The moment Rosie and I got into the room, Calvin Ross was furious at me. “You aren’t just fired. You’re a dead man, Conroe.” He was glaring at me like he wanted to leap from the hospital bed and throttle me. “I am literally going to murder you and make it look like an accident.”

The man had just almost died, been carted to the hospital, had his chest cracked open and his heart re-organized by a team of specialists with scalpels, and now he was threatening me. He just couldn’t give it a rest. Calvin Ross was officially insane.

His first impulse should be to hug his daughter and reassure her. To make her sure that he was ok. She was his only child, and as far as I knew, the only person to actually care about him.

Rosie had just spent the last few hours not knowing if she was going to have a father tomorrow, and he was using his first opportunity to berate me. I knew he was going to be unhappy when he found out about us, and about what I’d done, but this was just excessive.

After my accident in college, I absolutely hated hospitals. The smell, the frigid air, the fake-concern of the staff, it all grated at me and made me feel weak. I couldn’t wait to leave. But I’d stayed, for Rosie. I’d do anything for her. The fact that her father couldn’t put aside his own bullshit for five seconds to reassure her made me hate him. It was all I could do not to reach across and finish the job his heart attack had started.

“I’ll go wait outside,” I said to Rosie, turning to leave. Despite my anger, one look at Rosie reminded me that I didn’t really want to cause Calvin Ross to relapse right in front of me. He seemed ready to have a second heart attack.

Rosie shook her head. “If he’s well enough to throw around death threats, your presence won’t kill him,” she said, loud enough for him to hear.

Something had shifted in her as she read the letter from her grandparents. Maybe just knowing that she had some normal family out there had reinvigorated her. She’d gone from guilt-stricken and sobbing back to the Rosie I knew. She was standing up straighter and the fire was back in her eyes.

“She’s right,” Ross said. He straightened his blankets like his bed was a boardroom. His tone was awfully snide and superior for someone that probably had a catheter shoved up his dick right now because he couldn’t piss for himself. “I want you to stay in here so I can fire you. How dare you do the opposite of what I told you to do?”

“I’m right here you know,” Rosie said. She waved. “Right here! Please don’t talk about me like I’m not in the room.”

I sighed and looked at the frail-seeming man in the hospital bed. His body might be clinging to life, but his eyes said that he’d crawl out of his grave just to yell at me. If the reason that he wasn’t dead was because he wanted to go off on me, I was fine with that. At least Rosie wouldn’t lose her dad today. Still…

“You can’t fire me,” I told him. “I quit. I should have quit as soon as you told me what you wanted me to do with Rosie, but I’m quitting now.” I was attempting to keep a reasonable tone, but in reality, it felt pretty damn good to say those words.

Ross rolled his eyes. “Even better. That way I don’t have to pay you severance. Don’t list me as a reference unless you want me to tell future employers that you’ll wreck their daughter’s life.”

“Excuse me!” Rosie interjected. “Nobody wrecked me. Can we please talk about literally anything else right now?” Rosie asked. She was pinging her gaze between the two of us.

“No!” Ross snapped. “I just had a heart attack. You two both have to do what I say. You have to listen to me.”

Rosie blinked. “Alright,” she said, sitting down next to his bed. “I’m listening. You have my full, undivided attention.”

Between these two living firecrackers, I was bound to get burned. Still, there was no escape. I sat down next to Rosie and nodded.