Page 85 of Quinton's Quest

He cracked open the second-to-last and again rolled his eyes.

“What?” I poked my head around. “Oh, New York style cheesecake. Which has me confused because what’s a non-New York cheesecake?”

“I have no idea.” He uttered the words softly as he pried open the final container. “Jesus.”

“Right? Who doesn’t love chocolate lava cake? Not me. We nuke that sucker and sink into the gooey goodness.”

He gestured. “There’s so much.”

“You pick what you want, I’ll grab something, we’ll eat, then we’ll put the leftovers in the fridge.”

“That simple?”

“Really? Yeah, that simple.”

He blinked. “She died.”

“I know.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“But you’re going to eat anyway because you have to go back to the hospital tomorrow. You’ve got that triple bypass in the morning.”

“I don’t think I can—”

“You can and you will. That guy is a heart attack waiting to happen. You’re going to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

“He might die.”

“He might. That’s a risk all of us take when we live. Michelle doesn’t think you did anything wrong, and she’s a fucking brilliant nurse. If you did, then you’ll learn from it and you won’t make that mistake again.” Slowly, I eased my hand over his. “You can have a textbook-perfect surgery, and shit can still happen. A stroke is a known complication and something you can’t plan for.”

“If I’d just—”

“No.”

“But maybe if—”

“No.” I held his gaze. “You know I’m right. Youknowit, Leo. You can replay that surgery a hundred times and there’s nothing you would have done differently because you did it perfectly.”

“You don’tknowthat.”

“Maybe not with absolute certainty. No. But if you’d done something wrong, you would be able to articulate it. You can’t because you didn’t. If something turns up, then you’ll deal. For tonight, you eat your meatloaf, you shower, and then you get into bed.”

His eyes widened. “I don’t think I can…you know…”

I squeezed his hand. “I’m going to hold you tonight, and that’s an end to it. Not up for discussion.” Of course, if he turfed me, then I’d go. I wasn’t going to stay where I wasn’t welcome. I also wasn’t going to leave him alone unless he sent me away.

“Meatloaf?”

“Best comfort food ever. According to Rayne.”

“And Rayne’s never wrong.”

I shrugged. “You saved his fiancé’s life.”

“Everett’s injuries weren’t catastrophic.”

“Would he have survived without surgery?”