“I can drive you.”
“I’m fine to drive. It will keep my brain focused.” He saw her brow raise warily. “I promise.”
She stared at him, as if trying to decide. “If you’re sure.”
“I am.”
The drive to St. Francis dragged by. It was outside of Mansboro, but one of the best hospitals in the nation. If anyone on earth could save his father’s life, it would be the doctors at St. Francis. Unfortunately, cancer didn’t care about the best doctors and who had the most money.
Alexis shifted in the passenger seat. She’d squirmed since they’d been on the road. This couldn’t be easy on her. He’d been selfish to ask her to come with him. “You’re welcome to take my SUV back to the house and grab your car. I can catch a ride later with someone. I appreciate you coming more than I’ll ever be able to tell you, but it wasn’t fair to ask you.”
“What?” Her head moved back and forth in slow motions. “I wouldn’t have offered to come if I didn’t want to. No matter what your father did in the past, this is the present and I’m here foryou.”
“I’ve watched you squirm since we’ve been on the road. Really, I understand if you don’t stay.” He admired her strength, especially when his was sorely lacking at the moment.
“It’s not that.” She clasped her hands in front of her. “There’s something I should tell you, only because I don’t want any secrets between us, but it doesn’t seem appropriate. But I don’t want you to find out in the future and think I hid it from you.”
“You can tell me anything. Whatever it is, I’d rather it be in the open.”
She wouldn’t meet his eye. “I knew your father was terminally ill, but only since this afternoon. Tynley’s boss, one of your father’s former execs, told her, and she in turn let it slip, But I promise you I had no idea he was in the hospital or even that close.”
“Did everyone know but me?” He came to a red light and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“I can’t answer because I don’t know but if we’ve learned anything together, it’s that we often make poor decisions regarding those we care about in the name of protecting them. If I had my guess, that’s what I would say your father did.”
The light turned green, and he accelerated. “But if I had known, I would have spent more time with him. I’d soak up every minute I could.”
“You would have smothered him, and that’s not what he wanted.”
Part of him understood where she came from, but the child in him was hurting and nothing made sense. “Thank you for telling me you knew.”
Her only response was a compassionate smile.
An ambulance with flashing lights sped into the hospital lot before them. Trey clenched the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. “This morning I was in Michigan closing a deal on property for a new store. How’d I go from that to this?”
“Life is dynamic. It doesn’t stay still for any of us.”
“If I go in there, it becomes real.” He shifted into park and leaned his head back. All his life, he’d been able to control his emotions. Until now.
He’d been young when his mom had been sick and ultimately passed away, and he couldn’t remember much from that time. This hit differently.
“Would you like to pray before you go inside?”
“Yes, please.” In the quiet solitude of his vehicle, he reached for Alexis’s hands and held them. “Dear Father,” he began, but no more words could reach beyond the grief in his chest.
Alexis squeezed his hands and finished the prayer for him.
They walked inside, took the elevator to the fifth floor, and found the room number Norris had given him.
His father’s assistant waited outside the room. “The doctor’s in there now.”
“Is there any new information?”
Norris shook his head. “Not that I’ve been told.”
The doctor exited the room three minutes later and introduced himself as Doctor Vincent. “I’m sorry we had to meet under these circumstances, Mr. Kaplan.”
“It’s Trey, please. How is my father?”
