“Oh, uh… not… not great. He, ah…” His face pinched in dismay. “He had a heart attack. And… and I can’t get ahold of his family, and they don’t have a cardiothoracic specialist here, and he would want one. I mean, he needs one, and they say they can—”
I stepped forward without thinking and pulled him into my arms, holding him tightly to me and whispering to him to take a breath. “Shh, it’s going to be okay. He looks stable right now, so just breathe, all right?”
His body relaxed against mine, and his arms came around my back to return the hug. I inhaled the same lemony scent from my memories of him, only now it was mixed with the smell of antiseptic hand soap that seemed to permeate all medical facilities.
After he had a chance to catch his breath, I pulled back just enough to clasp his face in my hands. “I’m here. I’ll help any way I can. If we need to get medical transport back to Chicago, I can start working on that right now.”
He looked so tired and worried. I wished more than anything I could simply take him back to the hotel and hold him while he slept. But it was clear he wasn’t about to leave Mr. Banks alone, and I respected that completely.
Teo ducked his forehead into my collar and kept his arms around me. “I was happy to see you on that airplane.” His words were muffled, but they still managed to hit me square in the chest with a burst of relief.
“That makes two of us,” I admitted, rubbing his back. “What did the doctor say about Mr. Banks?”
Teo stepped back out of my arms and moved closer to the hospital bed where he gently picked up Mr. Banks’s hand. “They’re not sure of the extent of the damage yet because they don’t have a cath lab here. The closest one is in St. John’s which means an hour-and-a-half flight. But if we’re going to do that, I think he might be better off back in Chicago. So—” He stopped and glanced up at me before slowing down again. “So, I was hoping to reach Mike or Chris to see what they want me to do. But… they’re not answering.”
I checked my watch and saw it was four in the morning which meant two in Chicago. “If they have their phones on nighttime mode, maybe they’ll only accept calls from family. Did they give you Mr. Banks’s phone?”
Teo paused for a beat before saying, “I’m Chris’s best friend.”
I thought back to the guy I’d met twice before on previous trips since going to work for the company that managed Banks Consulting’s Gulfstream. That man had been very different than sweet Teo. He’d been a stereotypical corporate type who’d acted like pilots and flight crew were invisible. It was a glaring reminder that I didn’t know Teo very well, despite having been inside of his body. For all I knew, my impressions of him were inaccurate and he was as much of a corporate type as his friend. “Could he be out at a loud club or someplace he wouldn’t be able to hear his phone?”
He frowned. “He’s supposed to be prepping for an important presentation on Monday, but… I mean, I guess?”
We stood side by side and watched the man in bed continue to sleep through our quiet conversation. I could tell by the look on Teo’s face and the way he was holding Mr. Banks’s hand that he cared about the man very much.
“What decision would you make if he was your grandfather?” I asked.
Teo’s eyes filled with tears, and his voice broke when he spoke. “I’d take him home and get him the best healthcare money could buy.”
I clasped the back of his head and leaned down to drop a kiss on top of it. “Then that’s what we’ll do. Let me make a few calls so we can get him out before this storm hits.”
He looked up at me with an expression of gratitude as I gently pulled away from him to escape to the hallway. As soon as I was out of the room, I pulled out my phone and called the concierge support line for the company I now worked for. A full day of my orientation training had been dedicated to meeting the higher standards of corporate jet fliers. Flying private planes meant interacting with the uber wealthy, and that necessitated a level of support I’d never known before.
It only took one ten-minute phone call before the plan was underway. When I returned to the room, Teo was speaking animatedly into the phone.
“But he’s your family,” he hissed. “Cancel the damned meeting, for god’s sake. How could you not choose—”
He stopped talking to listen. The anger and disappointment was clear on his face, but when he glanced up at me, he tried to hide it.
“I understand,” he said in a voice devoid of emotion. “I’ll take care of it. Of him. Don’t worry.”
I gestured to my phone and gave him a thumbs-up so at least he would know the arrangements for Mr. Banks’s transport had been arranged.
Teo lifted an eyebrow. “Hang on, Chris. Hang… hang on. Stop. Just give me a minute.” He put his hand over the microphone and asked me what I’d found out.
“Dispatch told me there is an air ambulance traveling from Reykjavík to Chicago tonight that’s willing to stop and pick Mr. Banks up on the way.” Before Teo could get too excited, I held up a hand. “There’s a catch. They can only take the patient. The other patient they’re transporting is already on board with his whole family and medical personnel. The other option is to wait until around two in the afternoon for a replacement plane to come get both of you and take you back to Chicago. You would arrive in the early evening. In the first scenario, Mr. Banks would be seen in the cath lab tomorrow afternoon. In the second, he’d be seen the following day. With the second option you also run the risk of the snowstorm causing delays.”
Teo nodded and put the phone back to his ear, relaying the information to his friend. When the conversation became heated again, I stepped out to give him some privacy. I wasn’t completely sure, but it had sounded like the grandson had some kind of conflict which was making the arrangements more difficult. When Teo finally joined me in the hallway, he looked exhausted.
“We want to get him on the flight that’s already in the air,” he said. “Have him seen by the specialists as soon as possible.”
I quickly called the dispatcher back and put in the request. It took twenty more minutes of coordinating, so I told Teo to go back into the room and get comfortable in the chair there until I had everything confirmed.
I called Simon back at the airport to let him know when to expect the plane, and then I texted Nate at the hotel to give him the update. After that, Teo and I spoke to the nurse on duty to find out how to transport Mr. Banks back to the airport via ambulance.
At some point Mr. Banks must have woken up because I heard Teo murmuring to him in the room. I glanced in to see Teo stroking the patient’s forehead while he smiled down at him. His affection for the man was obvious, as was his gentle demeanor. My heart squeezed watching him care for the older man. I could see why he’d become a nurse.
I heard Teo promising Mr. Banks that Chris would be there to meet him at the hospital in Chicago. I wondered what he’d said to convince his friend to change his mind. It was really none of my business, but I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of jealousy knowing the dismissive younger Banks I’d met a couple of times already was closer to Teo than I’d ever be. It didn’t seem fair, somehow. But that was the price I paid to keep the lifestyle I had.