Kristen showed up a few minutes before Elise’s dad came back to his ER room. Her sister walked in with her good friend Ashley. Elise and Kristen were sisters, but they weren’t best friends. Elise was closer to Rachel and some of her friends back in Denver than she was to Kristen, and Kristen was really close to Ashley. Those two had been friends since high school and now lived only two doors down from each other.

Kristen gave their mom a hug.

“Hi, sweetie,” their mother said to Kristen.

She gave Ashley a brief nod. She had never completely warmed up to Kristen’s best friend.

“Have you heard anything yet?” Kristen asked.

Elise shook her head. “No, but the doctor thinks it’s a blood clot in Dad’s lungs.”

“Oh my God, that sounds horrible,” Kristen said as Ashley put her hand on her arm.

Her mother frowned at Ashley’s act of comfort. “Kristen, do not take the Lord’s name in vain.”

“Sorry, Mom,” Kristen apologized. But then she rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue when their mom turned her back.

Elise stifled a laugh as the door opened, and their dad was wheeled back into the room.

After the radiology technologist left the room with a thank you, their mom immediately went over to their dad and clutched his hand.

“Ward, how are you?”

His father used his hand to pat her hand. “I’m sure I’ll be fine, dear.”

“Did they tell you anything?” Kristen asked.

“No, they said the radiologist had to read the exam.”

“I hate all this waiting,” Elise’s mom said.

“I’m sorry to have ruined everyone’s night.”

“Dad, you didn’t ruin anyone’s night. I was going to hang out at home tonight anyway,” Elise told him.

“Yeah, Dad, Ashley and I were only going to go to a movie. We can always go another time. You’re more important.”

There was a knock on the door, and Luke walked in.

“Hello, everyone. I see we have a few additions.”

“I’m Kristen, the other daughter, and this is my friend Ashley.”

Ashley raised a hand. “Hi.”

Elise inspected both women, and neither seemed to be blinded by Luke’s handsomeness. That was a first.

“I’m Dr. L,” Luke told them.

“Elise knows Luke,” Elise’s mom told Kristen and Ashley with a satisfied smile on her face.

“Mom, he’s Dr. L here. And will you please leave him alone and let him do his job?”

Jeez.

Luke chuckled. “It’s fine.” He turned to her father, and his face grew serious. “Ward, the radiologist has taken a look at your CT scan, and it looks like you do have a couple of blood clots in your lungs.”

“Oh no,” Elise’s mother said, tears forming in her eyes.

“We’re going to admit you for at least tonight. We need to get you started on blood thinners, so your clots can be broken up by your body. Then, we’re going to have to speak to your oncologist about what he wants us to do after that.”

Luke turned and looked at the rest of them and addressed their mom, “Mrs. Phillips, this is a very serious condition, but it is treatable. I don’t want to tell you not to worry, but I don’t want you to stress yourself out either. Your husband needs you to be strong right now.”

“Listen to the doctor, Suzanne. Don’t stress yourself out. We’ll get this taken care of.” Her father tried to reassure her mom.

Luke nodded once. “I’m going to go get the paperwork started to get you admitted.” He left the room.

“Excuse me,” Elise said before running out after him. “Luke?”

He turned around upon hearing his name.

“Is my dad really going to be okay?”

He walked back to her and put his hand on her upper arm but kept his distance. She wanted him to pull her close and comfort her again.

“As far as the blood clots goes, he should be fine.”

“Thank you.”

He dropped his arm and said, “You’re welcome.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but he looked around the semi-crowded hallway and stayed quiet. “I’d better get your dad’s paperwork started.”

“Luke?”

“Yes?”

They still hadn’t talked about where the two of them stood, and her father’s condition was kind of serious territory.

But she bit the bullet and asked him the question she’d wanted to since she first saw him, even knowing he might say no, “Will you call me when you’re off work?”

He smiled, his beautiful brown eyes full of kindness. “Of course. I’m off at ten.”

She returned his smile, and then she turned and walked back into her father’s room.

“Dad, is there anything you want from home? Kristen and I can go and get your things. You, too, Mom. Are you staying here tonight with Dad?”

“Yes. I’ll give you a list,” her mother said, already pulling out paper and a pen from her purse.

After she was finished writing out everything she wanted for herself and Elise’s dad, Elise, Kristen, and Ashley took off for their parents’ home.

“Do you think Mom will be okay here tonight, alone with Dad?” Kristen asked.

Elise thought about it. “Yes. She’ll have the hospital staff if she has questions or needs help. And I think Dad will be more comfortable without us here all night. What if they make him pee in a urinal or something? He doesn’t need his daughters seeing that.”

“True story.”

“I’m parked over there,” Elise told her sister. “I’ll meet you at Mom and Dad’s, okay?”

“Okay,” Kristen said as she and Ashley headed to their vehicle on the opposite side of the parking lot.

Elise turned to look back at them once. Ashley put her arm around Kristen, and Kristen lay her head on Ashley’s shoulder. It seemed quite intimate, but Elise wasn’t going to judge anyone for seeking comfort when it was offered from someone they cared about.

Hours later, after getting her father settled in and dropping off his and her mother’s stuff, Elise was just getting home when her phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Elise, I just got your text message. How’s your dad?”

“Hey, Rach. He’s doing okay. He has blood clots in his lungs, so they admitted him.”

“Oh no! How are you doing?”

“I’m okay. Tired. I just got home.”

“I bet.”

“Hey, guess who my dad’s doctor was?”

“Who?”

“Luke.”

“Really? What’s he like as a doctor?”

“Good. He took very good care of Dad. And he’s quite professional.” Except for when he’d kissed her in her father’s ER room. “Very different from the player we knew.”

“I’ve never seen him in action at work.”

Elise then had to tell Rachel about her mom not understanding why Luke went by Dr. L and how her mother could not get that Long was used to make sexual jokes.

“Oh, man, your mother. I do not know how you grew up to be so unrepressed, but I’m so glad you are not like them. Your parents are sweet but very reserved.”

“I think I owe it all to public school. If it wasn’t for my friends, I wouldn’t know what a period was or how to use a tampon. My mom about died when I told her I got it for the first time. I thought I was going to have to use my babysitting money to buy my own stuff. And sweet, my butt. My mom was practically planning my wedding to Luke right there in the hospital. She had the balls to ask him if he was single, and when he said yes, she told him that I was single, too. She’s so embarrassing.”

Rachel was on the other side of the phone, busting a gut.

“It’s not that funny.”

“Oh, yes, it is. Did Luke look like a deer in the headlights?”

“No, he was really patient with my mom. If I were him, I would have lied and said I was married with a mistress on the side. Definitely not marriage material then.”

“Why is your mom pushing for you to find someone so badly all of a sudden?”

“Because I’m going to be thirty, I think. She was already married with two kids by that age. Plus, she won’t say it, but I think she thinks that, if I find someone here and get married, then I won’t move away again. Especially if something happens to my dad.”

“Oh, that’s kind of sad,” Rachel said.

“Yeah, it is.”

“Say, did Luke happen to mention if he had plans tonight?”

“Uh…” Elise said.

He’d only talked about having plans to call her, but it was still plans, and Elise didn’t want to lie.

“Of course not,” Rachel answered her own question, saving Elise from answering. “He was probably too busy playing doctor.”

“Why do you ask?”

“Sean asked him if he wanted to have drinks after work. Luke said he was busy, but he didn’t say why. Sean and I were thinking that maybe it was some girl.”

Elise had no idea how to respond. “Oh. Wow.”

“Right? Anyway, I’d better let you go, so you can get some rest. We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay.”

Elise and Rachel hung up, and Elise thought about what Rachel had said.

Some girl indeed. If Rachel only knew…