"He'd love that." Lance reached for a tissue to wipe the tears that wet his eyes. "Did Bethany mention that Jackson's home?"
"She did. I'm looking forward to us cooking him a big welcome home meal. But that's for later. Right now, we need to focus on taking care of Angus. We're not celebrating anything until he's able to celebrate with us." She focused her attention on Lance. "I hear you're not planning on going home to rest?"
Lance shook his head. "I can't leave him. I need to be here. I'm comfortable here. I need to be here when he wakes up."
"And from what I've been told that could be days or even weeks before he wakes. You need to keep yourself strong and healthy so you can help him when he does wake. I don't like the idea of you sleeping here. You should go home to your own bed. Let others sit with him for a while so you can rest, shower, and regroup."
"I know I should. Hell, I'd be saying the same thing to someone, but I just can't. I went down for a coffee earlier and just being that far away from him makes me feel like I can't breathe. The moment he's out of my sight I start to panic. No. Even if it's what makes sense and may be best for me, I can't leave him. I'll be okay. Jackson will bring me what I need. He's at the house. He can take care of Haunt and handle things there. As far as work goes, I can't do anything until I heal, and even then, I have sick leave and vacation time I can use. Angus wouldn't leave me. I won't leave him."
"Stubborn man." Cel rolled her eyes. "You don't know what's good for you. You've got enough friends, both living and dead, that he'd never be alone. We'd alert you within minutes if something changed."
A nurse stepped into the room and smiled. "Just hanging another bag." She held up a small bag of fluid that would connectto his I.V. line. "It's great that you're talking to him so much. I know some say they can't hear you, but I believe they can. I think those who get talked to a lot while unconscious seem to heal faster than those who don't have anyone to talk to them."
Cel laughed. "If she only knew you weren't talking to him."
Lance smiled at the nurse. "I think he can hear me as well. I don't want him to think he's alone."
The nurse nodded and quietly hung the bag. "You'll let us know if you need anything?"
"I will. Thank you," Lance promised.
Cel waited for the woman to leave, then said, "If they only knew how many people are in and out of this room, they'd have a fit. I'm guessing between living visitors and ghosts, he may be the most visited patient in this place."
Lance laughed. "Probably. He'd hate everyone seeing him like this. But I'm glad people are coming by to spend time with him."
"Glad to hear that." Isaac's voice had Lance turning for the door. "I was hesitant to drop by today. Hoped you'd be sleeping, but since you're up…" Isaac floated into the room.
"Senator." Cel smiled.
"Celeste Dupoint. It's been a long time." He bowed in her direction. "Good to see you again. And please, it's just Isaac now. I quit being a senator when I died."
"Of course. Isaac it is." Cel stepped to the side, giving Isaac room to stand beside her at Angus's bedside.
"How is he?" Isaac asked.
"No change from last night. Well at least from once he got out of surgery. He's doing a lot better now than he was at the restaurant." Lance reached for his water and took a sip. His shoulder was starting to hurt again. "If things go the way they want, there shouldn't be much change for a while. They just want him to heal for now. The big event will be when he wakes up, andwe see if he can still swallow and speak normally. The surgeon explained the injury to me and he should be fine, but there's always a risk the scar tissue or swelling could cause issues." Lance also worried about brain activity. It hadn't occurred to him at first, but as he'd sat alone all day, he realized that Angus must have stopped breathing for his soul to leave his body. It had only been seconds, but Lance had no way of knowing exactly how long Angus had been without oxygen. Now he worried about brain damage along with the injury to his throat.
"I just came from Desorio's. I was curious about how the investigation is going," Isaac told them. "A lot of speculation still and the scene is a mess, but they think there was a problem with the gas line. They've called in experts with A.T.F. to investigate further. Right now, and this hasn't been made public, but they think there was an issue with the gas line of the neighboring building."
"The dress shop or bakery?" Lance asked, remembering the buildings on either side of Desorio's.
"Sweet Things Bakery," Isaac told them. "They closed at three, so luckily the place was empty, but as you've seen, the explosion was big enough to damage the whole area. The wreckage is so severe, and the fire did so much damage that they're having trouble piecing it all together. I'll head back there later and see if there's any updates, but right now, they have teams of people all making guesses at what happened, but no one has any solid evidence."
Lance closed his eyes, remembering the scene. It had been a disaster, and he hadn't even been where the fire was. He glanced back over at Isaac. "So no one knows if it was an accident or if someone caused it?"
"They're working both causes. Police are interviewing workers from Desorio's and the bakery trying to find out if anyone was upset with any of the businesses. They've gotanother team looking at the arson possibility, and yet another group looking at it from an accidental viewpoint. I guess they've had a few arson cases recently in the area, but those were just small fires, not explosions like this." Isaac shrugged.
Cel kept her eyes on Angus as she spoke. "If there was a gas leak, even a small fire would be enough to cause an explosion, but this doesn't feel like a small fire. From the reports I heard on the news, the explosion happened first, then the fire."
"It seemed that way to me as well," Lance told them. "I didn't see or smell smoke until after. If there'd been a fire before, you'd think someone would have panicked or at least pulled a fire alarm to clear the restaurant."
"And those investigating seem to agree, though they have to look at all possibilities. They strongly agreed that there was probably a gas leak, and something in the kitchen triggered the explosion. The question is, what caused the gas leak?" Isaac stated.
"I've been in enough kitchens to know that there could be a number of possibilities. Even in a bakery. As big as the explosion was, there had to be a lot of gas sitting around waiting to ignite. I'm amazed people couldn't smell it." Cel shook her head. "Such a sad situation. Too many dead, too many injured. I'm just thankful none of you died."
"Hate to say it, but I'm going to be nervous going out to eat for a while. I know it was an accident, and probably will never happen again, but I admit I'll have a bit of PTSD from this." Lance stared at Angus, wondering how many days he'd have to watch him this way. Already it felt like weeks when it hadn't even been a full day.
"No one will blame you for being paranoid for a while. I'm sure everyone that was there last night feels the same way," Isaac told him. "I knew Megan and Jackson were going to dinner with you. When I heard about the explosion, I about came undone.While I miss my daughter, I'm not ready for her to join me in the ghostly realm yet. I want to see her grow old and enjoy life."
