The Boss Lady

The Heart Attack

"What the f**k do you want? I don't want you contacting me again. Your engagement party is the last time I plan on seeing you," I said folding my arms and walking around my living room. I wasn't even going to answer the phone when I saw it was him, I thought it best though to lay it on him.

"I didn't call about you, I called about my father," James said matter-of-factly.

"Okay, why?" I asked. "If this is about the f*****g position again, I don't wanna hear it, James," I said firmly.

I stood there for a second digging my feet into my carpet. "He had a heart attack this morning," James said sadly.

"What? Is he alright?" I asked quickly. Great, well, now I felt terrible about not letting him explain himself before I went in on him.

"He didn't make it babydoll," James whispered suppressing what sounded like tears.

"What?" I asked confused. He looked like he had been in perfect health just the other day.

"This was his second one, we were surprised when he made it through his first one and came out the way he did," James said. I leaned back against a wall and slid down to the ground.

Edwardo and I had made more plans to meet up. He was going to tell me more about my father, and what he was like. We had even had a few phone conversations and I almost would have preferred getting to know him more instead. He was the one that always watched out for me, even if I was never meant to notice.

"He said he hadn't been feeling well, his secretary told me you went golfing with him a couple days ago, did he seem alright?" James asked.

"I-I didn't know he was at risk, he seemed fine," I said stuttered honestly.

"He stopped taking medications for various things as well," James sighed with exhaustion.

I was so confused, he never said anything. I guess I shouldn't have expected him to but he knew what he was doing and decided it was a good time to reach out to me?

"I'm so sorry James," I said genuinely remorseful.

"I appreciate it, Katherine," he said and we stayed in a thick silence for a couple minutes. It hadn't seemed to bother either of us.

"I'm sorry about the other day, I was just acting like a child because of my father's decision and embarrassed myself," He said honestly.

"It's fine," I said sadly.

I let him vent for a while, listening to him. He talked about what a bastard his father was but then would circle back to how he shaped his brother and him into what they were. I sat there just listening, wishing that someone had let me vent like this when my mother and uncle passed. Just let me talk and talk, even though I knew I wasn't making sense. I listened to him talk about a man I had very few but painfully impactful conversations with. I saw things from his perspective, I agreed when he needed me to. I was simply put, there for him. My only fear being that it would never be the other way around. He might never be there for me.

"I also wanted to let you know that the engagement party has been moved for obvious reasons," He said clearing his throat.

"Yeah, of course," I said understanding.

"Can I come over?" He asked in a raspy voice and broke down in tears through the phone.

Was it terrible of me to have to think about letting him actually come over? Even considering the circumstances?

"Yes," I said before I could even think about what I was saying.