The Weight of His Regret

My dad was bent double from severe chest pain. After waiting three grueling hours in the emergency department, we finally got his ECG results.

The attending ER physician glanced at the sheet and simply told us to keep waiting for an available bed.

Desperate, I called my boyfriend, Lucian Vance, the deputy chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the hospital.

"Lucian, my dad's having awful chest pains. Could you please take a quick look at his results?"

His voice through the receiver was icy and detached.