For Mac (25 page)

Branson wished at that moment that he carried a handkerchief or something. Lizzie was sobbing at this point, and tears were streaming down her face.

But she wasn’t finished talking. “Ma said she called the ambulance straightaway, and they got him to the hospital fast as they could. They went to the ER, and they confirmed that he was having a heart attack.” She paused, like she’d suddenly thought of something. “His da died at about the same age as Da is now.”

She sniffled some more, obviously trying to get herself under control, and Branson didn’t know what to do. She obviously needed a hug, but he wasn’t sure she’d accept one from him. After all, she didn’t really know him all that well.

She gave one more great sniffle and then continued. “Ma called Liam after they took Da for emergency surgery. They’re up in the waiting room for surgery patients now. Then they’re going to admit him.” She shook her head. “That’s all I know.”

With perfect timing the doors opened at precisely that moment, and Lizzie rushed out without giving Branson a second look. Branson followed more sedately but with a hurried stride, anxious to get to Liam. Before he got to the waiting room, Liam rounded the corner.

“Lizzie said you were here.” Liam collapsed against Branson. “Thanks so much for coming.”

“Always.” Branson held on tight and didn’t say another word. He clung to Liam as fiercely as Liam held him. He never wanted to let go, but he was afraid that Liam was going to break down right there in the hallway, far more than he’d want his family to see.

Branson spied a bathroom a few doors down and dragged Liam into it. Once in the relative privacy of the restroom, Liam completely shattered, and Branson just held on to all the pieces and vowed to do his best to put them back together into the strong rock Liam would want to be for the two female family members waiting for him.

A
FTER
ABOUT
an hour, the doctor came out to talk to Mrs. Sullivan and the rest of the family. Collin Sullivan had had a massive heart attack requiring emergency bypass surgery. The doctor informed them that they would be notified when they could go see him in the cardiac intensive care unit and reminded them that there would only be two visitors allowed at a time and for ten minutes each.

Ma and Lizzie went in first, then Liam asked Branson to go in with him when it was his turn. Mr. Sullivan looked awful. He was pale and even more still than normal. Liam said it was the first time he had ever actually looked vulnerable.

Overall, though, they were reassured by the visit. Their da was breathing on his own, and the heart monitor showed that he was doing well. He probably wouldn’t wake up from the anesthesia for a while longer, but it was reassuring to see him doing as well as could be expected. But it was a shocking lesson for all of them. As indestructible as he had always seemed, according to Liam, their da wasn’t invincible, after all.

The day dragged on after that. Branson stayed in the waiting room with Liam and his mom and sister until after five. Katie and Patrick showed up then, minus spouses and children. When it was clear that Patrick could support the others for a while by himself, Branson hauled Liam to the cafeteria. He hadn’t eaten anything all day that Branson knew of, and he wasn’t going to faint from low blood sugar on Branson’s watch.

They sat quietly, both pushing food around more than truly eating, but Branson was determined to give Liam whatever support he needed, and despite his original plans, he knew now was not the time to start another chapter of their relationship. He’d keep that to himself for now and be there for Liam as a friend.

“It’s shocking, it is.” Liam finally spoke. “He’s always been so strong. No matter what happened, he’d be there for all of us. Now….”

Branson made sure that Liam knew he had his undivided attention but sat quietly, ready to wait him out if necessary.

“But I don’t have room to complain, do I?” Liam finally stated more than asked. “Da is going to be fine. He might not be his usual strong self for a while, and we’ll never go back to a time when he’s never had a major medical problem. But he’ll recover fine.” Liam shook his head. “Who am I to complain about that when your brother….” He sat back in his chair. “With all that you’re going through, this is nothing in comparison.”

Branson was truly surprised by that. “Who was comparing? It doesn’t matter, Liam. This is your dad. He’s never been sick before. And I’m thrilled as all get out that he’s going to be okay, but it’s bound to still be hard, seeing him like that. You have every right to state that. To let me support you through it. I don’t see it as complaining, and I’m certainly not complaining about being needed. I want to be here for you, Liam.” Branson reached over and took Liam’s hand and watched Liam lean forward again. “You’ve been there for me. Let me be here for you.”

“But it’s nothing like—”

“Thank God for that,” Branson said more sharply than he meant to. “I would never wish that for you. For anyone. But it certainly doesn’t mean that you can’t be upset over this. This is bad in its own way. We do not need to compare, Liam. I mean it.” Then he slapped his hand playfully. “So cut it out.”

Liam smiled, and they went on to talk about something else. But it did bring the situation with Mac back to the foreground for Branson. Once he had deposited Liam back in the waiting room with his family, Branson excused himself long enough to call Silver Linings and check on his brother.

Mac’s situation was unchanged. The new seizure meds seemed to be working well enough. Mac still had petit mal seizures several times a day but had only had one grand mal since being put on the new medicine. Branson decided he would take that as a win for now.

After the short phone conversation, Branson went back to the waiting room and sat with Liam and his family. He felt so helpless. He couldn’t do anything for Liam’s situation. He couldn’t do anything about Mac. He felt like he didn’t have much control in any area of his life right now.

He decided to put that on the ever-lengthening list of things to talk to Dr. Luxton about.

T
HE
NEXT
week was hard on everyone. Liam’s dad was in the hospital for longer than expected. He had had some bad reactions to some of the drugs. They had given him morphine to help with pain, but it had practically stopped his heart. Since he’d never had any major drugs before, they didn’t know he’d have that reaction. The doctors were quick to put morphine down as a drug allergy. They weren’t sure it was a true allergy, but any reaction that severe had to be listed as something to avoid.

There were long evenings at the hospital and long lunches at Silver Linings to keep Liam’s mind off not being at the hospital. Branson left work for lunch earlier than normal and went back later than normal, after having gotten permission, of course. That had been an interesting conversation.

“Hey, Tom.” He peeked his head into his boss’s office. “Would it be okay to take some long lunches for a while? Liam has to work, but he thinks about his dad the whole time. I feel I need to be there to help get his mind off it. But fifteen there and fifteen back, that eats up most of my hour.”

“Take all the time you need, Bran.” Tom smiled. “I know how important Liam is to you, and I know you’ll make sure the accounts are done well and on time no matter where you do them.”

“Thanks, Tom.” Branson had been talking to Tom about Liam for quite some time now, almost as soon as he’d returned to work. Liam had been a big part of Mac’s life from day one at Silver Linings, and Mac was a big part of Branson’s. That’s often who he talked about at work, so Branson wasn’t surprised that Tom knew who he was talking about, but he wasn’t sure how to respond to Tom’s statement about how much Liam meant to him, or the older man’s knowing look. “Liam has been a good friend. I want to be there for him.”

“We like to encourage time with family, Branson.” Tom grinned wider. “Go be with your man.”

Branson was shocked. “He’s not… we’re not… it’s not like that. We’re friends.” But his heart wasn’t in the protest as much as it would’ve normally been. He’d decided that he wanted to try to move forward with his relationship with Liam, but with all that was going on, he hadn’t had time or hadn’t thought it was the right time to tell Liam yet. He wasn’t going to tell anyone else first.

Tom smiled again and nodded. “You know we don’t discriminate here, right?”

“What’s to discriminate against? I’m a white Protestant male. You don’t get any less minority than that.”

His boss gave him a disappointed headshake, and Branson was certain he wouldn’t believe any more protests, so he thanked Tom again and left.

Liam

T
HE
DAY
after Liam’s dad was admitted to the hospital, Branson brought Liam lunch at Silver Linings.

“What are you doing here?” Liam asked when Branson walked in holding two bags from the nearest sub shop. He realized almost instantly that his words could be taken the wrong way, so when he saw Branson’s face fall, he was quick to continue. “Not that I’m not happy to see you. You know I am. I just thought you were working today.”

Branson’s smile brightened again. “I am, but I asked for a long lunch. I thought you might want some company. I know you want to be at the hospital with your dad.”

“I do,” Liam answered. “On both counts. But I didn’t expect you to—”

“You don’t mind me being here, do you?” Branson’s voice sounded lighthearted, like he was teasing, like he knew the answer. But Liam could tell that the question was a good bit more serious than Branson was letting on.

“You know I don’t mind.” Liam clocked out for lunch and took one of the bags from Branson. “I love hanging out with you, and you are exactly right that I don’t want to be alone right now.”

Liam noticed that Branson seemed more comfortable with him today; not that he hadn’t been comfortable before, but there was an undefinable change, and he wasn’t at all sure what it was. But whatever it was seemed positive, so he decided he’d take it.

Conversation was easy and relaxed, and lunch was over way too soon. Branson walked him back upstairs and did something he usually didn’t do. He stepped into Liam’s personal space and gave him a quick hug.

“Hang in there, okay?” Branson said softly while he was hugging him, then stepped back and added, “I’ll meet you at the hospital as soon as I get off work.” But then he seemed to think about something. “Unless you want me to meet you here when you get off. I can probably get off work early.”

Liam chuckled and shook his head. “You don’t have to do that. I really appreciated the long lunch. I don’t want you to miss any more work.”

Branson snorted. “Well, too bad, because I’ve made arrangements to take long lunches every day this week.”

Liam couldn’t help but brighten at that statement, though he didn’t want Branson to miss work because of him. He had missed so much for Mac already. But Liam did have to admit that it would be nice to have Branson to visit with during lunch all week.

T
HINGS
FINALLY
settled down by the end of the following week. Liam’s dad was coming home the next day, and Liam felt like he could finally take a breath. Looking back over the week, Liam realized that Branson had been a godsend. He’d been there practically every spare minute Liam had, taking his mind off things or helping out in whatever way he could.

There had been a different air to Branson over the last week. He seemed more relaxed and settled than Liam had ever seen him. He attributed much of it to the fact that Branson was seeing Dr. Luxton twice a week. He really did seem to be benefiting from that. He had mentioned to Liam several times that he was glad he was going and that he was working through stuff that he never thought he’d want to address.

It didn’t matter to Liam what had caused the change, though. He was glad to see it. He hadn’t realized how much Branson was holding back until he wasn’t so much anymore. And he hadn’t been aware of how much he had still been restricting his random touches until Branson not only seemed suddenly more comfortable with them, but had started giving them as well.

The day Liam’s dad had been taken to the hospital, Branson had initiated the hug he gave Liam. Not only that, but he sustained it for the longest time, rubbing his back and kissing his hair. Liam had hugged Branson before, but Bran had never started one and certainly hadn’t ever kept it up that long before. And kissing his hair? Branson would never have done that before.

And it wasn’t only the random touches and being physically more available. Branson joked around with Liam much more than he used to. Liam had always thought they were able to joke about anything, but now Branson let the jokes go slightly into innuendo. Liam was shocked the first time he had done that.

Wednesday evening, while having a late dinner together at Branson’s house after leaving the hospital, Liam had spilled chili near the zipper of his trousers and hadn’t realized it until he was ready to leave. When they stood up to go to the door, Branson pointed it out with a sheepish little grin.

Liam started scratching at it to try to get the dried chili sauce off his pants and absently said, “Feck all, it’s hard already.”

Branson’s grin turned positively evil, and he responded, “Really? That’s all it takes to get you hard?”

Liam was so stunned he was speechless. Apparently his face must have shown that because Branson laughed so hard he started gasping for breath.

“Oh cut it out.” Liam stamped his foot and played up his exasperation at being laughed out. “You can’t suddenly say something like that out of the blue and expect a bloke not to be shocked.”

Branson doubled over laughing even harder. Liam stepped closer and tried something.

“Straighten up and give me a hug good-bye.” They didn’t always hug good-bye, but it wasn’t unheard of anymore, especially lately. “You owe me after that remark.”