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“The doctor came out about ten minutes ago and said that he’s out of surgery and is in recovery. You should be able to go back to see him within the hour. Have you eaten?” Lorna asked.
“No,” Savannah said. “I didn’t want to stop for food and waste time.”
“You need to take care of yourself too,” Savannah said. She looked around the same age as her mother would have been. Savannah liked her father’s nurse, and she knew that her dad was in good hands with Lorna.
“I’ll eat once I know that he’s all right,” she said.
“How about you go get something to eat now. I’ll stay here and wait for news, but they won’t call you back until he’s ready to wake up. It will be a little bit still. Go down to the cafeteria and grab something to eat,” Lorna ordered.
“But,” Savannah tried to protest.
“No buts,” Lorna insisted. “Go eat something. I have your cell phone number if anything happens.”
“Promise?” Savannah asked.
“Cross my heart,” Lorna said. “Now, go.” Savannah grabbed her purse and hurried back down the hallway to the elevators. She was going to grab some much-needed coffee and some breakfast, and then get back up to be with her father when he woke up. She was just thankful that he had come through the surgery on his hip, but she wouldn’t believe that he was okay until she saw him with her own two eyes.
* * *
Savannah ate so fast, she felt sick, but she got back up to her father before he was fully awake, and seeing his eyes open and his weak smile made her heart happy. Lorna went back to check on him and then she went home to get some sleep. She had stayed at the hospital all night long, and Savannah could tell that she was exhausted. She told Lorna that she needed to take her own advice and take care of herself, and her father agreed. Lorna reluctantly left to go home to sleep but promised to come back in the afternoon to relieve Savannah so that she could go home to get some rest herself.
“You didn’t have to come all the way back home,” her father grumbled. She sat in the chair next to his bed and rolled her eyes when he said that. She expected nothing less from him. He hated it when anyone made a fuss over him.
“There was no way that I was staying at the beach knowing that you were here having surgery,” she said.
“You could have been updated from the beach,” his father said. She had spoken to the doctors a few times during her drive home and was even given the go-ahead to proceed with the surgery. She hated that she wasn’t there to see him before he went in, but it was comforting to know that Lorna was with him.
“Right, but worrying from another state, knowing that you were here suffering, would have driven me crazy,” she said. “You know me, Dad. I couldn’t not take care of you.”
“Well, I have Lorna taking care of me. You did hire her to take care of me, right?” her father asked. For a man who just had surgery a few hours earlier, he sure had a lot to say about her coming home.
“Yeah, I hired Lorna to take care of you. So, why didn’t you let her help you to the bathroom instead of taking a dive and breaking your hip?” she asked.
“I’m stubborn, like my daughter,” he admitted. “Plus, Lorna was asleep, and I didn’t want to wake her. I thought that I could get to the bathroom and back to bed without disturbing her.”
“Wait—how did you know that Lorna was asleep if she was down the hall in her room?” Savannah asked. She had set Lorna up in the spare room, so she’d have her own space for the summer while she was staying with her dad. If Lorna was in the spare bedroom, her father wouldn’t have known if she was sleeping or awake.
“I didn’t want to tell you this without her here,” her father said.
“Tell me what, Dad?” she asked. Savannah had a bad feeling about what he was going to tell her.
“Lorna was in bed with me,” he said. “It had been a long day. We went to the farmer’s market in town—you know the one that I used to love going to?” he asked. She nodded, not sure that she was ready to use her words yet. “I’ve been feeling pretty good lately. The doctor said that my medication is helping with my memory loss and well, Lorna and I have been having a nice time while you’ve been gone.”
“Dad, you’re sick,” she insisted, “you shouldn’t be dating your nurse. She’s there to help you, not to date you. That’s not what I’m paying her to do.”
“She stopped taking your money about two weeks ago when we went on our first date. She’s not the type of person to take advantage of anyone and she said that if we’re dating, she can’t be paid for taking care of me. She’s doing that because she loves me, and I love her.”
“You’ve known each other for all of a month, Dad,” she said. “You can’t honestly be in love with her—it’s too fast.” She was a hypocrite. She was telling her father that he couldn’t be in love with someone after only a month, but she had fallen in love with Brooks in that amount of time. The only difference between her father and her was that he had the nerve to actually do something about his feelings.
“At my age, fast is the only speed I have. Well, when it comes to feelings, anyway. I don’t have time to dilly-dally about my feelings. I knew that I was in love with Lorna after our first date. I didn’t want to waste time and pretend that I didn’t have feelings for her. Life’s too short for stuff like that, Savannah.” She swiped at the hot tears that spilled down her face. “I didn’t tell you this to make you cry, honey.”
“I know, Dad. I’m not crying because I’m upset about you and Lorna. I’m happy for you, really, I am. I just wish that I had your courage. I think I’ve fallen for one of the guys I met at the beach house. His name is Brooks, but I made him promise to a relationship with no strings because I was too afraid to let him in for fear of being hurt by him.”
“You’re so much like your mother. You know, she made me chase her for almost two years before she let me take her on our first date. I loved your mother with all my heart, but she’s gone, and I deserve to be happy for the time that I have left, don’t I?” he asked.
“You do,” Savannah agreed. “She’s okay with your medical condition? Someday, you might wake up and not know who she is.”
“She’s aware of that, and we’ve talked about everything. Lorna said that she’d take whatever days I could give her, and I feel the same way about her. We’re not promised tomorrow, so we’re both living for today,” her father said. “Maybe you should take that advice too, honey. Why not call Brooks and tell him how you feel?” her father asked.
