Her mum answered on the first ring.
‘Darling, do you have your inhaler to hand?’ God. What?
‘Is it Dad?’
‘Do you have your inhaler?’ Her mum was practically shrieking.
‘Yes. What’s happened?’
‘Take some puffs first.’
‘Please could you just tell me?’
‘He had a big heart attack. He’s in hospital and he’s having surgery shortly. Bypass.’
Everything suddenly went black and starry in front of Lily’s eyes and she staggered. She caught the wall of the front garden she was walking past and held onto it until the light-headedness had passed.
‘Lily? Lily, are you alright?’
‘Yes, I’m fine. Areyoualright? Shall I come? I can come immediately.’ She’d only been working a half day today at the hospital and was doing photo curation this afternoon; she’d have to postpone her clients.
‘Darling, there’s no point. He’ll be in surgery before you get here. Why not plan to visit when he’s out? Maybe tonight but more likely tomorrow, I think?’
‘Okay.’ Oh God.
‘Lily, how’s your breathing?’
‘It’stotallyfine. Totally normal.’ Bit of a lie. As soon as she got off the phone she was going to take some puffs. It was the shock.
‘Are yousure?’
For God’s sake. Her father had had a second big heart attack and was about to have major surgery and Lily was thirty-three and her mother wasstillmanaging to make it about Lily’s health.
‘Yes. How areyou? I could still come to the hospital and keep you company?’
‘They told me to go home and keep myself occupied so I might do some work. I’ll update you when I hear anything.’
‘Okay. Well, let me know. I love you.’ She did love her mother, a lot; she just wasn’t that keen on spending a lot of time with her. And apparently her mother felt the same way because when the chips were down she’d rather occupy herself with work than with Lily’s company. Although maybe that was because she was still perma-worried about Lily and she couldn’t deal with any extra stress right now.
Oh, God, she could feel her chest getting tight.
Okay, puffs.
And now some deep breaths through her nose, mouth closed, trying to get air right to the bottom of her lungs.
Okay, things were getting better.
And her dad was in great hands in an amazing hospital. Heart bypasses happened all the time, so the surgeons would clearly know exactly what they were doing. She needed to focus on the positives and not panic.
She should probably take a leaf out of her mum’s book and not give in to her first instinct, which had been to take the rest of the day off work.
Maybe she’d give Matt a quick call first. Tell him what had happened. It felt like just the sound of his voice would be comforting.
No answer. To voicemail or not to voicemail? Not, obviously. You couldn’t leave a message sayingHi, just to let you know my dad’s seriously ill, ciao, could you.
A message pinged in from him a minute or two later.Running between meetings. Missing you. On way to Edinburgh soon. Will call tonight.
Oh. Well, yes. He had a busy job. She couldn’t expect him to be free to chat at any given moment. Same with her. She wouldn’t be able to talk to someone in the middle of delivering a baby.
