In Case of Emergency - Simon Riley

Charlotte had spent years learning how to live without Simon Riley.

Once, he had been the boy down the street-the one who climbed through her bedroom window at impossible hours, stole food from her kitchen, and occupied a place in her family so naturally that no one bothered asking why he was there anymore. He was her best friend, her greatest constant, and the person Charlotte believed would be part of her life forever.

Then Simon joined the military.

At first, he still called. Messages arrived from places he couldn't name, blurry photographs accompanied by little more than still here. Then the calls became fewer, the silences longer, until eventually there was nothing at all.

Years passed. Charlotte grew up, built a life without him, and learned to stop waiting for someone who had apparently decided not to come home.

Then, at two in the morning, her phone rings.

Simon Riley has been injured.

And after all these years, somehow, Charlotte is still his emergency contact.