Chapter 17 #2
Before she’d resolved anything, he came out of the bathroom and got back into bed with her, snuggling up to her, his arm around her waist. Kissing her shoulder, he said, “I didn’t mean to push you for more than you’re ready for.”
Touched, Erin covered his hand with hers. “It’s not that. And it’s not you. It’s me. It’s…”
“Shhh. Not tonight. Today’s been a fantastic day. Let’s leave the hard stuff for tomorrow, okay?”
Relieved to have a reprieve, she expelled a deep breath. “Okay.”
He let her go long enough to kill the light and snuggled up to her again.
She would tell him tomorrow that she was afraid to fly and that was why she didn’t want to go back to Florida with him, even if the other things she’d told him were true, too.
The life she was building on the island was important to her, but it wasn’t like she couldn’t come back for the summer and pick up where she left off with Jenny and her new friends.
Thinking about the possibility of months with him in Florida made her feel giddy and excited. If only the dark cloud of terror would go away and leave her alone, everything would be perfect—or as close to perfect as it had been for her in a very long time.
Erin took visions of sunshine and palm trees—and the sexy man in her bed—to sleep with her, dreaming of him as she slept. She awoke to his voice.
“Erin, your phone is ringing.”
“What?”
“Your phone.”
“Oh.” Erin pushed her hair back from her face and reached for the phone that was charging on her bedside table where the clock read four thirty. The sight of MOM on the screen sparked panic. Why would her mother be calling before dawn? “Mom?”
“Oh thank goodness you answered.”
Undone by her mother’s panicked tone, Erin sat up in bed. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Daddy.” Her mother’s voice broke, and Erin’s anxiety spiked.
“He woke up with a bad headache right before he collapsed. I called 9-1-1, and they got him to the hospital very quickly. They did an MRI and found an aneurism in his brain. They just took him to surgery, and… They said it’s a very grave situation, honey. ”
“Oh my God,” Erin whispered as tears slid down her cheeks and her heart beat so hard she feared she would hyperventilate.
Slim sat up to put an arm around her, and she leaned into him, thankful for his presence and support.
“I’m so sorry to do this to you, especially when you can’t get here, but I thought you’d want to know.”
“I do, of course I do. Is he… Did they say…”
“They said to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.”
“No,” Erin said, whimpering. “No.”
Her mother’s sobs echoed through the phone line.
Erin forced herself to focus on her mother when she wanted to wail with despair. “Who’s with you, Mom?”
“No one right now. I’ll call Aunt Sue later,” she said of her sister.
“Call her now. She’d want to be there with you.”
“Okay, I will, and I’ll let you know if I hear anything more. They said the surgery will take a few hours.”
“I don’t know what to do. What do I do?”
“Say a prayer, sweetheart. That’s all we can do right now. I’ll call you the second I know more.”
“I’ll see about getting the car on the ferry, and I’ll get there as soon as I can. Will you text me the info about where you are?”
“I will.”
“Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Erin ended the call and dropped her head into her hands, sobs shaking her body.
“I’m so sorry, honey,” Slim said as he rubbed her back.
“Did you hear all that?”
“Enough to put the pieces together. Sweetheart, look at me.”
Erin raised her head to meet his gaze.
“I could get you there pretty quickly. They live in Philly, right?”
“Just outside,” she said, her throat closing with panic and anxiety at the thought of flying. She would’ve thought nothing could trump that fear, but the fear of losing her dad, of never seeing him again, was greater than her flying phobia.
“That’s just over an hour by air.”
“I… I should tell you…”
Gazing down at her, he caressed her bare shoulder. “What, honey?”
She forced herself to look at him when she said, “I haven’t flown since before 9/11.”
After a long pause, he said, “Oh. Okay.”
“I’m not entirely sure that I can.”
“How about we try and see how it goes?”
“What if I freak out in the air?”
“I’d get you down as fast as I could.”
“Then what would we do?”
“Hire a car to drive us to Philly?”
“You’d do that?”
“I’d do anything I could for you.”
With just one sentence, he managed to convey a world of meaning that had her sobbing all over again, this time from the emotional overload that came from realizing, right in that already fraught moment, that she was falling hard for him.
Leaving that discovery to deal with at a later date, she said, “How long will it take to get there?”
“About an hour and twenty. I have a twin-engine plane, so it won’t take long.”
“Good to know there’s a backup if one engine quits.”
“The engines won’t quit. You don’t need to worry about that.
Come here.” He gathered her into his arms. “I promise you’ll be completely safe with me.
I’d never take any chances with your safety—or my own.
” As he spoke, he continued to rub her back in soothing circles. “It’ll be a really quick flight.”
“I’m afraid of so many things that never used to scare me,” she whispered. “I’m afraid of everything.”
“Then you need to stick with me, because in addition to my former careers as an EMT and circus performer, I’m an outstanding dragon slayer. Never met one yet that could defeat me. I gotcha covered, sweetheart.”
There was nothing, absolutely nothing, he could’ve said that would’ve meant more to her.
To know he wasn’t judging her or finding her lacking because of her fears was a huge relief.
And that he didn’t push or try to coerce her into a decision but instead gave her quiet time for contemplation made it easier for her to accept his offer.
“Okay,” she said tentatively. “Let’s try it.”
“Do you have anything for the anxiety? Something to take the edge off?”
“I have Xanax for when I can’t sleep, but I don’t take it very often anymore.” In the early years after Toby died, she’d taken it every night. But it had been a long time since she’d depended upon it.
“That’d work.” He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “So we’re doing this?”
Erin summoned the courage she needed from deep inside, where the person she used to be still resided, and nodded. “We’re doing it.” Now if only she could get through it without losing her mind.