Page 51 of On His Knees

That would mean telling her the truth—and she’d never forgive you.

I hand Luca my business card, and he glances at it before he puts it into his pocket.

“I’m looking for an assistant. If you’re ever in Manhattan,” I say, half my thoughts on him, the other half on Summer and what I’m going to do about this situation we’re in.

“What’s going on here?” Henry asks, and we turn to him. “You two making a date?”

I take in his pallor, the thin sheen of moisture on his skin. “What are you doing here? Jaquelin called me in because you were sick.”

He waves a dismissive hand. “I’ve worked through worse.”

“Henry, really, I think you need to lie down.” I exchange a look with Luca, and his dark eyes are narrowed, as worried as mine.

“Come on, let’s get you in the back room so you can lie down and I’ll arrange for a car to drive you home.”

“I’m fine,” he says, but then clutches his chest.

“Shit.” He falls into my arms, and he’s gasping and clawing at his throat.

“Is there a doctor in the house?” Luca yells, to be heard above the crowd.

I seek out Summer, hoping her friend Cara will jump in, but both Summer and Cara come running around the counter.

“Set him down,” Summer instructs, and my head is racing, spinning, as she takes control. She looks him over, checks his eyes. “He’s having a heart attack,” Summer says as she loosens the collar of his shirt.

Cara looks right at me. “Call for an ambulance, ASAP.” I back up as Summer and Cara work on Henry, giving him CPR.

“I’m not getting a pulse,” Cara says after a moment.

My heart is racing in my chest as I grab my phone, but Jaquelin is back behind the bar, and is already one step ahead of me. As she gives directions, I glance up to see a crowd gathering. I instantly start pushing them back. “Clear out. I’m shutting the bar down. The doctors need space to work.”

Doctors?

I usher everyone out of the bar, and go to the front doors to wait for the ambulance. It arrives quickly, they’re always on call here at the ski resort.

“This way,” I say. “He’s having a heart attack but there is a doctor performing CPR. No pulse.” I hurry the men into the room, and both Summer and Cara work until the first responders take over. They get him onto a gurney, and hook him up to some type of machine as they get him into the back of the ambulance.

“I’m going with him,” I say. I turn to Jaquelin. “Call his wife, tell her to meet us at the hospital.”

The first responder nods when I start following him, and I climb into the back of the ambulance then move out of the way so they can do their work. I catch Summer’s eyes, note the worry lines on her face, before the door slams shut and the sirens sound. Five minutes later we’re at the hospital, and people are running about as they wheel Henry in.

Is Summer a doctor?

I’m not sure, but I can’t think about that right now. I need to be here for Henry. I follow the first responders, until a nurse stops me.

“You can’t go in there, sir.”

“Oh yeah, right,” I say, and run a shaky hand through my hair.

“You can have a seat out there.” I turn and in comes Marion, Henry’s wife. She rushes to me.

“Tate,” she says. She either recognizes me from a couple years ago, or Henry filled her in on my ruse. I put my arm around her, and guide her to a chair in the waiting room.

“He’s going to be okay,” I say. “I know it.”

She cries against my chest. “I told him not to go in to work. Stubborn man.”

My thoughts travel to my granddad, an equally stubborn man, and grief tears through me at the thought of losing him. I work to pull myself together, and offer Marion my strength. “We were lucky there was a doctor at the bar.” Or two. “She worked on him until the ambulance arrived.”

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