Free The Heart of Memory by Alison Strobel

yes.” He stood and hung the chart back on the foot of her bed. “But don’t dwell on that. Your chances for a full recovery are good.”
He gave them a parting smile and nod, then left them to sit with the reality of a heart so broken it might never heal.
S HAUN WOKE DISORIENTED, THE LAST of his dream still playing out in his mind as he opened his eyes to a room with too much light. He shook the disturbing images from his head and checked the clock, then groaned when he saw he’d overslept.
By the time he got downstairs for breakfast it was almost nine o’clock. He heard Jessie in her room, talking on the phone, and realized he couldn’t leave for work until he told her what was going on with Savannah. She’d already been asleep when he’d gotten home the night before, and he’d been reluctant to wake her since he wasn’t sure if she had a morning shift. Apparently she did not, which meant she was probably on the phone with Adam; that conversation could go on for hours. Shaun decided to have his breakfast and then ask her to hang up so they could talk.
“ … And then we could do a sundae bar for dessert, maybe see if The Sweet Shoppe would be willing to donate — oh wait, my dad’s here, hold on a sec.” She covered the mouthpiece of her cell with her hand. “Hey, Dad, what’s up? I didn’t know you were still here.”
“I overslept this morning. Can we talk for a minute before I leave for work?”
Her face clouded. “Yeah, hold on.” She went back to her phone. “Hey, let me call you back. My dad needs me for a minute. Cool? … Okay, love you too. Bye.” She hung up and tossed the phone on the bed. “It’s about Mom, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is.” He sat across from her on the bed, their knees touching over the floral bedspread as he laid out the details, starting with Savannah’s collapse. “They’ve started her on some medications that might help — in fact, they seem fairly confident that they will. But she’s going to be in the hospital for at least another week, possibly more.”
Her eyes got big. “Wow. That’s a long time.”
He huffed out a chuckle. “Yes, it is.”
“But then what?”
“Well, hopefully the medications will help take some of the pressure off her heart and let it heal. Once it does …” he shrugged. “She’ll be back to normal.”
Jessie nodded slowly. “That’s good.”
“Yeah.”
“So … anything else?”
“Well, she asked me to get her laptop to her sometime today. I was hoping you could take it to her.”
She made a face. “I don’t know if I’ll have time. Adam and I have to finish planning the freshman welcome dinner, and I’m working until five—”
“Jessie, this is your mother. She’s lonely in there.”
Jessie rolled her eyes. “Come on, Dad, we both know she’s not desperate for me to visit.”
He arched his brows in reproach. “You’re her daughter. Of course she wants to see you.”
She sighed, slumping back against the pillows. “Come on, Dad. You know we don’t get along.”
“I know — and that’s why I think you ought to go in and see her. How often do you two spend time alone together? Your relationship will never improve if you’re never together.”
“But, Dad, hanging out with someone and hanging out in the ICU are completely different. Seriously, it’s just going to feel forced. She’ll know it, and I’ll know it, and it’ll be totally uncomfortable.”
He remembered yesterday afternoon, when Savannah had gone off about them not being spiritual enough lately. Maybe with that personal awakening her eyes would be opened to how distant she was from her own daughter. “She may be a little … easier to relate to.” He put up his hands in surrender. “Look, you’re an adult; you can make your own decisions. Just bring her the laptop and leave if you want to.”
“Oh, right, that would be really nice.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re telling me everything, right? They didn’t give her only a month