Page 106 of Sticks and Stones
Chris was pretty sure that he was going to have to take that same route sooner rather than later. Driving in the winter in his car was more stressful than not.
Some cars were meant for summer only, and his was definitely on that list.
The whole time, as they drove, Elizabeth said nothing to him. The entire trip, she stared out the window in absolute silence.
Chris knew why.
She was stressed.
And he couldn’t blame her.
“We’re almost there,” he said, seeing the sign up ahead for the hospital.
That’s when she made the first statement since finding out Charlie was in the hospital.
“We have to send him home,” she said. “Maybe helping me is too much. What if this is my fault? I stress him out,” she said, her hands in her lap on her dress.
Chris hated that she was blaming herself over this.
Yes, they just came off a string of tough cases, but Charlie wasn’t exactly an old man.
He was in his fifties.
The man was probably in better shape than he was, and had more endurance.
On top of that, Chris didNOTwant to be the one who got between Charlie and his daughter.
He’d kill anyone who stood in his way of his baby girl.
“Maybe it’s just a fluke, or genetic,” he said. “You know how he eats bacon like it’s going out of style,” he added. “I’dworry more about how cranky he’s going to be when you and Sam put him on a diet.”
“But a heart attack,” she said. “His heart…”
Chris calmed her down. What she needed was a doctor, not her significant other.
So, he was to the point.
“Sweetness, I’ve seen athletes have heart attacks and they are in top physical shape.”
Elizabeth listened.
“I’ve autopsied so many people that I can look at their hearts and know how close they came. Let’s find out what kind of heart attack it was if it was one. Then, we’ll go from there. There’s no point in getting freaked out if this isn’t that bad.”
God.
He was right.
She was just irrational when it came to her father. With her mother gone, she just worried about losing him, and being an orphan in the world.
Yes, she’d have Sam, but it wasn’t the same. Charlie was her daddy, and she was, after all, a daddy’s girl.
“Okay, Christopher.”
As he parked the car, he made sure to take her hand when they got out. She was in a dress, a coat, and slip-on shoes. They didn’t have time to change.
Maybe later.
Chris knew that there was a change of clothes in her cargo area, and he’d get them for her if they were going to be there for a while. They always ran with back-up jeans and boots. Someone,HER, got bloody and messy.
