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She sniffled and nodded. In the background, I was vaguely aware of the phone conversation between Janet and the 911 operator. Instead, I focused on chest compressions, keeping his heart pumping. In my head, I counted while I pressed until I reached thirty. Then I nodded to Kate. “Just two rescue breaths. Got it?”
“Yes,” she whispered, but I read the fear in her watery eyes. Still, she leaned down and gave him two solid puffs, as I’d instructed.
I watched his chest inflate and waited a split second to see if Nash would take over. When he didn’t, I returned to chest compressions. As I counted out thirty again, I couldn’t help but stare at Kate’s face. Why couldn’t she trust me enough to tell me Nash was her father? Then my gut clenched. The way she stared at me, I couldn’t help but think she blamed me. Hell, I blamed me. She warned me about his heart condition. He said the hotel wasn’t for sale and I had to push. I didn’t think it was a hard push, but now he was on the floor and Kate was a puddle. More than anything, I wanted to take her in my arms, crush her to my chest, and tell her everything would turn out right, but I didn’t know that for certain, and I sure couldn’t stop forcing his heart to work long enough to give her the reassurance she needed.
Thankfully, EMTs arrived and soon he was loaded onto a stretcher. “I’ll be right behind you,” Kate assured them.
I hopped to my feet. “I’ll drive,” I announced.
She whipped around. “No.” Kate shook her head vehemently. “I need to go alone.”
In two steps, I’d closed the distance between us. “Actually, the last thing you need right now is to be alone. I’m coming with you. I can drive you or I can follow you.” Kate looked away and I knew I’d hit a nerve. “You’re too upset to drive. Grab your purse.” I nudged her toward the hall.
Finally, with drooping shoulders, she sadly wandered back to her office. I followed behind, giving her little space. Evidently, she didn’t want me around and I almost couldn’t blame her, but I couldn’t let her push me away either.
“You don’t need to do this,” she grumbled as she emerged with her bag slung over her shoulder.
I reached out and lifted her chin, forcing her to look me in the eyes. “Oh, but I do. You have me. I’m not deserting you. You don’t have to handle everything alone.” Then I laid my hand on her lower back and we moved to the elevators.
Kate trudged over and pushed the button to descend to the parking garage. The doors quickly opened and we stepped inside. She was even quieter than normal. In fact, we rode in silence all the way to the hospital. We soon learned her father had already been transferred to the coronary care unit. “Sounds so ominous,” she murmured as we followed the directions to the heart floor.
“He is where he needs to be right now.” I wrapped an arm around her waist and hugged her close.
She shook her head and I realized she was holding back tears again. “He’s supposed to be at the hotel, terrorizing me and the rest of the executive staff. He should be grumbling about the coffee and the healthy snacks and every other thing I’ve done to try to prevent this from ever happening.” Kate hiccupped.
“We haven’t even spoken to the doctors yet. Before you get all worked up, let’s find out what’s going on.” Together we turned the final corner and ended up in front of the CCU desk where we were promptly relocated to the waiting room.
“I can’t do this,” Kate whimpered. “I should’ve been a better daughter. I wasn’t nice enough.” She paced back and forth across the waiting area.
“Stop torturing yourself, babe. I mean it. This is self-defeating.” I frowned as I stood and moved in front of her, blocking her path. “Someone will come talk to us. In the meantime, relax.”
She laughed. “See, you don’t know me at all.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but then my jaw snapped shut and I sighed. “You’re right. Hell, I somehow never received the memo that Nash is your father.” Then I sank into the nearest chair.
With her hands clasped in front of her chest, Kate stared at me. “No one knows. He won’t let me use the family name. He insists I call him by name.” She shrugged. “You’re not special.” Then she released a hollow laugh.
Leaning on my knees, I frowned. “But I’m want to be. I thought I was.” I raked a hand through my hair as I tried to organize my thoughts. “See, you matter to me. You’re special to me. I thought…maybe you felt the same way.”
14
Kate
Somehow, I was hurting the one guy who’d ever treated me right. My heart ached. Before I could explain my reaction, share my feelings, a nurse showed up and interrupted.
“Are you Mr. Nash’s daughter?” She already motioned for me to follow her. “One visitor at a time. Only immediate family.”
I sighed. “So only me.”
“Yes. Just you.” Then she hustled me down the hall. “As you probably already guessed, your father had a heart attack.”
“Right.” I stared at the floor, focused on putting one foot in front of the other, and braced for the worst.
“I’ll let the doctor explain. Just know your father isn’t conscious right now. You can still talk to him, but don’t expect a response.” She motioned for me to enter the room she’d stopped beside.
Taking a deep, fortifying breath, I slowly walked into my father’s room. Almost as soon as I reached his side, a doctor entered and studied the chart open on the laptop mounted to the retractable metal desk. I settled into a seat beside my father and studied him while I waited for the physician to address me. He was on oxygen and there were multiple IVs in his arm. The blood pressure cuff was hooked and set to automatically take and record his pressures. A pulse oximeter lit up his forefinger. I struggled with whether or not to hold his hand, but my father didn’t like being touched anyway. The gesture would have been entirely for my comfort. I closed my eyes and struggled not to cry.
A hand on my shoulder startled me. I glanced up and saw Ty, squatting beside me. “Hi,” I whispered.
