“You’re right, that will suck,” she said unhappily.
“Yeah, but you’ll still have me.” He slid down the mattress and rolled onto his side so they were lying face-to-face, but the second he leaned in to kiss her, the phone on the bedside table rang.
Groaning, Aidan grabbed the cordless. One glance at the caller ID, and a frown marred his lips.
“Who is it?” Claire asked.
“I don’t recognize the number, but it’s a Chicago area code.” He sat up and answered with a brusque hello, then went quiet as he listened. “No, Veronica, of course I remember you. What’s going on?”
Claire felt a flicker of distress as she studied Aidan’s expression. His dark eyes had filled with concern, and it wasn’t long before his face turned paler than the sheet beneath them.
“I’ll be on the first flight out,” he blurted into the receiver, and then he was no longer on the bed.
Claire was momentarily stunned as she watched him run around the bedroom like a madman, in search of some clothes. Then she snapped out of it and flew off the mattress. She rushed over to him, stilling his frantic movements by clutching his shoulders. “What’s going on? What happened?”
“I have to go.” He ducked out of her grip and snatched a pair of sweatpants from the easy chair under the window.
“Aidan. Damn it, tell me what’s going on.”
“My father had a heart attack.”
She gasped. “Oh my gosh. Is he okay?”
“No.”
The desolation in his voice tore at her insides.
“His girlfriend says they’re taking him into surgery tomorrow for a triple bypass, to apparently ‘alleviate the obstruction’, whatever that means.” He continued to dress in a hurry, his panic thickening the air. “He had a heart attack a few years back, but he told me he was doing fine. He never said a goddamn word about…” Aidan swore softly. “I have to check the flights…and call a cab…and I have to…”
He trailed off, his eyes so wild Claire snapped into action.
She marched up to him and grasped his chin this time. “Aidan. Hey. It’s going to be fine.”
His blank expression was a tad worrying. “What?”
“I’ll handle the flight, okay?” She was already grabbing her laptop from the end table. “I’ll take care of everything you need, baby.”
The endearment slipped out without warning. It was the first time she’d called him that, and it seemed to shake him out of the numb trance he’d fallen into.
“Go make yourself a cup of coffee,” she ordered. “You need the caffeine.”
Twenty minutes later, Claire found him pacing the kitchen with a mug in his hand.
“All right, your flight leaves in two hours. We have just enough time to get you to the airport before the check-in counter closes.” She held up the sheet of paper she’d printed in his office. “This is your confirmation. Come on, let’s go.”
Aidan blinked, startled. “You’re coming with me?”
“Just to the airport.” Her lips tightened in displeasure. “There was only one seat left on the plane. I could have booked us on the next flight, but it leaves five hours from now and I know you want to get there as soon as possible.”
His gorgeous eyes flickered with an emotion she couldn’t make out. “You would have gone all the way to Chicago with me?”
“Of course.”
He placed his mug on the counter, and she noticed his hand was shaking. “Why? Why would you do that?”
With purposeful steps, she crossed the kitchen and stroked his stubble-covered jaw. “Haven’t you figured it out by now? I’d do anything for you.” She smiled. “I love you, silly.”
Surprise, pleasure and awe flooded his face, along with a flash of uncertainty that had Claire immediately regretting saying those words. Not because she didn’t mean them, but because now wasn’t the time. In fact, it was the worst time to drop an L-bomb, when his mind was on his father, when his shoulders were rigid with fear.
Not only that, but she didn’t want to put him in a position where he was forced to say it back before he was ready.
Which was why she quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek and took a step back. “Come on, time to go, baby. I didn’t break nearly enough speeding laws on my first trip to the airport tonight. But the second time’s the charm, right?”
It was eleven o’clock the next morning when Aidan finally walked into the hospital. He’d come straight from the airport and wasted no time in stalking up to the nurses’ station and demanding to know which room his father was in.
After he got the information he wanted, he took off like a light toward the elevator bank. The nurse had told him his father was in the ICU, and as he rode the elevator, his heart was pounding so fast he feared it might actually stop. Wouldn’t that be just fucking ironic. Father and son bonding over heart attacks.