Love at Last Sight

Chapter Twelve

“Chace Carson?”

            With a snort, I jolted up into a sitting position on the bench I’d been napping on, startled by the voice. I blinked my bleary eyes, hoping to clear the haziness. After a few short moments they focused and I saw an elderly nurse with gray hair and kind eyes staring down at me with a worried expression on her face. “That’s uh…” I cleared my throat. “That’s me.”

            “Your father is here. At the front entrance. Would you like to go down and see him or do you want me to bring him up—”

            Shoving myself off the bench, I nearly knocked her down in my haste to get down to the lobby. “I’ll go!”

            “Don’t run!”

            Ignoring her warning, I flat out sprinted to the staircase, too impatient to wait for the elevator. My heart hammered in my chest as I raced down the three flights of stairs to the main level. A few visitors heading up gave me crazy looks as I raced by them. I didn’t blame them. To them, I probably seemed like a raving maniac. Not only hadn’t I showered in three days, but I hadn’t slept much either. But it wasn’t like I could sleep. And after day, like I could ever sleep again…

            Coming to the lobby, I slowed into a trot, keeping my eyes peeled for my dad. My pulse began to return to its current normal state l— lately it’d been racing almost none stop. I was afraid it’d never be the usual normal again.

            “Chace?”

            Whipping around, I came face-to-face with my father. And for once in my life, I couldn’t be happier to see him. His curly hair and green eyes that were a spitting image of mine. Usually I cringed at seeing the resemblance, but not now. “Dad!” I cried, flinging myself onto him. “Dad!”

            “It’s okay,” he cooed, rubbing my back. “It’s okay.”

            Tears streamed down my face as I clung to him for dear life. “Dad, dad, it’s all my fault! It’s my fault!”

            “Chace, hold on. Wait. There’s a lot of people around. Let’s go somewhere a little more private.”

            Struggling to hold myself together, I nodded in agreement. Might as well go somewhere secluded so I wouldn’t freak out everyone around me. “Okay.”

            “Ah, nurse can we…?”

            “Right away,” a feminine voice responded. “I’m glad to see he finally has somewhere here to talk to. He wouldn’t respond to any of us…”

            My father gave me a stern look, but I just clenched my jaw. Who’d want to talk to these people? All they could do was offer indifferent sympathy and condolences. They didn’t know what I was going through. They didn’t note what Rosie went through… A shot of pain went through my heart at the thought of her. “Dad,” I tried again, my voice breaking.

            “Hold on Chace,” he said, squeezing my shoulders reassuringly.

            The nurse frowned at me, her amber eyes pitying. “Right this way.”

            Five minutes later, we were sitting in a vacant hospital ward; me on the bed and my father on a chair not even a foot away. His gaze held concern and he reached out and put a hand on my knee. “How are you doing?”

            “Not good,” I responded quietly, clamping my teeth together to keep my jaw from trembling. “Rosie…”

            “She’s the one you brought to my dinner party, right?”