Dex pulled away. “You guys didn’t have to leave work for this. You could watch it on YouTube.”
“I couldn’t care less about work,” Cleo said. “It’ll be there when I get back.”
Deacon kept his hand on his son’s back. “Wouldn’t miss it for anything.” He gave him a gentle pat.
Dex stood between them, absorbing the unconditional love of two parents who thought the world of their son. He slid his hands into his pockets then shifted his gaze to me. “What are you doing over there?” He waved me over. “Come on. Get over here.”
Like melted butter, a smile spread across my lips, loving the way he made me feel like I belonged, like we were somehow equals, when he was the one changing the world and I was just helping him get there.
I joined them, feeling my heart race faster and faster the closer I came to him, a little starstruck even though we were friends, even though he proved he the least egotistical person on the planet. There was no reason to be intimidated, to feel like I was meeting a former Beatle, but it happened anyway.
“You think we’re going to get those donations?” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at me with that charismatic smile.
“Absolutely.” Anyone who watched that segment had to be inspired, and anyone who had a heart would be moved by it. Wallets would open, and the money would pour in. The next time we checked the balance, it would be full once more. Ginny would get her surgery without a hiccup, along with anyone else who needed it. “You were unbelievable up there.” My hand moved to his arm to give him a gentle squeeze, and just that touch of affection sent electricity through my arm. “If I had money, I’d be giving it to you.”
His eyes softened. “Thanks, Sic. But I would never take it.”
He was usually double-booked on surgery days, doing one in the morning, and then exercise and a nap afterward before he took on the second one. I was there to provide lunch and everything he needed to make it as easy for him as possible.
I sat in his office and glanced at the clock.
It was almost seven.
He was supposed to be done with his surgery at six, but he was still in the operating room.
With Ginny Tompkins.
I’d brought him his dinner, and I could leave, especially since I had a date.
Yes. I had a date.
His name was Dom. We met at the gym.
I decided drooling over a guy I couldn’t have was a big-ass waste of time. He was totally out of my league anyway.
The longer I sat there, the more anxious I became.
He was usually on time with his surgeries, to the minute.
That meant something was wrong.
God, please don’t let there be anything wrong.
I was too anxious to wait in his office, so I headed down the hallway to the operating room. No one was allowed inside, and it was the one place where I couldn’t follow him, even if he did need me. There was a door that led to a theater galley, so I opened it and walked up the stairs, seeing the residents who came to watch his surgery. Not a single one turned to look at me, so obviously, something was happening.
“Again.” Dex’s powerful voice was audible, but I hardly recognized it because it sounded so unfamiliar.
I moved to the glass and saw Ginny on the table, her chest open, her heart still.
They pressed the paddles against her body and released the charge.
She gave a jerk, but nothing happened.
Dex stared at the monitor, waiting for her vitals to come back.
Nothing.
“Oh my god…no.” I cupped my mouth and felt the tears break through instantly because this little girl couldn’t die.
The nurses were fidgety and jerky, some of them already succumbing to tears because the end was inevitable. They turned to look at him, waiting for another order.
Dex breathed hard then looked down at Ginny. “Again.”
“Dr. Hamilton, we’ve already—”
“I said again. Now.”
The nurse did as he asked.
Dex looked down at her, his jaw visibly tight through his mask. “Ginny, come on… I’m not letting you die on me.”
Nothing happened.
The monitor stayed blank.
The nurse set down the paddles and stepped back, her hands moving to her hips, defeated.
But then it happened.
Her heart started again.
Dex closed his eyes for a long moment, taking a deep breath. “There you go, sweetheart.” He got right back into it, giving the nurses orders, and they began to close her chest back up.
I fell onto the bench with my hands covering my mouth, so relieved that it felt like a mound of bricks had been pulled off me. “What happened?” I asked no one in particular, just anyone who would answer.
A woman in blue scrubs sat beside me. “When he got her open, he realized there was a lot of damage to the arteries in her heart. He had to clean them out, do the graft, and repair the hole in her heart within an incredibly short time frame, but he did it…because he’s Dr. Fucking Hamilton.”