Lovers at Heart (The Bradens, Book One: Love in Bloom Series)

Chapter Twenty-Nine, Lovers at Heart

Chapter Twenty-Nine

TWO THINGS BECAME crystal clear to Treat as he sat by his father’s bedside in the hospital. It was time for him to come home, and he desperately wanted to put down roots—with Max. He’d called her cell phone several times, and either she still hadn’t checked the messages or she was purposely avoiding him, and every second that passed without hearing from her sent him spiraling further into an abyss of loneliness.

“Do you want to go to Dad’s and get some sleep?” Savannah had been at the hospital when Treat arrived. When she’d first called him, their father had been having bouts of dizziness and chest pains. Within the hour, he’d had trouble breathing, and she’d brought him in.

“I’m not leaving.” Rex was right, his father had needed him. He took his father’s hand in his own.

“Rex is coming back in after he takes care of the morning chores. I’m sure it’ll be fine if you want to take shifts.”

“Savannah, I’m not going anywhere.” He didn’t mean to sound gruff, but seeing his father in the hospital bed brought memories of his mother racing back to him. In her last months, she’d been in and out of the hospital too many times to count, and she’d looked just like Dad did now: small and weak beneath the sterile hospital sheets.

“Okay, okay. Dane finally got my messages. He’s in Australia and he’s taking the next flight home.”

“Did you reach Hugh?” Treat clenched his jaw. He’d kill Hugh if he had some lame excuse not to come home.

“He’s on his way, and before you can ask, Josh is on his way, too. He had to move his schedule around before he could leave,” she said. She moved to the seat closer to Treat. “Do you want to talk?”

“No. I want the doctors to finish the goddamned tests and tell us what the hell is wrong with him.”

His father stirred.

“Dad?” Treat rose to his feet as his father blinked the sleep from his eyes.

“Treat? What are you doing here?” He looked around the hospital, confused. “What the?” He looked down at his gown. “Aw, shit. Really?” He frowned at Savannah.

Treat breathed a sigh of relief to see his father hadn’t lost his spunk. That had to be a good sign.

“You weren’t able to breathe, Dad. What did you want me to do, let you die right there in front of me?” Savannah asked.

“Wait. Savannah, you were at Dad’s? Why? I thought you went back to New York.”

His father’s low, rumbly voice answered him. “Turns out Connor Dean’s more than a client, and your sister here seems to have had a falling out with the man who isn’t good enough for her family to meet but is apparently good enough for her to jet all over the world with.”

Treat lifted his brows in Savannah’s direction and held his palm out in question.

Savannah half shrugged, then turned away—her familiar I can’t talk about it right now mannerism.

He couldn’t focus on Savannah and Connor right then. He patted his dad’s shoulder. “Dad, you should probably settle down. They’re running all sorts of tests to see what happened, but they think it might have been your heart.”

“Pfft. I saw your mother again; that’s all. Your sister overreacted.”

Savannah and Treat exchanged a worried look. Treat thought back to when he’d first arrived at the bungalow. He’d sworn his mother was nearby, and even now he wondered if she had been.