“What happened?” my sister repeated.
I took a shaky breath. “I’m fine most of the time.”
“Of course you are,” my sister replied. “You shouldn’t need surgery again.”
“I know. But it still happens sometimes, when my heart rhythm gets off. Usually, it only last a few seconds. This time it was longer and I started panicking.”
Tears stung my eyes, and Holly passed me a handful of tissues without missing a beat. Cole squeezed my hand, his touch comforting and grounding.
“I kind of barged in,” Cole said. “I realized something was wrong right away. Adele said we needed to go to the hospital, and now we’re here.”
“Who are you?” my sister asked pointedly.
Holly pressed her lips together, clearly biting back a smile. She caught my gaze, mouthing,“Want me to explain?”
I nodded, relieved to have her do all the talking for this.
“This is Cole Silver,” Holly said aloud. “He’s a good guy. I’ve known him and his brothers forever.”
“Cole loves Adele,” Haven added from his chair in the corner.
“Yes,” Cole said firmly, not missing a beat.
There was another pause on the line before Rowan replied. “I trust you, Adele. You just haven’t mentioned anything about this guy.”
“I know,” I said, a little sheepish. “It’s still…new.”
“Well,” Holly cut in, “in addition to the medication to help with her heart rhythm, we gave her a dose of lorazepam to get that panic attack dialed down. Hospitals are stressful.”
“Completely makes sense,” Rowan replied, her voice softening. “How about I drive over to Willow Brook? It’s not that far—maybe forty-five minutes.”
“You don’t have to,” I started to say.
“You know what?” she cut in. “I’m not asking. I’ll be there soon.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
ADELE
Truths of the heart
“Call me if anything changes before I get there. Love you. See you soon,” my sister said before the line clicked to silence.
Holly glanced my way and gave a satisfied little nod. “Your sister’s awesome.”
“I know she is.”
“How come she’s not your cardiologist?”
“Because she’s my sister,” I said with a shrug. “I never knew she planned to go into that line of work when she went to medical school, but she did.”
Holly kept checking the screen, her gaze scanning the details. “Things are starting to settle. Your rhythm seems to be stabilizing.”
“Am I allowed to ask what happened?” Cole asked, his gaze on Holly.
“You’re going to have to add him to your approved list if you want me to explain everything,” Holly replied to me.
“You can explain whatever you want,” I said with a lazy wave of my hand. “Do you need me to sign something?”
