Page 11 of Heart Like a Cowboy

Abrams nodded, gathered his breath. “A massive heart attack or elevation myocardial infarction means a large portion of the heart muscle has been affected. In your dad’s case, it happened because of a complete blockage in one of the coronary arteries that supplies blood.”

“Can you fix that?” Egan immediately asked.

“A heart surgeon is on his way to Emerald Creek now, and he’ll be doing the procedure. That should fix the immediate problem of restricted blood flow, and then we can have a better assessment of the damage.” The doctor paused, glanced at both Effie and Egan. “There is damage,” he spelled out, “and that’s almost certainly going to mean some serious changes in your dad’s life.”

“What kind of changes?” Effie wanted to know.

Egan wanted to know the same thing, and judging from the doctor’s bleak expression, what he was about to say wouldn’t be good.

“Derek is going to need to be in the hospital for a while, and even after he’s discharged, he’ll likely have a long recovery,” the doctor spelled out. “Egan, I don’t know how much leave you’ve got saved up, but take it all. Your dad’s going to need you here with him for a long time.”

CHAPTER FOUR

ALANAWATCHEDASnewly retired Chief Master Sergeant Clifton Wright looked over the lifestyle changes she’d mapped out for him. Changes she’d come up with after her consultation on the base three days earlier.

The chief was frowning, of course, and if she could have been a fly on the wall of his house, she would have likely heard him cursing her. Still, it was a fairly generous plan, considering that he was in bad enough health to have spurred an earlier retirement than he had anticipated.

“You want me to eat only half of everything I order or cook from my favorite foods list?” he asked, as if requesting some kind of clarification. “And then have an apple or some other kind of raw fruit or vegetable.”

“Yes,” she verified. “That’s for starters.”

She didn’t always offer such a deal to her clients, but after talking with the chief, Alana had known he wouldn’t stick to a “cold turkey” approach to sugar and fat. Or even to plain cold turkey. This was going to be a process, and the best chance of succeeding would be for him to take baby steps. Or rather baby-ish ones. Especially since he’d said the only fruit or veggie he’d touch was an occasional apple, preferably coated with caramel, or butter-sautéed onions on his hamburgers.

“Of course, I’d prefer you save those foods like the chicken fried steak for special treats on equally special occasions,” Alana went on, “but since I’m clearly not a size zero, I obviously indulge a few of my own cravings. The idea is to not overindulge and skew lab results into sketchy ranges that make your doctor scowl.”

“Only half?” he repeated, still looking for that clarification that she’d already clarified.

“Half for now,” she insisted. “In a month, at our next appointment, I’ll want you to move to quarter portions of the indulgent foods and treats. Then, if your lab work is still producing scowls, we’ll discuss some other diet changes.”

The chief frowned and stood. “I heard you ordered a banana split deluxe from The Sweet Tooth,” he said like a challenge as he named the town’s ice-cream and candy shop.

Alana sighed. Some gossip never died and was fueled big time by that lack of degrees’ separation. He didn’t give her a chance to explain that she probably wouldn’t have ordered the treat if she had his lab levels. Or if she’d known it was going to haunt her for eternity, but Chief Wright added another mutter that he would “try it her way for now,” and walked out.

She made a note to do a follow-up call with him in a week, but the truth was, she’d know more or less how the chief was progressing with the inevitable gossip she’d hear. After all, the gossip longevity didn’t only apply to her. Whether she wanted it or not, and she didn’t, she’d eventually hear what the town’s newcomer was ordering from the various eateries.

The chief’s dietary choices wouldn’t be the only gossip, though.

Nope.

Over the past three days, she’d heard plenty about Derek, Egan and their family. Derek was recoveringsomewhat slowlyafter his heart procedure and the two cracked ribs and head injury he’d received when he’d fallen during his heart attack. She’d gotten that info directly from one of the nurses. Other spatterings of tidbits hadn’t come from such ironclad sources, but she figured they were reliable enough.

Multiple people had told her that Egan had taken a month’s leave and had temporarily moved back home so he could run the ranch and be near his dad. His brothers had come for quick visits, too, and would both be returning during the month. Remi had gotten the bad news about her dad and would be coming home as soon as she possibly could.

There’d been talk about Audrey, too, but the gabbers hadn’t treated her as harshly as one might imagine. That was because of her status as a general, which gave her a higher calling than being a dutiful wife by her husband’s bedside. Egan got some of those higher calling concessions, too, but his hero status kicked in, and everybody just knew he would step up to help his dad and family.

At the thought of Egan, Alana, well, thought of him.

Not the hero part per se, but she knew he had to be worried sick about his dad. In the old days, when Jack had still been alive, she would have hurried to Egan, asking and reasking if there was anything she could do to help until he assigned her some task that might indeed help. But this wasn’t the old days, Jack wasn’t alive, and Alana knew her presence was much more likely to add to Egan’s troubles than it was to give him any kind of comfort. That’s why she would try her level best to stay away from him.

Not thinking about him, though, was out.

He’d been a constant on her mind, and in the moments when Alana didn’t try to mentally fudge the truth, she admitted that her thinking wasn’t solely related to his current situation. When she’d visited him at his base house to deliver the letter and tell him about Tilly’s plans, she hadn’t expected to feel anything but awkwardness for the man who’d been her husband’s best friend.

She hadn’t expected the tingle.

That tiny trickle of heat that reminded her that she’d been looking at the face and body of a hot guy. Of course, since she wasn’t blind, she’d always known that Egan was hot, what with that young Elvis black hair and stunner blue eyes. Egan and his brothers were all hot, all desirable.

Alana, though, had never been on that particular train of desire until her gaze locked with Egan’s. A lock where it seemed as if a dozen things passed between them. Maybe an entire conversation that they’d never be able to have aloud. That’s when the tingle had come, and talk about the most inappropriate timing in the history of such things. She’d been there to talk about his ex-wife and a memorial for her late husband, not to tingle over a man who shouldn’t stir such things in her.

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