“Hanging in there. If it weren’t for Chris, I don’t know what I would have done.”
And as if he’d been summoned, Chris walked toward them, pushing his car keys into his back pocket, his baseball cap following. “How’s everybody doing?” He took in the scene in front of him, and he held up his hands. “I’m going to go to the cafeteria to get some coffee. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
It was silent in the waiting room, save for Tommy’s occasional snore. Shelley eventually woke up her husband, needing to take a walk, probably uncomfortable from being almost nine months pregnant and stuck in hard chairs all morning. Fitz walked away to call Amanda with her hourly update, leaving Bronte and her mother alone.
“When Shelley called, I didn’t know what to do,” Bronte said. “I was so scared.”
“Me too. I heard him get up, and then he fell, and I…I froze. I screamed and, Bronte, I thought I lost him.” Her mother dabbed at her eyes. “I don’t know what I’d do if…”
Bronte shook her head, tears falling from her cheeks to dot her sweatshirt. “No. We can’t think like that.”
Her mother agreed, worrying a tissue between her fingers. “I know, but he’s the love of my life.”
At those words, Bronte hugged her mother as they both cried. She’d never known a greater love than that of her family, and with the unthinkable happening, she wasn’t sure she was strong enough to get through it.
A few minutes later, Chris appeared, holding out a cardboard carrier to the newly reassembled group. “Coffee?”
Fitz helped himself, his cell phone still attached to his ear, then Shelley and Tommy, and finally, her mom. There were no cups left by the time Bronte stood, but Chris offered his own. She took it gratefully, and he sat in the seat next to her.
If it weren’t for him, she still would’ve been stuck in New Hope with her drunk boyfriend. “I want to tell you how much I appreciate you.”
He shrugged, accepting the coffee when she handed it back to him. “If there’s one thing I can do, it’s drive fast.”
She placed her hand on his arm. “No, Chris, I mean it. Mom said you helped her, and Shelley said you did CPR, and I…” His face turned wavy under her watery gaze, and she sniffed back her tears. “You came to pick me up. I’m so, so thankful.”
“You don’t need to thank me. I love your dad—and your whole family. I would do anything for them.”
Bronte dug through her purse for a tissue but came up empty-handed. Chris offered her a napkin from his pocket, and she blew her nose before leaning back in her chair, resting her temple against his shoulder. He slipped his arm around her shoulders with the slightest kiss against her forehead, and she burrowed into his warm embrace, drifting off to sleep.
“Bronte, baby, wake up.”
Her eyes fluttered open, and she suddenly remembered she was in a hospital waiting room, not a warm bed.
Chris tipped his chin to her bag on the floor. “Your phone’s ringing.”
Reluctantly, she moved out of his embrace to find it. When she saw Hunter’s name on the screen, she answered with a terse, “Hello.”
“Bronte, where are you?” He sounded like he’d recently woken up.
“Allentown.”
“What? Why?”
“I’m at the hospital. You’d know if you weren’t passed out, completely wasted.” She glanced over at Chris, who stared straight ahead with the distinct appearance of someone trying to look like he wasn’t eavesdropping.
“Why didn’t you wake me up? Why are you in the hospital? Why—”
Her temper flared, and she had trouble keeping her voice down. “I tried to wake you up, but I couldn’t. I’m here because my dad had a heart at—”
The line went dead, and she yanked her phone away from her ear to see a blank black screen. Out of battery. She tossed it back into her bag with a perturbed huff and sat back in her chair.
“Who was that?” Chris asked, and she turned to him, raising a brow. He quickly gave up his pretense. “You deserve so much better.”
She deserved someone who had a good relationship with her family, someone who didn’t require alcohol to get through a night. She deserved someone who sat next to her in the hospital and put his arm around her without having to ask. She deserved Chris.
When Dr. Mangal appeared some time later, they all gathered around her as she explained the open-heart surgery. Chris rubbed Bronte’s back soothingly as Dr. Mangal used words like stents and arteries and plaque. She said their dad was doing well, but it would be a slow recovery.
After an eternity, a nurse led them all down the hall to his room. Pattie walked in first, holding Fitz’s hand, followed by Shelley and Bronte, then Tommy and Chris.