Relieved to have a reprieve, she expelled a deep breath. “Okay.”

He let her go long enough to kill the light and snuggled up to her again.

She would tell him tomorrow that she was afraid to fly and that was why she didn’t want to go back to Florida with him, even if the other things she’d told him were true, too. The life she was building on the island was important to her, but it wasn’t like she couldn’t come back for the summer and pick up where she left off with Jenny and her new friends.

Thinking about the possibility of months with him in Florida made her feel giddy and excited. If only the dark cloud of terror would go away and leave her alone, everything would be perfect—or as close to perfect as it had been for her in a very long time.

Erin took visions of sunshine and palm trees—and the sexy man in her bed—to sleep with her, dreaming of him as she slept. She awoke to his voice.

“Erin, your phone is ringing.”

“What?”

“Your phone.”

“Oh.” Erin pushed her hair back from her face and reached for the phone that was charging on her bedside table where the clock read four thirty. The sight of MOM on the screen sparked panic. Why would her mother be calling before dawn? “Mom?”

“Oh thank goodness you answered.”

Undone by her mother’s panicked tone, Erin sat up in bed. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Daddy.” Her mother’s voice broke, and Erin’s anxiety spiked. “He woke up with a bad headache right before he collapsed. I called 9-1-1, and they got him to the hospital very quickly. They did an MRI and found an aneurism in his brain. They just took him to surgery, and… They said it’s a very grave situation, honey.”

“Oh my God,” Erin whispered as tears slid down her cheeks and her heart beat so hard she feared she would hyperventilate.

Slim sat up to put an arm around her, and she leaned into him, thankful for his presence and support.

“I’m so sorry to do this to you, especially when you can’t get here, but I thought you’d want to know.”

“I do, of course I do. Is he… Did they say…”

“They said to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.”

“No,” Erin said, whimpering. “No.”

Her mother’s sobs echoed through the phone line.

Erin forced herself to focus on her mother when she wanted to wail with despair. “Who’s with you, Mom?”

“No one right now. I’ll call Aunt Sue later,” she said of her sister.

“Call her now. She’d want to be there with you.”

“Okay, I will, and I’ll let you know if I hear anything more. They said the surgery will take a few hours.”