Page 56 of Billionaire Retreat

He smiled. “Kenny? He’s going to have her sashaying up and down the hallway like she’s a runway model. And then who will I have around to play checkers with? He’s going to turn her into a diva.”

“I promise Kenny won’t do any permanent damage,” I teased.

“He’d better not. That Kenny,” Dad said, chuckling.

“Get some rest. I’ll see you soon.”

He grunted and then soon enough he was snoring. I stood staring down at him and slowly took his hand in mine. I squeezed it and he surprised me by squeezing back.

“Love you, Daddy,” I said, kissing his forehead before making my way out.

I almost ran into my mom who looked frazzled.

“Hi, honey. How’s he looking?”

“About the same.”

“Ok. Thanks for staying with him. I had a long night. Full moon and all that.” My mom swore that the full moon brought out all the weirdos and as an emergency room physician, she’d seen her share of weird things.

“You know I don’t mind staying longer.”

“No,” she said giving me a light push towards the elevator. “Go home to your daughter. I’ll stay with your father.”

I knew there was no point in arguing with her. When her mind was made up, there was no point in trying to change it.

I got on the elevator and sighed as I pushed the down button. I was so tired. As soon as I had gotten off the elevator at Griffin’s place, I’d called my mom back, feeling frantic.

She’d told me with tears in her voice that she’d found Dad unconscious and was waiting for the attending physician to give her an update. I hadn’t hesitated. I’d gone directly from Griffin’s house to the airport and called Kenny on the way.

He dropped whatever he was doing and had joined me as we waited for the flight back to Georgia. We’d held hands like scared little kids as we waited for our flight. We barely spoke, both deep in thought, and worried about my dad. We were a close-knit family. Worrying about each other is what we did best.

When we had landed, we’d stopped at my mom’s house to relieve the sitter. Kenny had volunteered to stay with a sleeping Sadie until I came back.

Mom couldn’t find anyone to cover for her at work so she’d been stuck working while Dad was in the hospital. Luckily, it was the same hospital she worked for.

And now I was on my way back to Mom’s house to get Sadie and relieve Kenny.

Home was only ten minutes from the hospital and when I pulled up, I saw Kenny chasing behind Sadie. They were jumping over my dad’s pond full of his precious koi, chasing each other with water guns.

“Mom!” Sadie yelled when she saw me. She dropped the gun and ran full speed into me, knocking the wind out of me in the process.

“Wow! I guess you missed me!”

“I missed you so, so, so, so, so much,” she said, hugging me tightly.

“I missed you so, so, so, so, so much, too,” Kenny said, smiling brightly as he blasted me with a spray of cold water.

“Kenny!”

“Ha! Just like old times!” he yelled, blasting me again.

“Watch this, Sadie,” I said, bending down to retrieve her weapon as I mercilessly let Kenny have it. He hit the ground and tried to crawl away.

I stood over him and soaked him with the remaining water in the gun.

“I give up! I give up!” he yowled, and Sadie watched it all while laughing deep belly laughs.

“Mom, you’re silly.”