Page 62 of A Case of You
As Stuart sat huddled with his mom, Eileen, Robert, and Kim, he tried to…
Breathe.
This was too…real. It was too easy to imagine himself sitting in a waiting room like this at some point in the future and awaiting word about Jeff or Brandon, especially when he remembered the scare they’d had with Jeff.
That was something he didn’t want to contemplate, because the thought of losing either of them made every cell of his being painfully ache.
Lara finally made her way out to the waiting room. “He’s going into surgery now. They’re going to place a stent. Hopefully he’ll pull through this, but I can’t promise you that.”
His mom jumped up, tearfully hugging her. “Thank you! Thank you so much.”
The waiting began again. Jake showed up at some point, sullen, quiet—fortunately—and didn’t speak to anyone.
Which was fine, because no one wanted to talk to him, either.
It was only then that Stuart realized Jake hadn’t followed them from the hotel, and he wondered what the man had been doing in the interim.
It was close to midnight when a doctor wearing scrubs came to talk to them. “He should recover. He’s going to be in the ICU for tonight to monitor him. And we’ll have to talk about him going through a cardiac rehab program. But everything looks hopeful.”
His mom, Stuart, Eileen, and Robert went to see him.
His mom ordered Jake to stay out in the waiting room, and Brandon, John, and John’s friends were happy to make that happen.
While they were in there, his dad opened his eyes, smiled at them, and told him he loved them.
And asked them not to let Jake come back.
By the time his mom insisted everyone return to their hotels or go home, it was nearly three in the morning. Jake had already departed, once he realized he wasn’t going to be allowed to see his father.
Stuart and Brandon stripped and fell into bed, Stuart clinging to Brandon.
Breathing.
Brandon held him close, his chin resting on top of Stuart’s head and a leg draped over him. “This’ll be okay.”
Obviously, the plans for tomorrow had been discarded. Everyone would converge on the hospital in the morning.
“I feel like this is my fault,” Stuart finally whispered.
“It’s not your fault.”
“If I hadn’t been here, Jake wouldn’t have started in.”
“Jake would have started in onsomeone. That’s what the Jakes of the worlddo. It’s their reason for being. You didnotgive your father a heart attack.”
The next morning, Brandon sicced Jeff on Stuart over the phone and left the two of them to talk while he went into the bathroom.
“Buddy, listen to Master. You know he won’t bullshit you. It sounds like your dad was having health problems before this. Brandon said he saw him rubbing at his chest on Friday.”
“I still feel guilty.”
“Just because you feel guilty doesn’t make it valid. Isn’t that what you keep telling me when I’m whining because I can’t work?”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“It…” Stuart tried to think of a way to answer him. “It just is.”
