She rises to her feet, pushing her bangs out of her puffy eyes. I follow behind her, pain shooting from my hip into my groin. It’s fucking electric, and I grit my teeth against it.
“Well, sort of. It’s Turner. Summer Turner. Is my dad okay?”
The doctor gives us a warm smile. “Hi, Summer. I’m Dr. Swift. Your father is doing just fine. The surgery to remove the blockage in his heart was successful, and he’s currently in a room resting.”
Summer exhales, her shoulders relaxing marginally.
“What happened? I thought he was okay. He was on meds, and he was eating better and—”
“Hey, hey,” Dr. Swift says. “Let’s tackle one question at a time, okay?”
Summer nods, wringing her hands together in front of her. “Okay. All right. I just ...”
“I know. This is hard. I get that. It’s all very overwhelming.” The doctor sighs. “First of all, we don’t know why it happened. Sometimes it just does, even with proper medication. It could have been a number of things, or it could have been nothing at all. All we know is that the blockage is gone. He’s breathing on his own, and his vitals are stable. He’s sleeping, and right now that’s what we want. His body is tired. Mine would be, too, after going through all that. We’re going to let him get some sleep, and we’ll run more tests and develop an action plan when he wakes up. Sound good?”
Summer nods, her bottom lip trembling as she fights the tears that are teetering on the edge of her brown eyes. “Sounds good.” She sniffles. “Can I ... Can I see him?”
“Of course you can. Just remember—rest.”
We both nod, then trail behind her as she leads us through some double doors around the corner.
Summer stares ahead the entire time, and while I’m dying to reach out and touch her, I shove my hands into the pockets of my joggers instead. She needs space, and I need to respect that, no matter how badly it’s killing me not to be there for her.
“This is it,” Dr. Swift says as we stop in front of what looks to be a private room. “Before we go in, I do want to warn you that he looks a bit pale. But he’s just undergone surgery, so that’s not surprising. Just try to remember that it won’t last, okay? I’m sure he’ll get his color back within a day or two.”
Summer takes an encouraging breath, then nods.
The doctor pushes open the door, then steps aside to let us pass, and my heart leaps into my throat at the sight before me.
I don’t know Daniel Turner well, but he’s always been this larger-than-life presence, even though I have a few inches on him. It’s never mattered. He’s a figure in this town. Hell, he’sthefigure.
But right now he looks small. Tiny, even. He’s lying in the middle of the hospital bed, machines surrounding him, and he looks frail. Weak.
How could I ever think I was weak when I never looked anything like this? I might have lost my career, but I still have my life. I still have time. I still have so much fucking future ahead of me.
I can’t believe I spent all those years being angry when I could have been living.
I could have been loving.
I look over to Summer just in time to see her face crumple.
“I didn’t see it,” she whispers, staring at her father, tears brimming in her eyes. “I didn’t see it. He said he was okay, and I let it go when I should have known better. I let him suffer. I let him ... I let this happen.” The tears spill over, her shoulders hunching inward. “I did this.”
I trail my fingers over her back. “Summer, you didn’t. You—”
She lurches away, and it’s cutting right down to my fucking core. Especially when she looks at me like she’s done.
“No, stop.” Her face is hard, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. “You don’t understand, Ezra. I did this because I haven’t been paying attention. Because I’ve been ... I’ve been distracted. I haven’t been home enough. I’ve been focused on everything else. Because ... because I went and fell in love with the one guy who isn’t capable of loving me back.”
Her words nearly knock me over.
Summer ... loves me? How? When?
“I wasted all my time here on things that weren’t important. I should have been there for him. I should have seen it, and I didn’t. I failed as a chef, and I failed as a daughter. That’s all I’ll ever be—a failure. A fraud. An absolute fucking disappointment.”
I want to scream at her. I want to tell her how wrong she is. She’s none of those things. She never fucking was.
She sucks in a deep breath.
