”

  Ellie stepped down off the bus and headed to the second bus. She thought about the two women. If the situation were reversed, she would have given up her seat in a heartbeat. But what could she do, beg?

  No. Not worth it.

  There would always be selfish people in the world and she couldn’t change that. Luckily, she had another option. She’d have to wait longer to go home, but it was better than getting sick.

  The driver of the second bus was reading a book, but when he saw Ellie approaching, he opened the door for her. She left her suitcase at the curb and stepped inside the bus.

  “Hey there,” said the driver, smiling.

  “Hi.”

  “Let me guess … either you want the front seat or you want to experience my award-winning personality.”

  “Both.”

  “Smart lady. Make yourself comfortable and I’ll put your bag underneath.”

  “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure. We still don’t leave for an hour, though. Hope you brought a good book.”

  “I’m a librarian, what do you think?”

  The driver laughed. “Good point. What was I thinking?”

  Ellie sat in the very front seat and took a deep breath. What a nice man, and it was no big deal waiting longer. Of course, if she’d been on time, she would have gotten the front seat on the other bus. She prided herself in being on time. Today’s tardiness was a rare occurrence.

  An hour later, with the bus completely full, Ellie was enjoying the view on Highway 280, the interstate that connected San Jose to San Francisco. No matter what was going on in her life, it would be impossible to not enjoy what many believe is the most beautiful freeway in the country.

  About fifteen miles past Highway 92, the traffic started slowing down. A couple of minutes later, their bus was completely stopped on the freeway. Nobody was moving, not even an inch.

  “Not good.” The driver grabbed the microphone to talk over the PA system to the passengers. “Looks like we’re going to be delayed. I was told there would be roadwork today, but it wasn’t supposed to start until this evening. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

  Ellie heard a siren in the distance getting closer. “It sounds like it may be an accident.”

  A California highway patrol car drove by on the shoulder of the road, followed by another. Many of the passengers were lifting their butts out of their seats to try to see what was going on.

  The driver grabbed the microphone again. “Okay, looks like it’s an accident, so we may be here for a bit. We do have free Wi-Fi. The information is in the seat-back pocket. And we’ll be serving Jell-o shots and tequila in just a few minutes.”

  Ellie laughed along with the passengers as many of them began pulling out their laptops and iPads to connect to the Internet. That wasn’t even an option for Ellie since her computer was in her suitcase that was stored below. Oh well.

  They continued to creep along the freeway. Ellie could have walked faster than the bus. Two agonizing hours later, Ellie saw the scene of the accident. Off the road, to the right, there were at least ten fire trucks, just as many highway patrol cars, and several ambulances. Then Ellie spotted an overturned bus.

  “Jesus Christ,” said the driver. “That’s our other bus.”

  Police, firemen, and emergency workers were on the scene, treating injured passengers. Ladders were used to extract passengers from the emergency exits of the bus; some were wheeled on stretchers to the ambulances. Two medical helicopters were on the ground, and another just took off, obviously with someone who was more critically injured. Television news reporters were on the scene as well.

  This did not look good.

  The mood in the bus was somber. Ellie could hear a few people mentioning they knew someone on the other bus. Many of the passengers were on their phones, calling loved ones to let them know they were okay.

  But Ellie lost her phone.

  “Pickles,” she muttered.

  She glanced to her left and noticed the woman across from her disconnected a call.

  “Excuse me. I lost my phone back at the hotel and was hoping I could bor
row yours to let my grandpa know I’m okay. If you don’t mind.”

  “Of course.” The woman handed Ellie the phone. “Make as many calls as you need to.”

  “Thank you so much.”

  Ellie dialed Grandpa Frank.

  “Hello,” he answered.

  Just the sound of his voice made her want to cry, but she needed to hold it together.

  “Hi, Grandpa, it’s me.”

  “Princess! How was the conference?”

  “Good, but I only have a minute. There was an accident with one of the buses and …” She felt her eyes starting to burn and took a deep breath. “I’m just calling to let you know I’m okay, just in case they talked about it on the news. I wasn’t on the bus that crashed.”

  “Good heavens, thank God. I had no idea. Where are you?”

  “We’re still stuck on the freeway in Palo Alto. I think I need to stay with you tonight. I’m a bit shaken up, emotionally, as you can probably imagine.”

  “Of course. Do you want me to come pick you up?”

  “No, no. Once I get home, I’ll grab some things and be right over.”

  “Okay then, see you soon.”

  Ellie disconnected and called Peggy. She knew she was on vacation and out of cell phone range, but just wanted to leave her a message. She let her know she was okay and to pass the message on to Julio as well.

  She handed the phone back to the woman, thanked her, and sent private thoughts of well wishes to the people on that bus.

  Even to the two selfish women who were in the front row.

  The bus driver glanced over to Ellie. His face said it all.

  You could have been on that bus.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Cedric paced back and forth in his living room. He felt like crap again.

  Ellie had texted him earlier in the week, saying he didn’t have the balls to talk with her, and she was absolutely right. He was torn and it was killing him. What kind of cruel universe made you choose between your family history and the girl of his dreams? It wasn’t fair.

  He grabbed the picture frame from the mantel over the fireplace and admired the photo of him with his mom from their Catalina Island cruise. He smiled and kissed the picture, then wiped the smudge marks off the glass with the bottom of his T-shirt.

  “What should I do mom? Michael said most likely I’m going to get some sort of a sign from you, so let it rip. I’m waiting.”

  He stared at the photo and waited.

  “Any sign.” He listened for noises in the house. Nothing.

  He let out a deep breath. “You told me more than a few times you only wanted me to be happy. Well, Ellie makes me happy. So … did you factor that in when you told me nothing would mean more to you than me getting the property back? Speak to me.”

  “Arf.”

  “Nice try, Tofu. You stay out of this.”

  “Arf.”

  Cedric turned around and eyed Tofu, who had something in his mouth.

  “What do you have there?”

  Cedric reached down and pulled a bookmark from the dog’s mouth. The bookmark Ellie gave him in the library.

  Cedric blinked.

  He stared at the bookmark for a moment and then looked back down at Tofu.

  “Holy crap.”

  “Arf.”

  “No, not you. Please don’t crap in the house.”

  He wiped Tofu’s slobber from the bookmark.

  “Okay, was that the sign I was waiting for?”

  Tofu just stared at Cedric and wagged his tail.

  “No way, I don’t believe it.”

  Cedric paced again, back and forth, and then stopped and stared at the bookmark again.

  “That was just a coincidence, not a sign. Now if I had another coincidence, that would be more convincing. Two coincidences in a row would not be a coincidence. I wouldn’t be able to ignore that.”

  Cedric’s cell phone rang from the kitchen and he ran to pick up the call, Tofu following so closely he almost tripped over him.

  “Hello?”

  “Cedric, it’s me, Julio.”

  Cedric didn’t reply.

  Was this a sign? A second coincidence?

  “Cedric?”

  “Yeah, I’m here. What’s up, Julio.”

  “I’m going crazy over here, that’s what’s up. Have you heard from Ellie?”

  “No. I—”

  “Did you know she went to the librarian conference in San Francisco?”

  “No. We haven’t—”

  “Okay, I need to calm down. Calm down, I’m just going to take a few deep breaths.”

  Cedric could hear Julio breathing in and out over the phone.

  “What’s going on, Julio?” asked Cedric, now worried. “Talk to me.”

  “Ellie took a shuttle bus to the conference and—” Julio let out a loud sigh. “Turn on the television. Channel seven.”

  “Okay.”

  Cedric walked to the family room, clicked on the television, and changed it to channel seven. There was a reporter on the scene of an accident. Cedric took a sip of his coffee and watched. “Yeah, it’s an accident. And?”

  “Turn the volume up.”

  Cedric turned up the volume to listen to the news report. A graphic appeared on the screen: Fatal Bus Crash in Palo Alto. Two Dead.

  “That’s right,” said the television reporter. “Police report the bus veered out of control and overturned at nine-thirty this morning here on the southbound side of Highway 280, near Page Mill Road in Palo Alto. It is confirmed there were sixty-one passengers on board, mostly librarians, returning from a weeklong library conference in San Francisco.”

  Cedric moved closer to the television. “Holy hell.”

  The reporter looked down at his notes. “Fifty-nine people were injured, five of those critically, and there are two known fatalities. All of the injured are being transported to Stanford Hospital where—”

  Cedric clicked the television off and threw the remote down on the couch. “I’m going to the hospital, Julio. Gotta run.”

  “If you find out anything, please let me know.”

  “Of course.”

  Cedric disconnected and two minutes later was in the car with Tofu, driving toward Stanford Hospital. He called Ellie on her cell phone, but it went straight to voicemail. It took all of his efforts to concentrate on the road. He let off of the gas when he noticed he was going eighty-five miles per hour in a sixty-five zone. The last thing he needed was another accident.

  Cedric’s thoughts were all over the place. How could this be happening again? It wasn’t possible. Not seeing or talking to Ellie over the last few days had been torture enough. Now, the possibility of her being hurt or of losing her completely was almost too much to bear. He gripped the steering wheel so tight, he wondered if it was going to snap off. This was a sign. It had to be a sign.

  Calm down. She’s okay. Everything’s okay. She’s an angel.

  “My angel,” said Cedric. “Ellie, you’re an amazing woman. You’re going to be okay.”

  “Arf.”

  Cedric glanced at Tofu in the rearview mirror. “You agree, buddy?”

  “Arf.”

  “Of course you do. And you know what, Tofu? I love her. God. I fucking love her so much it hurts.”

  “Arf.”

  “Of course, I know you love her too. Well, she’s going to be okay, buddy. And then you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives with her. You have a problem with that?”

  “Arf.”

  “I didn’t think so.”

  Cedric pulled up to the hospital, left the engine and the air conditioning on for Tofu, and ran inside. The place was a madhouse; people were everywhere, talking, crying, and yelling. Reporters too.

  Cedric worked his way through the people to the woman at the reception desk, a woman who looked completely frazzled. “I’m looking for Ellie Fontaine.”

  “Was she on the bus?” asked the nurse.

  “Yes.”


  The nurse checked her admissions list and seemed to have a hard time finding Ellie’s name. She went to the second page. “I don’t see her here.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. She was on the bus. Is that a list of everyone?”

  “As far as I know, and it was just updated about thirty minutes ago. Fifty-nine people. The only two names it does not show are those of … the two people who didn’t make it.”

  No. Was she one of the two who died? Cedric’s heart couldn’t take another death, but he had to know.

  “How do I find out the names of the two?”

  “They haven’t released them yet, so I can’t help you there. If you want to check back later …”

  Forty minutes later, Cedric was back in Willow Glen and sprinting to the front door of the library. Peggy had to know something. He came to a halt when the automatic door didn’t open.

  “What the hell.”

  Cedric looked through the glass. Nobody. He obviously wasn’t thinking, it was Sunday. The library was closed Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays.

  He left another message for Peggy on her cell phone and then drove to Ellie’s house. He sat on the front step, waiting with Tofu. Pure torture.

  Cedric ended up waiting for over six hours before finally giving up. He was getting tired and obviously Tofu was tired and hungry.

  He finally went home and fed Tofu.

  He loved so many things about Ellie, the way she grinned after she said something amusing, the feel of her mouth, her flirty nature, her hair, her smarts. He loved that she was a walking Wikipedia.

  Cedric’s cell phone rang and he jumped. “Hello?”

  “Hi, Cedric, it’s Peggy. Sorry it took so long to return your phone call, but I was up in the Sierras with no cell phone coverage and I just got—”

  “Please tell me Ellie is okay.”

  “Yes, yes. She’s okay. She’s perfectly fine. She was on the second bus.”

  “Thank God.” Cedric’s eyes tightened and burned, and he let out a deep breath. It was all he wanted to know. Nothing else mattered at the moment. Not even Papa George’s old property. She was okay and alive.

  It was the best news in the world.