Page 66 of Feels Like the First Time
Chapter 14
Ali made it in six.
Her heart was racing as fast as her speedometer as she saw the red lights of the emergency room. The drive had been a blur; all she remembered was getting the call and then seeing the turnoff sign for the hospital.
The parking lot was packed, ambulances and cars everywhere, her mind spinning too fast to search for an empty spot. Pulling up to the curb, Ali cut the engine and tore out of her car. Ignoring someone telling her she couldn’t park there, she tossed them the keys and pushed through the emergency room door, heading straight toward the nurses’ desk.
“Hi, hello?” she said, and a woman on the phone held up a finger to wait. Ali had a finger of her own, but knew it would not help her get to Marty any faster. “I see that it’s busy here, but I need to see my dad. His name is Martin Marshal.” Ali reached out and grabbed the phone from the nurse’s hand. “Martin Marshal, he was brought in—”
“Honey, over here.”
Ali turned and saw Loraine, dressed in a layered red and black gown with black lace gloves, waving her closer.
“Sorry,” she told the nurse and rushed over. “Is he okay?”
“It was a mild attack,” Loraine explained, and Ali pressed her hand to her own heart—certain that it had stopped. “But the doctor says he’ll be just fine. He’s a little dehydrated, so they’re giving him fluids now and the doctors want to keep him overnight for observation.”
It was as if a wrecking ball had slammed into her chest at full force. Wind knocked out of her, Ali held on to one of the chairs for support. “What happened?”
“He looked a little wilted when he came to dance class tonight. It’s the late class so it’s not uncommon for some of the folks to look a little sleepy.” Loraine pulled helplessly at the skirt of her gown. “But he looked really sleepy. We’ve been partners for a few weeks now, so I’ve gotten good at reading him. Like I can tell he’s been practicing at home because he’s been getting really light on his feet. But when he looked lighter than normal, I asked him if he was okay. He said he was just flush from being out on the water all day.”
Ali pressed the heel of her hand against her eyes. “He said he was on the water all day?”
“I hate to say this.” Loraine looked around, then lowered her voice. “I think he’s been out on the water every day. Something about trying to teach Bridget how to deep-sea fish for her honeymoon.”
Ali took in a big breath. It did nothing to stop the rage from building. Bridget had promised her she’d take care of him, that everything would be okay.
Thissituation.Theirfamily. As far from okay as they could be.
“Does he know you called me?”
Loraine shook her head, the red flower in her hair coming loose. “He looked so sorry for ruining dance class, I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’d have to wake you up.”
“Thanks for waiting, you can go home. It’s late.”
“You sure? I can stay,” Loraine offered and Ali shrugged. This was becoming old hat for her. She’d spent more nights sleeping in a hospital chair than she cared to admit.
“I got this.”
With a final thanks, and a hug that nearly did her in, Ali walked into her dad’s room and felt her heart catch painfully. The biggest man in her life seemed small enough to be swallowed whole by the hospital bed. And something about seeing her father, her hero, hooked up to an IV, oxygen, the works, made her want to cry. Just give in and have a long, hard cry.
Damn it, they’d worked so hardnotto get back to this place.
Five days.
Not even a full week was all it took for everything to come crashing down, and for her dad to end up back in the hospital.
Milddidn’t lessen the worry. He’d had a heart attack.
At least this time he hadn’t been alone.
Marty opened his eyes, and even though she knew he was tired, he flashed her a big, loving smile. “Hey, honey. You’re dressed for a sleepover.”
He patted the side of the bed, as if they were back home and Ali was naive enough to believe that parents could make bad things disappear. Ali was playing out the worst-case scenario even as she padded over and crawled in.
“You’re dressed for the waltz,” she said, resting her head against his chest.
“Tonight was tango,” he said, his voice altered by the oxygen mask on his nose. “And you should have seen my toe flicks.”
