Tony whispers to her and she wakes with a jolt. Her instinct is to panic, until her eyes find me. Her panic fades from shock, to joy, to heartache. She rushes over and throws her arms around me, but my eyes never leave dDad. Voices fill the room, but I can’t make out a single word. I’m not listening. My focus is on the monitors, and the slow drip of the IV. I can feel my tears trying to break through the barrier as I turn to her.

The tears fall in an endless stream. So much for being strong. My mom holds me as I try to regain control of myself. It’ was hard hearing about my dad's heart attack, regardless of how mild it iwas, but I stayed calm. My main focus was getting from New York to Portland as quickly as possible. Now that I’m here, and can see my dad, I’m broken. He could’ve died and I wouldn’t have been heare to say goodbye.

The gasps of my sobs cause my dad to stir, his eyes slowly opening. It’s the first signs of life, besides the beeping of the monitors. I go to his bedside and take his hand. The cold and clamminess, reminds me of when he’d work in the yard in the morning. He’d sneak up behind me while my nose was in a book and put his hands on my cheeks. It was his way of jolting me out of studying for a little while. It always worked. I wish I could repay the favor.