Page 114 of Last First Date

“The next few days are going to be difficult,” I reminded her. “You’re going to need strength.”

“I am strong,” she said with a sigh. “I’ll sleep once he’s in the hospital surrounded by a team of doctors.”

I glanced over at his sleeping form. He was sedated for the trip. The couple of times he had woken up since the stroke revealed very little about his condition. The doctors were hopeful, but they couldn’t guarantee anything.

We debated leaving him in Switzerland until he was in better shape, but ultimately, we decided to get him home. If things did go badly, it was better to be home where he would be surrounded by friends and family and good weather. We all agreed my grandfather’s love of heat and the sun would help him improve. Switzerland was not the place for him.

Even though I’d always considered myself to be strong, everything happening around me was hitting me like a freight train. It was a challenge to keep my emotions in check as I watched my grandfather lying helpless on the stretcher.

My phone buzzed, taking me out of my thoughts. Looking at the screen, I saw it was Waverly. A part of me wanted to answer it, tell her everything, confide in her and maybe find some solace. But another part of me remembered Benjamin’s revelations and her face plastered all over social media.

I didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to deal with the fallout from that situation. My grandfather’s health was my priority. My personal life was already in shambles. Letting it sit on the backburner wasn’t going to make it any worse.

The nurse got up and stretched.

“How is he?” I asked.

“He’s stable,” she said, smiling. “His blood pressure is great and he’s breathing just fine.”

“Thank you,” I managed to whisper, feeling the knot in my stomach relax just a little. I looked back at my phone, still glowing with Waverly’s message notification. My thumb hovered over it, wanting to open and read it. But I didn’t. She was probably going to tell me she quit. If my grandfather did wake up and have all his memories and was his old self, he was going to kick my ass for fucking things up with his beloved assistant. I couldn’t deal with that shit. Not now.

A soft sigh pulled me out of my thoughts. My grandmother shifted in her seat, her eyes heavy with exhaustion and worry. The sight of her trying to stay alert was heartbreaking. She had been the solid rock that held our family together in times like these, and seeing her exhaustion felt like a chilling omen. I didn’t want her to be the next one to have a stroke.

“Please, Grandma, get some rest,” I pleaded softly, reaching out to pat her hand gently.

Her eyes fluttered closed and she nodded slowly. “Alright, Knox,” she murmured. “Just for an hour. We land in two hours?”

I nodded. “Yes. The ambulance will be meeting us on the tarmac. The hospital in Vegas will assess him, and if everything goes well, we can move him home. I’ve already made calls to have one of the downstairs rooms transformed into what he needs, should that be the case.”

“I would prefer him to be in Utah,” she complained.

“And that is an option if the specialist in Vegas says it’s okay,” I reminded her. “Greta has agreed to stick around and fly with us to St. George if that’s the case.”

I had planned for every contingency. The ultimate goal was to get him home, but I wanted him to have the best care first. Vegas was a far superior hospital over the smaller one at home. We had been over this, and while my mother and grandmother had both protested, I was the man of the family and I insisted on handling the situation with a level head.

With a sigh, she reclined her seat and closed her eyes, finally succumbing to the much-needed sleep. I looked over at my grandfather again. In sleep, he appeared almost content, as if he were dreaming of happier times when he was healthier. I wished I could join him in those dreams.

But the reality I was living in didn’t allow for such escapes. I had to stay awake and alert. There were decisions to be made and plans that needed to be executed at a moment’s notice.

I must have dozed off myself because the next thing I knew, we were preparing for landing. When we touched down, there was a flurry of activity with my grandfather being unloaded and loaded into the back of an ambulance. My grandmother insisted on going with him. My mother and I followed behind in the car I’d hired.

Then it was another long wait at another hospital. I tried to insist my mother go home to get some rest, but it was never going to happen. We were all standing vigil. It was a long day but it ended with great news.

He had woken up and the doctors felt he would be okay in the smaller hospital but didn’t recommend a home-care situation just yet.

Once again, there had been a lot of phone calls and shuffling things to make it happen. We were in the air once again for the quick trip home. After another ambulance ride, my grandfather was settled into his hospital room with a great view of the orange cliffs he loved so much. My mother and grandmother had finally gone home to shower and eat and would be back soon.

In the meantime, I was holding down the fort.

As I sat by his hospital bed, the gravity of the situation sank in. My grandfather, despite his good spirits, was not as well as he appeared. He put on a brave face in Vegas, but I saw the weakness. The realization struck me with a force that resonated beyond the hospital walls. It wasn’t just a temporary setback. My grandfather’s health was declining, and the responsibility to take over the family business fell squarely on my shoulders.

The initial plan had been for me to step in temporarily, to assess how I handled the reins of the company. However, the events in Switzerland had shifted the narrative. It was no longer about testing the waters but about shouldering the long-term responsibility of running the business. My grandfather needed me to take over so that he could step down for good. It wasn’t really his choice anymore. He had to do it.

The weight of this realization settled on me. It was heavy enough that I felt like I might suffocate. The pressure was intense. It demanded a commitment to the legacy my grandfather had built. I knew I wanted it, but to stare it directly in the face and realize I didn’t have a fallback?

The desire to make him proud mingled with the apprehension of the job and the responsibility.

But amidst all these fears, a quiet resolve began to stir within me. I would not let him down. Not my grandfather, not my family.