“I know,” he said curtly, tugging hard on the hair at the base of his neck. “Do you think Marco would let me set up a workstation at his place? Or maybe I could use Liam’s old cottage behind the hotel.”
Ah damn. Michael was spiraling. He didn’t do it often, but stuff like family emergencies could throw him off completely. I rose and stood in front of him, stopping his frenetic pacing. I caught Marco’s eye and gestured for him to join us.
“Why don’t we ask Marco and see what he says?”
Marco came to stand beside me. “Ask me what?”
I repeated what Michael had said before. Marco pursed his lips. “You’re certainly welcome to stay at our place. As far as the cottage goes, Sean hasn’t rented it out yet, so it’s available. It would offer you more privacy. It’s really up to you, Michael.”
Michael nodded. “I think the cottage would be better. I don’t want to listen to you and Liam having sex.”
Behind me, I heard Greg snort an aborted laugh. I chuckled. “I’m with you on that.”
A flurry of motion drew my attention to the doorway as Gianna came flying through, heading straight for my mother. “Mama!” The volume in the room rose as all my siblings came to comfort our youngest sister. My mother enfolded her in a hug only a mother could give.
I saw Rory standing awkwardly in the doorway, so I skirted around the crowd of relatives to talk to him. “Thank you for doing this at the last minute.”
Rory smiled. “No problem, boss. I know how important your family is to you.” He glanced over at Gianna. “Your sister is very nice and super smart. It was fun talking to her.”
I narrowed my eyes. Had he hit on my baby sister? “Yeah. She’s great.”
He shifted awkwardly. “What did you want me to do with her luggage? I didn’t think they’d appreciate me dragging it into the hospital.”
“Good thinking. Let me ask one of my siblings if you can take it to their car.” After I managed to interrupt the chaos, my sister Maria volunteered her car and sent her husband with Rory to move Gianna’s bags.
With a weary sigh, I sat next to Greg. He kissed the side of my head. “Crazy night.”
“No kidding.”
“How are you holding up?”
I put my arm around his shoulders. “Better than I would have if you weren’t here. You’ve been rock solid this whole night.” Emotion clogged my throat. “I’m so grateful I have you beside me.”
Greg put his head on my shoulder. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
We fell into a quiet conversation that eventually petered out to a light doze until someone shook my shoulder and woke me. I blinked up to find Marco standing over me. “The doctor’s here. Pops is out of surgery.”
Greg and I both rose, and I went over to where the doctor was speaking to my mother. “The surgery was long, but it went well. He’s got blood pumping freely to his heart again.” The room filled with murmurs of relief, but the doctor raised his hand. “That being said, he needs to make some lifestyle changes if he wants to remain healthy. He’ll need to eat healthier and get more exercise. These are all things we can discuss while he’srecovering from the surgery. He’ll have to stay in the hospital for about a week. You’ll have instructions for when he goes home that he’ll need to follow to make a full recovery.”
I stopped listening after a while because the rest was about when he would be moved out of recovery and into the Cardiac ICU. The feeling of relief made my knees weak. Pops would be okay—if he listened to his doctor. It looked like the family was going to have to stage an intervention with him though. He didn’t like being told what to do. I wasn’t past laying a guilt trip on him, and neither were most of my siblings, especially Maria. All she’d have to do was ask him if he wanted his grandchildren to grow up without him. Boom. Instant guilt trip.
Greg pulled me into a hug. “I’m so happy for you and your family. Are you going to go up to see him tonight?”
I shook my head. “He’ll probably sleep through the night. I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Okay.” He pursed his lips. “Where are we staying tonight?”
I blinked. “That’s a damn good question. I’m in total agreement with Michael. I don’t want to listen to Marco and Liam fucking.”
“I heard that,” Marco said.
“Maybe you shouldn’t eavesdrop,” I retorted.
Greg shook his head. “You two crack me up.”
“I can probably get us a room at the Asbury Hotel. It’s April, so the tourists haven’t taken over yet.”
I pulled out my phone to check the availability and remembered I should send a text to Sal about my dad.
