Lance rubbed his thumb over the back of Angus's hand. "You know better than making promises you can't keep when it comes to a patient."
"I'm confident on this one. I am also smart enough to know that positive thinking goes a long way in making things happen. You stay positive so he can too. Remember what the nurse said, he can hear everything you say."
"I hope so." Lance leaned down, not getting as close as he wanted, but close enough to Angus's ear. "I love you. Come back to me."
"Has anyone seen Betty yet?" Eve asked.
Lance shook his head. "I've got a bad feeling about her. She'd never leave Lizzy at a time like this. She'd be here if she could."
"Don't give up on her yet. We need to keep Lizzy positive as well. She's struggling with being confined to bed when she wants to be here with you two," Eve told him.
Lance noticed Eve was now wearing a pale blue sweatsuit with bright pink shoes. He wondered how often she changedwhat she appeared to wear. "Go tell Lizzy he's in his room and I'm with him. Hopefully, she'll be released soon and can come down and see him. I'm sure Martin is struggling to decide where he should be. Let him know to take care of Lizzy and I'll get them if anything changes here. I don't want them to worry."
"I'll let them know. Do you need anything? I can always contact Dr. Christine if you need anything," Eve offered.
Christine was a pediatric doctor he'd met a while back who could also see ghosts. She was dating Brayden, the intern at the Medical Examiner's Office.
"I'm good for now. Jackson will be back with clothes for me." He stared down at Angus. "Can you sense his spirit inside him?"
"No, but that's not unusual. I don't sense them in the living. I think for someone to be alive, they have to have their spirit. He's in there. Don't doubt that."
But he did. He couldn't block the memory of seeing Angus float from his body. He hated that he was staring at Angus right now and still wasn't sure things would ever be the same. He wanted to go back in time, refuse the dinner, and stay home where they would have been safe.
"How is he?" Martin asked from the doorway.
Lance turned to find Martin in a wheelchair and a nurse behind him. "He's holding on. I'm told his vitals are improving. Did Megan warn you they'd induced a coma to keep him from moving around for a while?"
Martin nodded but didn't speak as he stared at his son.
"I've got him. Thanks." Lance took the wheelchair from the nurse and pushed it closer to the bed. "Careful not to jar his body. He needs to stay as still as possible. "
Tears filled Martin's eyes as he rested his hands on Angus's bed. "He's so pale."
"That's normal after an injury like he had. I'm sure he lost a lot of blood." Lance wanted to get hold of the file eventually andlook it over so he could know exactly what had happened in the operating room.
"Your mom will be here soon, Angus. She wants to see you. She's just waiting for her release papers. She sent me down here now so you wouldn't have both of us crying over you at the same time." Martin smiled. "Leave it to your mother to take charge and plan something as simple as visiting you in the hospital."
"Any news from Betty?" Lance asked, then wished he hadn't when he saw the pain form in Martin's eyes.
"Nothing. Lizzy's convinced Betty's gone into the light. She thinks that somehow Betty saved Angus, but in doing so, she went into the light. I don't know what to think. I don't see how it could happen, you know, one going into the light but not the other." Martin wiped his tears with the sleeve of his shirt.
Lance handed him a tissue from the box beside the bed. "I agree with you. I don't think she'd leave Lizzy, even to save Angus. Something else happened. I just don't know what."
"Betty loves Angus like a son. She'd do anything for him, but I just don't see her accidentally going into the light. She's been dead too long to not know how to control that. I don't know where she is, but I don't believe she's moved on. I refuse to believe that." Martin stretched his hand out so his fingers rested on Angus's. "Did they say how long he'll be in a coma?"
"They'll reevaluate in a few days. I'm sure it will be a matter of how quickly his neck heals. I have a lot of questions to ask but didn't want to keep the surgeon after such a long surgery. I want to know more about the damage and if his vocal cords will be affected. If he'll be able to swallow normally, things like that."
"I'll learn sign language. I don't care as long as he lives." Martin sniffed. "If we hadn't gone to dinner or if we'd made a later reservation…"
"You can't blame yourself for this. We don't know what happened yet, but it wasn't your fault," Lance told him despitehaving the same thoughts. "Angus would hate you blaming yourself for this, so don't. He needs us to be positive right now." Lance took a seat in the recliner, feeling weak and still too tired. "How are you? What did they say about your ankle?"
"I'm in a cast for a few weeks, then they'll move me to a walking boot. Said I will need physical therapy once it's healed. Had the nerve to tell me I might not make it out on the golf course for a few months." Martin smiled, letting Lance know he was teasing.
"I'll take you to the miniature golf course once you're in a boot." Lance grinned.
"It's hardly the same, but I can't complain. I'm alive. I hear several people died last night. I just don't know what happened. One minute I'm toasting Jackson, then everything is shattering around me and I'm on the floor. It all happened so quickly."
"It's like that for me as well. I heard the explosion, but I don't recall falling out of my chair or anything flying around me. It's like one minute I'm sitting at the table and the next, I'm on the floor with everything in pieces and blood everywhere." Lance had tried to play it back in his mind several times, but a good chunk was missing from his memory.
