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With a chuckle, I kissed the top of her head and relaxed into the mattress, enjoying simply being able to hold my woman in my arms and praying that sometime soon, I could make it so I’d spend all my mornings waking up just like this.
Gabs
I was dozing off to sleep when my phone rang, and everything came rushing back to the forefront of my mind. How could I be here relaxing and sleeping while my parents were both lying in hospital beds?
Guilt assailed me as I flew from the mattress over to the desk where my phone was on charge. Seeing the call was from Christopher, I answered it without another thought.
“What’s wrong?”
“Whoa, sis. Hello to you, too. Did you have a good rest? Get some food?”
Frowning, I tapped my foot. Why wouldn’t he just get on with it and tell me why he’d called?
“Yes, I’ve eaten, showered, and slept… Now, what’s going on? You wouldn’t call just to check if I ate or slept.”
“Mom’s the same, still on the road to recovery…”
He was stalling. He always stalled when it was bad news.
“But? How’s Dad?”
“He’s back in surgery, Gabs. He had a pulmonary embolism, so they’ve taken him in for an embolectomy.”
I squeezed the bridge of my nose. “English, Christopher. Tell me what happened to Dad in English.”
“He had a blood clot reach his lungs and form a blockage. They’ve taken him into surgery, where they’ll put a thin tube into a vein in his arm or thigh, going into his lung to remove the clot.”
“A clot. In his lung.” I shook my head. “When did he go into surgery?”
“About ten minutes ago.”
The math I was doing in my head wasn’t adding up to something I wanted to hear, but I couldn’t help but ask.
“Why are you just calling me now?”
“Boone was right, sis. You needed some rest, to look after yourself for a while—”
I cut him off. “You weren’t there when it happened, were you?”
I never should have left. I was getting enough sleep on the couch in their room to keep functioning. Running off to spend the day with my boyfriend had nearly cost my dad his life.
“Don’t bother answering that,” I said. “I’m on my way in.”
I hung up the phone and reached for my bag. Boone’s warm hands slid over my shoulders as he stood behind me. I leaned back toward his warmth before remembering I couldn’t give in to his allure.
“I can’t. I gotta go.”
Pulling free, I snatched up my bag and bolted for the bathroom, where I made fast work of dressing and shoving my hair up into a ponytail. When I came out, Boone was dressed and sitting on the side of the bed pulling on his boots. I refused to notice how down he looked, how his shoulders were slumped, how my brushing him off had hurt him. I had to focus on my parents, not myself. Not the way my heart was tearing apart because I had to give up Boone. He was a distraction I couldn’t afford at the moment. My parents’ lives were relying on me staying focused on them.
“Boone, you need to stay here. I’ll go back to the hospital on my own. I can’t do this.” I waved a hand between the pair of us. “I can’t afford to shift my focus from my parents right now. My dad nearly died because I wasn’t there today.”
Tears clogged my throat as Boone sprang to his feet and rushed to stand in front of me. He cupped my face, wiping my tears with his thumbs.
“They’re in the hospital, Gabs, getting around the clock care. From the part of your conversation I heard, they were watching your dad and got to him in time to save him. You’re allowed to take care of yourself too. You’re allowed to have a life while they recover.”
More tears flowed as I shook my head. The heartbreak in his eyes was nearly more than I could take. With a sigh, he leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips, then my forehead.
“You change your mind, you know where to find me.”
With that, he dropped his hands away and turned for the bathroom, closing the door between us as my heart shattered.
Dashing the fresh tears from my eyes, I tried not to see the mussed-up bed where Boone had made love to me earlier as I quickly gathered my things and stuffed everything into my bag before I slipped out of the door.
