Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Vaughn
The incessant beeping of monitors drives me insane. There’s no relief, only the endless monotony of nurses and doctors performing test after test, followed by endless waiting for results. The two hours since we arrived have felt like days.
I check my phone for the umpteenth time to see if Kate has responded to my text. I hated to send that kind of message, but when she didn’t pick up after my fourth call, it finally registered that she doesn’t have her phone on her while she’s in training.
She’s been too quiet about the type of training she’s doing. Ever since I told her the story of my parents, she’s been tight lipped about how her days go.
I don’t know if that bothers me more or less than knowing she’s in training for the same job my father died doing.
I want to know, but I also don’t want to know what she’s going through.
Scrubbing my hand over my face, I blow out a breath and take my hundredth glance at the old man lying in the bed.
Gus is too big to look this fragile. Bracing on my elbow, I bury my face in my hands to hold back the swirl of helplessness. I felt this way once before, and I lost everything that night. I can’t go through it again.
There’s a quiet tapping at the door, and before I can rise, a mass of flame-red hair appears, and then there’s Kate.
“Hey,” she whispers as she comes to stand beside me.
Her hand falls on my shoulder, gliding across as she soothes me.
The way her fingers feather through the strands at the nape of my neck finally settles the ping-pong ball bouncing around in my brain.
I lean into her, absorbing the comfort her hands in my hair offer, drawing strength from her presence.
“What happened?”
I clear my throat twice to get the sound through my clogged vocal cords. “Not positive. They’ve run a dozen tests for a heart attack, and we’re waiting on results now.”
Fingers brush through my hair again, soothing the wild beast that’s threatening to bolt. Then she steps to Gus’s side and lays those magic hands on my grandfather.
She checks a monitor and studies the numbers and patterns there, then reads a strip of paper that looks like a seismometer before bending close to Gus and murmuring something to the old man.
His eyes flutter open, and he drinks her in.
This woman is healing both of us just by being in our lives.
As I watch, she cares for Gus in the way my gran used to care for him.
A little bit saucy, letting his gruffness bounce off.
But Kate also draws out his tender side and makes it okay for him to be soft.
Or maybe it’s not Kate; maybe Gus has lost so much in his life that he cherishes someone willing to put up with his shit.
The door flies open, and the medical team floats in, speaking a mile a minute.
In my fugue state, I comprehend about half of what they say, but Kate fires questions back at them in a language I don’t understand.
And Gus is looking to her for guidance and then responding.
It’s clear Kate speaks his language too and can help him understand all that’s going on.
Before I know it, the group files back out, leaving a profound silence in their wake.
“Did you understand any of that?” She’s finally addressing me, and it’s weird watching her shift from medic-Kate back to the woman I know and am starting to care a great deal for.
“Not really,” I admit.
“Basically, Gus-Gus here was having a heart attack.” She takes the old man’s hand.
“You got him here in time, though, and they were able to get things under control. They want to admit him tonight. The cardiologist will do a heart cath. And from there, Gus will probably get stents, best-case scenario, or a bypass if they don’t think stents are an option. ”
Gus’s knuckles are white, he’s gripping her so hard, but Kate is solid as a rock and doesn’t flinch.
“Next step is they’ll move him out of the ER as soon as a room upstairs is open. And they’ll monitor him and take care of him throughout the process.” She smiles down at my grandfather with a tenderness I feel across the room.
Once she’s satisfied that Gus and I are okay, she steps out, saying she’s going to have some conversations.
“She’s got your gran’s heart,” Gus whispers.
“Yep, I see that too.”
His eyes go glassy before he closes them and leans his head back on the bed. Things are still stilted between us, but it’s becoming easier to talk to each other. “Makes me miss my Ginny. If you’re smart, you’ll quit with the mooning eyes and lock her down.”
I stare slack-jawed at Gus. Is he giving me permission to go after Kate? Not that I need it. “Kate’s her own woman. She knows I’m interested.”
“Don’t screw it up, then. Be the man she needs.”
Those are his sage words as he pretends to fall asleep. “Yes, sir.” I can barely keep the humor out of my voice; it doesn’t feel like the right time or place, or even that he’s the right person to be warning me.
“Vaughn. I’m serious. Don’t fuck it up. Don’t hurt her.”
Kate comes bustling back through the door with a crew behind her and announces that it’s time to move.
She introduces Gus to the staff who will be caring for him, making sure he’s comfortable before taking me down to the twenty-four-hour coffee shop with a promise to Gus that we will meet him in his new room.
I take her hand as we ride the elevator down, and it’s not enough. Somehow, she senses what I need and moves into me, wrapping her arms around me in one of her magic hugs.
“He’s going to be okay. You did the right thing. Made all the right decisions.”
The pressure in my chest eases with her approval.
“Thank you for being here.”
And because I need her like I need air to breathe, I lean in and kiss her. But a simple brushing of lips isn’t enough, and before I know it, I’ve got her backed up against the elevator lobby wall, and I’m taking her mouth and grinding into her like we’re not in a public place.
“Wow,” she breathes when I finally let her up for air. “Good thing it’s after visiting hours, or else we might get kicked out for indecency.”
The elevator pings before the doors swoosh open, and this time, Kate takes my hand, clutching it as though she needs me as much as I need her. And like the puppy I am where she’s concerned, I follow her to the cafeteria.
We pick through the marketplace’s options, and Kate piles easy snacks into my arms, then grabs a couple of drinks.
The electronic beep of the scanner fights for attention over the hum of a floor buffer as the cashier processes each item.
Kate pays with the swipe of her card before I can even register that I need to whip out my wallet.
On autopilot, I fall in right behind her as she navigates through the maze of tables to a couch tucked into the far corner.
Now that the initial drama is over, my brain seems to be shutting down.
I can’t think for myself, can’t make a single decision without assistance.
Like she’s got some kind of radar that tells her exactly what I need, she directs me to sit, plopping right beside me and forcing me to eat and drink.
Watching my every move, gauging me the same way I’ve seen her pay attention to Gus when he’s having one of his spells, she makes me feel cared for. Seen.
Possibly even understood—something I haven’t felt in almost twenty years.
I catch her gaze and get lost in the connection. And while I’m sitting in the hospital cafeteria, on the second scariest day of my life, I don’t feel half as terrible as I would simply because she’s with me.
Gus is clearly feeling better by the time we make it back to his room, though it’s not ten minutes after we arrive that he declares he doesn’t want anyone “hovering over him all damn night” and kicks us out.
Crisis mode deactivated now that my pop’s safe, my focus zeroes in on the woman who’s changed everything for me.
The need to bury my fingers in her hair, taste her skin, burn off this lingering tension in my body, sizzles like electricity through my muscles. I follow her home and trail her inside the house before losing the last shred of my control.