Page 100 of Vegas Heat: The Expansion Team Complete Series
I went in to see him.
He was sleeping.
He looked weak in that hospital bed, but he still looked like my father.
When I first met him, I thought he was way too good looking to be my dad. He didn’t seem old enough to have an adult daughter, and furthermore he seemed way too sophisticated to have any relation to me.
But the more I studied him, the more I saw of myself in him. My green eyes and straight nose are all similar to his, while my jawline and cheekbones come from my mother. A true combination of both parents, though I feel like I tend to act more like my father than my mother when it comes to our personalities.
At least I hope that’s true.
He’s passionate and fiery when something is important to him, and he’s determined and will always take what he thinks is the right path. He’s Type A, a true perfectionist like me, and he’s worked incredibly hard to get where he is. He enjoys the finer things in life, and he loves with his whole heart and will protect those in his inner circle no matter the cost.
On the other hand, my mother will always put herself first. She believes she’s right no matter what, and she can often be too hardheaded to see past her own desires.
Determined and hardheaded are just synonyms for stubborn, but somehow my dad’s stubbornness comes off like a positive thing while my mother’s feels very negative.
Maybe I fall somewhere in the middle of those.
I know I should go home since that’s where my mother is, but as I leave the hospital with Cooper, I find that I don’t want to go home. I just want to feel the calming tranquility that I feel when I’m with the man I love. It feels like everything’s going to be okay, versus the complete opposite feeling when I’m in the same room as my mother.
And so I don’t go home.
Joanie forced me to leave after I went in to see him, citing my need for sleep as the reason. She said she’d stay with my father, and I could come back tomorrow once they got him out of recovery and into his own room.
Cooper agreed with her, and I knew they were both right.
Once I’m buckled in the passenger seat of Cooper’s truck, I text my mom to let her know the doctor said Troy is stable, and I leave it at that. I don’t tell her I’m leaving the hospital as I let Cooper take me to his home, where he plants me in a bathtub and slowly washes me by candlelight. It’s not for romance, but it’s exactly what I need to relax after the terrifying moments of tonight.
I haven’t been able to stop replaying the part in my mind when my dad just crumpled to the ground.
He’s such a strong man. Young and full of life, energetic and important. He’s not supposed to fall to the ground in pain. He’s supposed to stand tall like he always does, a pillar both in the Vegas community and the baseball community. He’s a legend.
And now, people will remember the moment when he grabbed his chest and collapsed. I’m certain that’s not how he’d want people to think of him, but it’s the image that keeps coming to my mind—at least for tonight, anyway.
He’s okay. He’s stable. The bypass was a success, and while there’s certainly a healing period, he’s on the road to recovery. He’ll know how to care for himself better now—we all will, but I also know that the stress of his career will continue to stress his heart to the point at which we may end up losing him far too early.
And that’s a terrifying thought to have.
“What are you thinking about?” Cooper asks me once we’re settled into his bed. He’s the big spoon as his front aligns with my back, his arms around me and his face near my neck. I’m wearing one of his old Dodger t-shirts, and it’s big enough that it feels like a nightgown. I don’t know if I’ve ever been so comfortable in my entire life as I am right in this moment.
I only wish that comfortable feeling extended to my mental state.
“About how my dad’s career is going to take him from me far too early,” I admit.
He presses a soft kiss to my neck. “I won’t let it.”
“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“Who says I can’t keep it?” he asks. “I heard what the doctor said. We all need to work together to reduce his stress, and I can help out on the field. You can help at home. You’re not losing your father, and I’m not losing my best friend.” His voice is fierce and determined.
“I don’t want you taking on the brunt of it and burning yourself out, either.”
“I won’t. I’ve got a gorgeous woman keeping me young, virile, and virtually stress-free since August. You know, barring a few instances.” He thrusts his hips against my ass.
“You think sex is going to keep the stress off?”
“It can’t hurt,” he points out.
I giggle, but it fades to serious pretty quickly as a sobering thought plays in my mind. “What about the club my father supposedly owns, then?”
“He’s stressed by the business side of it, not by the activity that may or may not happen inside it. But he already admitted to me a few weeks ago that he’s stepping back from the club a bit once the season gets underway. He’s going to be the silent partner for a while. Besides, he and Joanie need to lay low since the news of their engagement will likely hit the media any time now.”
I wrinkle my nose at the idea of him and Joanie not laying low. What exactly were they doing at his club?
Never mind. I don’t want to know.
When morning rolls around, Cooper offers to drive me home. After he makes me breakfast, I change back into the gown I wore to last night’s event even though I want to wear his shirt forever. He takes me home.
“Do you want to come in?” I ask once we pull into the circular drive.
“That’s a loaded question. I mean, I want to spend time with you, but your mom’s already suspicious of us. And I should get over to Mike’s place to see if there’s anything they need me working on before I head to the hospital to visit your dad.”
“I’ll see you there,” I say, and it’s an automatic response to lean in and press a soft kiss to his lips.
He leans his forehead to mine. “Love you, Sunshine.”
“Love you more, Captain.”
He grins as I get out of the car, and I head inside.
“I knew it!” my mom exclaims without preamble the second I walk in the door. She flashes her phone screen at me. “And the evidence.”
I stare at the photo on her phone. It’s a little grainy and hard to see since it’s a picture taken from a window and through a windshield, but I see the back of my head as I lean toward Cooper in his front seat. I know what I’m looking at since it just happened, but if I didn’t know, it would probably take me some time to piece together what it was.
“Good morning to you, too,” I say with fake brightness. “Why, exactly, are you looking for evidence on your daughter?”
“Because I knew I wasn’t crazy!” She waves her phone around in the air. “You’ve been lying this entire time and I just watched while you smooched your boyfriend in your father’s driveway with him none the wiser while he recovers from open heart surgery miles away in the hospital.”
“Way to lay it on thick,” I mutter dryly, and then since I’m not really sure how to handle it, I divert the subject completely. “I need you to go back home to Colorado.”
Her jaw drops open. “What?”
“You need to go home,” I repeat, enunciating my words as clearly as possible this time around.
“What are you talking about? You need me here now more than ever!”
My brows knit together. I know who I’m talking to here, and I know I need to be careful, but I can’t help the words as they come tumbling out of my mouth. “In what sort of delusional universe might that be true?”
She looks supremely offended by my words.
“I know you’re trying to help,” I say, going for a different tact, “but the doctor said we need to do everything we can to reduce Dad’s stress at home. And I’m sorry, Mom, but I don’t think having you here is conducive to a relaxing environment for him.” Or for me .
She presses her lips together as she swipes away a tear, and the act is frankly getting a little tiresome. “Fine. You don’t want me here? I’m some nuisance that triggers stress? Right. I’ll just go then.”
I blow out a breath, and I’m about to say something along the lines of this isn’t about you, Mother , when I remember who I’m dealing with.
She’s the narcissist to end all narcissists, and telling someone as self-centered as her that any given situation isn’t actually about her isn’t the way to diffuse the situation nor is it the way to draw the line in the sand to tell her what’s okay and not okay to put on me. It’s time for me to set those boundaries.
To that end, I say, “I’m so sorry you feel that way. I apologize for making you feel sad, but your anger and your sadness are not my responsibility.”
She huffs out a breath before she spins on her heel and stomps up the stairs like a pouty teenager, and while I don’t want my mom to be mad at me, I’m at a point in my life where I can decide what’s best for me…and she isn’t it.
I’ve done my service. I was a good and respectful daughter to her my entire life, often giving up things I wanted in order to accommodate her. But when I learned who my dad was and found out about her lies—both about who he is and the fact that she told me he never wanted me—she gave up the right to my respect. And in the three years that have passed, she’s done literally nothing to try to earn it back.
And so, like I just told her, I can no longer take on her emotions as my responsibility. Maybe it’s all part of growing up—of becoming an adult and realizing that your parents are people, too, and that you have choices on the table you never really considered before.
I stay out of her way while she packs up. It’s an eleven-hour drive back to Colorado, so she can be back home as early as late tonight.
She comes down the stairs a full hour later, and I’m positive she was taking her time to see if I’d come up and apologize. But I won’t. I’m not going to back down on this one. It’s time I stand up for myself when it comes to her.
“I guess I’ll be leaving, then,” she says.
I nod, and I walk over to give her a hug that isn’t returned. “Have a safe trip back.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Let’s not forget I have some evidence on you, young lady.” She holds up her phone, and I really thought maybe we could do this civilly. Clearly not.
“Seriously, Mother?” I roll my eyes. “I’m your daughter. It would be great if you could, you know, just hope for the best for me instead of always trying to prove you have the upper hand.”
“Or you could just admit what I’ve suspected all along rather than lying about it,” she says.
Oh, right—I forgot. She’s always right and will do anything to prove it.
“Fine. Yes. I’m in love with Cooper Noah, okay? I love my father’s best friend with my entire heart and soul, and no, Dad has no idea, and yes, we’re doing this in total secret because every time we try to tell him, something comes up. Are you happy now?”
She purses her lips, clearly not happy despite being proven correct. “You could’ve just told me from the beginning.”
Oh my God. Nothing is ever good enough for her.
“Yeah, I could’ve. And maybe if I trusted you, I would have. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot I need to get done today. Have a safe trip back home.” Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
I omit that last part as I spin on my heel and head up the stairs to take a shower before I head to the hospital to check on Dad.
But something tells me my mother isn’t done with the secret she’s suddenly privy to.