Somehow, I was hurting the one guy who’d ever treated me right. My heart ached. Before I could explain my reaction, share my feelings, a nurse showed up and interrupted.

“Are you Mr. Nash’s daughter?” She already motioned for me to follow her. “One visitor at a time. Only immediate family.”

I sighed. “So only me.”

“Yes. Just you.” Then she hustled me down the hall. “As you probably already guessed, your father had a heart attack.”

“Right.” I stared at the floor, focused on putting one foot in front of the other, and braced for the worst.

“I’ll let the doctor explain. Just know your father isn’t conscious right now. You can still talk to him, but don’t expect a response.” She motioned for me to enter the room she’d stopped beside.

Taking a deep, fortifying breath, I slowly walked into my father’s room. Almost as soon as I reached his side, a doctor entered and studied the chart open on the laptop mounted to the retractable metal desk. I settled into a seat beside my father and studied him while I waited for the physician to address me. He was on oxygen and there were multiple IVs in his arm. The blood pressure cuff was hooked and set to automatically take and record his pressures. A pulse oximeter lit up his forefinger. I struggled with whether or not to hold his hand, but my father didn’t like being touched anyway. The gesture would have been entirely for my comfort. I closed my eyes and struggled not to cry.

A hand on my shoulder startled me. I glanced up and saw Ty, squatting beside me. “Hi,” I whispered.

“Sir, only immediate family and one visitor at a time.” He frowned.

Oh, but Ty wasn’t one to be denied. He nodded and grinned. “I’m saving you the trouble of having to repeat yourself. And I’m supporting my wife.” His hand moved from my shoulder and followed the line of my arm all the way to my wrist, then he laced his fingers with mine. My tummy fluttered at his words. Wife. It had a nice ring to it, but I knew this was all about gaining access to the room. Thank goodness he had told that little white lie. His presence worked wonders. I could feel the fear subsiding as he worked to comfort me.

The doctor seemed to consider the situation. Then he spoke. “Okay, but only because after this you’ll both have to leave.”

“I’ll be in the waiting room,” I interrupted.

The man shook his head. “It’s getting later. We’re going to be running tests all night and if everything goes as I expect, we’ll be doing surgery in the morning, once we’ve stabilized him.”

I studied my father. His color was off. Instead of his normally olive Mediterranean complexion, he appeared grayer. I sucked in my lower lip as the fear and ache returned.

“You strike me as a camper.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

I shook my head. “My idea of being outdoorsy is drinking wine on the patio.”

Ty chuckled. “You worry she’d stay here all day and night, huh?” He ran a hand over my hair. “She would. She’s devoted. She’s a fixer.” He smiled warmly at me then turned to the doctor. “I’ll try to distract her.”

“Good. She needs to take care of herself, and her health too. Sitting here worrying won’t make anyone better. I’ll be doing the surgery.” He moved his white coat to reveal the name tag on the waist band of his scrubs to prove his claims.

I blinked. This was hard to process. I’m pretty sure somewhere in there I’d been kicked out of the hospital and I still didn’t have an answer to the one question which pained me. “Is he going to be okay?” I choked out the words. Ty tightened his grip on my hand and pulled me against his chest. I could hear his heart thumping rapidly in his chest.

“A lot of this depends on him, honestly.” The doctor tugged at his chin. “I’ll fix the problem. I’ll give him all the tools he needs to survive. This will be on him. He’ll have to make some changes.”

“I already took away his caffeine,” I blurted out. “It mostly pissed him off.” I glanced up at Ty. “And I’m pretty sure he has been sneaking out to get his coffees. That’s why he was downstairs earlier.” I shook my head.

“He’ll need to change his diet and exercise. There will be new meds. His cholesterol is off the charts.” He rocked on his heels.

“I tried,” I whimpered.

Ty growled in his throat. “This isn’t on you, babe.” He held my face in his hands. “He’s a grown ass man. He’s stubborn as hell. You can’t monitor him all day every day. This is on him too. Everyone sees how hard you’ve tried. You can’t blame yourself.” I narrowed my eyes at him and he rolled his eyes and shook his head. “You can’t blame me either. You heard the doctor. Sounds like this was inevitable.”

My shoulders sank. “I’m sorry. This is so hard.”

“You’re not alone. You’re never alone. We’ll get through this together.” He pressed his lips to my forehead and drew back to study my face.

I shrugged. “Okay.”

A nurse had suddenly appeared in the doorway. “It’s time,” she announced. Then she rushed into the room with a couple of orderlies.

I hopped up from my chair as the slid into place on either side of the bed and began preparing my father to leave the room. His oxygen was quickly hooked to a tank that they laid on its side at the top of the bed. The heart monitor wires were unplugged from the wall mounted version and stuck into a portable one. The doctor signed off on papers and laid the chart at my father’s feet. Then he moved to stand in front of me.

“We’ll take good care of him.” He held out a hand to shake.

I took it and grasped tightly. “What are his chances? How many patients like my father have you lost?”

His shoulders heaved as he inhaled. “Well, ma’am, I prefer to keep track of those who survive. It’s how I keep on keeping on.” He shrugged. “Hopefully, in a week or so, you’ll be bringing your father to the office for a follow up visit. We’ll take his picture and add it to our overflowing album of successes.” He grinned. “If he’s anywhere near as stubborn and feisty as his daughter, he’ll be just fine.” Then they began moving my father and the doctor dipped out of the room.

“You’re trembling,” Ty announced as he drew me closer. “And before you bite my head off, I couldn’t leave you to handle all this alone, Kate.”

I stared up at him and my chin jutted out proudly. “I can do it.”

He brushed the back of his hand across my cheek and his lips curved up slightly. “Oh, do you think I don’t know that? I do. I just didn’t want you to have to, not when I can be here for you.” Ty wrapped his arm around my waist and began to steer me toward the door. “Now we’re going to get out of here. Would you rather eat out or get takeout and go home?”

Both ideas sounded terrible. “Neither.” I sighed. “I don’t want to sit at home and worry. I can’t go back to work because I’ll be assaulted with questions I don’t have the answer to yet.” My head hung. “And you’re going to think I’m terrible because I really just want a liquid dinner at the moment. My nerves are completely on edge despite your best efforts.”

“You think those were my best efforts? You haven’t seen anything yet.” He waggled his brows at me and even though I wouldn’t have thought it possible, I laughed and immediately felt guilty. “Hey, I saw that. You can’t feel guilty for surviving this. Come on. I know right where to go. Trust me.”

I didn’t respond. How could I? I was lousy at trusting anyone, but this time I wanted to be wrong. I wanted to be with Ty. I wanted to be happy. So, I let him lead me to the car, let him drive us to this hole in the wall Italian restaurant, let him sequester us in a back corner booth of the dimly lit establishment.

“Carbs are comfort food,” he explained after placing our order, which included a pitcher of sangria.

I poured myself a healthy glass and began to swallow it down. “I’m not an alcoholic,” I murmured.

“I never said you were.” He stared at me evenly.

“You’re not drinking,” I commented.

He shrugged. “Well, I’m driving.”

“Fine. I’ll take the edge off for both of us.” I had finished my first glass and started on my second.

“You might want to leave room for the lobster ravioli,” he suggested gently.

“I told you. This is dinner.” I twitched nervously and stared out the window as I watched all the passing vehicles, all the people walking around smiling. Life goes on. I felt strange, a combination of the alcohol already hitting my empty stomach and the fear of losing my father, my last parent. Thirty was too young to be all alone in the world. “I’m such a disappointment,” I mumbled against the rim of the wine glass.

“That’s ridiculous.” Ty shook his head. “You’re absolutely amazing. You’re just going through a tough time right now.”

My brows rose. “I’m thirty. I’m single. I have no children. Believe me, in my father’s eyes, I’m a huge disappointment.” My eyes watered. “You heard him. He doesn’t want to sell the hotel because I’m such a loser.”

Ty reached across the table. “Stop. You’re not single. You have me.” He grinned.

“I’ve known you for what…three days? And you’re leaving once the deal is complete.” I took another healthy swallow before pouring my third glass. “Trust me. I’m single. So single. Forever single.” I laughed sadly. “And it’s all his fault. I couldn’t stand the idea of letting another guy into my life who would run me like my father did…like my father does.” I shook my head.

“Not all guys are like him.” He folded his hands on the table. “Take me for instance, since I’m here and trying to convince you to not be single with me.” He winked and my lips twitched. “See, I could try to stop you from drinking. Instead, I’ve decided to love you through it, to hear you out, to take care of you tonight and be whatever you need.”

I rolled my eyes. “To win my father’s approval, I need a husband. Are you prepared to be a husband?” I laughed at the mere idea as an all too familiar heat washed over me, a combination of alcohol hitting me hard and embarrassment over the word vomit I spewed because of the alcohol. Fuck me.

“Yes.” Ty nodded seriously.

My brow furrowed. “Right. Whatever.” I glanced around, hoping to spot our waiter. “Where’s the food? Shouldn’t the food be here by now?”

“Should I get them to pack it? Do you need to leave? You seem to be all antsy,” he commented.