Page 31 of Unraveled

His head jerked up, and his startled eyes met hers. “Yeah, yeah.” He waved it off. “Loss is hard. Sometimes people just…”

So, this was a patient they were discussing, someone who hadn’t survived. “It never gets easier, does it?”

He shook his head, his expression sad. “No, it doesn’t.”

Silence descended for a second, and Audrey cleared her throat. “I’ve got a patient over at Memorial. I’m gonna head out and check on him.”

“No problem.” He offered her a strained smile.

The drive to Memorial passed slowly as she battled the afternoon traffic, and she let out a little sigh of relief when she finally pulled into the multilevel parking deck. She headed straight for the ER and took her place behind an elderly couple as she waited to speak with the nurse on duty. She offered her a smile when she got to the window, then flashed her badge. “I’m Dr. Audrey Stanton from over at the VA. I believe one of my patients, John Cross, was just admitted here a couple of hours ago.”

She checked the system, then nodded. “They just moved him up to the fourth floor. He’s in room 416.”

“Thank you.” Audrey shot her a smile, then headed toward the metal detector to pass through into the main portion of the hospital. The elevator was just getting ready to close when an older man stuck his hand out and stopped the doors, allowing her to step inside.

“Thank you.” She punched the button for the fourth floor, and they rode in silence, the car stopping every few seconds to let people off. She finally stepped out onto the fourth floor and made her way to the nurses’ station. A young man was just writing Mr. Cross’s name on a whiteboard behind the desk when he caught sight of her and lifted his chin. “Can I help you with something?”

“I’m Dr. Audrey Stanton, here to see John Cross.”

“Oh,” the young nurse said, “he’s mine.”

“How’s he doing?”

“Great, so far,” he responded. “Tests show it was pretty mild, but he’s had a series of them, spaced pretty close together.”

“Do you mind if I check in on him?”

“Go right ahead,” the nurse invited. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Audrey nodded to him, then headed down the hall toward room 416. Inside, the television played softly, but she was surprised that his family hadn’t arrived yet. She rapped her knuckles on the doorjamb before stepping inside.

Mr. Cross’s head swiveled in her direction, and his eyes lit with a combination of surprise and pleasure. “Dr. Stanton. What are you doing here?”

“Stella told me you called into the office, said it sounded like a heart attack, which it was. Just wanted to come check up on you.” She lifted his chart from the bin attached to the wall and flipped through it as she approached the bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Old,” he quipped.

Audrey chuckled softly, then set the chart on the small wheeled table before pulling a chair up to the side of the bed. “Apparently the tests show that you’ve had a series of mini heart attacks recently. Have you been stressed out, overexerting yourself?”

He let out a little sigh. “No more than usual.”

Audrey studied him for a long moment. “It might be better if you stayed with a family member for a while, just in case anything happens. Do you have anyone close by?”

“My boy is on his way here,” he responded less than enthusiastically. “I guess I could ask him.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” she encouraged.

A scuffle in the doorway dragged her attention to the man there, and her eyes widened. Carter looked dumbstruck as he paused midstride. Audrey sat riveted, as helpless as a deer caught in the headlights, watching a series of emotions flicker in his dark eyes. Surprise. Pleasure. Lust.

She couldn’t rip her gaze away from his, and her heart skipped a beat in her chest. God, he looked good. Had he looked this good a week ago? Of course he had. That was precisely why the brunette at the bar had practically climbed into his lap.

A faint buzzing filled her ears, and her mind felt curiously blank as she tried to process the turn of events. Why was he here? Unless…

“Well, don’t just stand there,” she heard John say, completely oblivious to the tension crackling between Carter and Audrey. “Come on in, son.”

Oh, God. Swallowing hard, Audrey dropped her gaze to the floor. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t figured it out before now. Carter Cross was John Cross’s son.

She watched a pair of shiny leather shoes cross the floor until they were directly in front of her. She glanced up, expecting to find those dark eyes on hers, but Carter’s gaze was instead fixed on John. “How are you feeling?”