Page 56 of Irresistible Second Chance

I nodded. “He will.”

I wanted to lay my head on his shoulder and feel his arms around me, but I settled just for his nearness. His presence meant a lot to me.

“How long have you been sitting here?”

He shrugged, “Since your mom called my mom. I figured there was a crowd already at the hospital, so I thought it would be a better idea to just wait here.”

“Thanks for stopping by.”

“Of course,” he said standing up.

“You’re leaving already?” I asked, feeling sadder than I expected. I took a deep breath to steady my emotions and stop myself from crying.

“Yeah,” he said looking away from me, not meeting my eyes, “I just wanted to make sure you were ok. I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Ok,” I said but he was already walking away. He didn’t turn around to wave. He just got in his car and drove away.

I’d never felt more alone. I lowered my head and cried.

Chapter 16

“Ok, Sydney. You are a fierce, confident, girl boss. You got this. Ok. So, march into that office and show them that you’re prepared and focused and that you know what you’re talking about,” I said to myself in the bathroom as I prepared for a presentation with one of our biggest clients. I didn’t know why I was nervous, but I was.

Robert had pushed for me to take at least a week off when he found out about my father, but I had resisted, throwing myself into work instead. Dad had been released from the hospital a week ago and from the reports I received from Starr, Donna was taking good care of him when I wasn’t around, even though he was a pretty terrible patient.

Not to mention, the girls were also keeping him company. I heard they did his nails in a different color every night and had even made him homemade granola bars to help him eat healthier. I loved those girls, and I was thankful for Donna. I hadn’t met her yet, but I’d spoken to her off and on. She always answered my dad’s phone when he couldn’t get to it and because she was a retired ER nurse, she knew exactly how to handle my dad and his very worried family. She was a real gem. I was happy dad had found her. He deserved happiness too, which made me yet again feel sorry for myself.

I hadn’t seen Chris since he stopped by to check on me the night my dad was admitted to the hospital. He texted me a couple of times afterwards asking me if I needed anything and if dad was going to be ok. His messages were impersonal. It was almost as if we were just acquaintances. That kind of hurt more than I cared to admit. It bothered me that he could compartmentalize so easily, but hadn’t I been the one who had shied away from commitment? Technically, he was just giving me what I wanted. Funny thing was, I wasn’t sure if that’s what I wanted anymore.

Dad’s illness had really shaken me. It made me re-evaluate a lot of things I held as truths in my life. More than anything, it made me re-evaluate whether or not I wanted a relationship with my mom. I wasn’t sure honestly if I did, but I was considering taking her up on her offer to stop by and say hi.

With that thought in mind, I walked out of the bathroom in the direction of the meeting. To my surprise, Chris was there. I found myself becoming instantly nervous. He smiled at me, but it was slightly guarded. I squared my shoulders and introduced myself again to our clients. I did my presentation on autopilot, and I must have done a good job because afterwards Robert came forward and thanked me for a job well done.

He ushered the clients away, asking if I would join them for lunch but I declined, claiming that I unfortunately had other plans. Those plans were to drive to my father’s house and see for myself that he was alright. I hadn’t seen him in a couple of days. He told me that I didn’t have to visit him every other day, but I couldn’t help it. I needed confirmation that he was alright.

My phone rang as I walked back to my desk, and I reached for it. It was my dad. I smiled to myself as I said, “Hey, Dad, everything ok? I was just on my way to visit you.”

“That’s what I figured, but I might have forgot to mention that Donna is taking me on day trip to go apple picking.”

“Apple picking?” Since when did he go apple picking?

“Yeah, it’s going to be a great time. I even made us a little lunch.”

Now I was starting to doubt Donna’s expertise. I knew I was being illogical, but this was my dad’s health we were talking about. “I don’t know if it’s such a good idea for you to be leaving the house so soon after what’s happened. And I can’t believe Donna is going along with it.”

I sat down at my desk and sighed.

Dad said, “I knew you would say that. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you.”

“So, you agree with me, then?”

“Nope. I don’t. I’m going on this day trip, we’re almost halfway there...so there’s no stopping me now.”

I couldn’t fight the grin that appeared on my face. I sighed again, “Ok, Dad you win. Have fun. Tell Donna I said hello but if you start to get tired, can you please just take it easy?”

“Take it easy? I’m going to be picking fruit from a tree, Syd, not hiking Mt. Everest.”

“Well, just don’t get on any ladders.”

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