Page 60 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

‘How’s Da...How’s he doing?’ I didn’t want to call him dad, should a nurse be in there or walk in.

‘He’s as well as to be expected,’ she told me, walking forward and pulling the curtain back. I saw my father lying in bed, looking like he was sleeping with a few wires poking out from underneath the hospital shirt. I’d never seen him like this. He rarely ever got sick and had never looked as vulnerable as he did at this moment.

‘What happened,’ I asked. ‘I thought he was healthy.’

‘We all did,’ she started, ‘But you know how much he works. He’d been cutting down some hours, but he was stressed, something about a pilot drinking again or something like that. He came into the kitchen and was all sweaty and breathing heavy, then he gripped his left side and fell… to the ground. I was on the phone with 911 before I knew it and then next thing I know, I’m in the back of an ambulance driving to the hospital with the paramedics.’

‘That must have been so scary.’ I hugged her tighter than before.

‘It really was.’ She wiped a tear from her eye as she pulled back to clasp my hands in hers. ‘I knew at that moment I needed you here with me, that I couldn’t go through this without you. And I also knew that you would be beside yourself being so far away. I’m so relieved to have you back, you have no idea how much it means.’

‘Of course, I’m here, you’re not alone. We got this, Mom…’ I let it slip, but I didn’t care. I needed my mom, and I needed to be there for her just as much.

‘Has he woken up yet?’ I asked.

My mother shook her head, ‘No, they will start to claw back the sedation overnight, by then the blood pressure meds should have kicked in and it will be less of a shock to his system.’

‘Am I going to be a shock to him?’

She smiled and put an arm around my shoulder. ‘The best one of his life.’

‘But will it affect his recovery?’

‘I think it will be good, you will be one less thing for him to worry about.’ She pulled me in and kissed the top of my head as I wrapped my arms around her, hearing the door of his room slide open and then close again.

I didn’t have to look, I knew it was Drew. I could always sense his presence.

My mother turned around, eyeing the box of donuts. ‘We should give them to the nurses.’

‘I bought two boxes, the other is already delivered and half was eaten before I got back to the room.’ He sat down in one of the chairs and opened the box. ‘These are mine, but if you’re nice, I’ll share with you.’

My mother looking in the box he held out to her and took out an apple fritter and turned to me, ‘There’s a chocolate dip, your favorite.’

I didn’t make a move to dig in and then she laughed, ‘When was the last time you ate a donut?’

‘After my surgery, Breton got me a box of Krispy Kreme,’ I stated. ‘But I just want some coffee, I ate on the plane.’

I took a cup from the holder on the windowsill then sat in one of the chairs in my father’s room and pulled it close to his bed. ‘Can I touch him?’

‘Of course,’ my mother said. ‘Just don't pull the wires out, the nurses get a bit angry when they come off.’

I laughed and rolled my eyes. ‘I don’t even want to know…’

‘I was just giving him a hug last night and my arm rested on a wire and it came off…’

Drew laughed, ‘It was quite the scene. Deb and I were asleep, and all of a sudden the alarms go off and next thing we knew a team of nurses rush in here with a crash cart only to discover the monitoring tab came off.’

‘Deb’s been here?’ I asked and looked around. Drew had told me that he and my mother explained to her about me last night and how she felt slighted that she hadn't been told. In all the excitement of seeing my parents, I completely forgot about Deb. I had been nagging Breton over the past few months to tell her, that she would be upset to not be in the know, especially when Drew knew.

‘She’s at the townhouse showering, napping, and said she would pick up some food for us for dinner,’ my mother told me, taking a seat next to me, as I held my father’s hand.

The three of us spent the day in my father's hospital room. My mother read a book in between answering calls from friends, family and my father’s company.

I didn’t realize how this could affect my father’s business, but I saw how serious it all was given all the calls and information being exchanged.

Drew was on his laptop doing work and made a few calls to his crew, some he took in the hallway, and others he answered in the room. I was so proud of him and all his accomplishments in such a short amount of time.

But despite all of that, he was very much the same guy he always had been. He was simple, loyal and loving to the few who deserved his love.

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