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I couldn’t be more relieved. Whatever bug this was, a hospital stay seemed to have been just the trick.
Callum grinned. “Are you sure?” He eyed him. “I can stay a few extra days and even call the school to hold off on you going back.”
The doctor had pretty much cleared Bru to go back as long as he felt up to it. Since Bru was behind in school, he said he’d start this week, and I’d been surprised by that.
I assumed my brother was trying to prove to the rest of the world he was good, my brother being stubborn as per usual.
I believed him for the most part since he wasn’t currently keeled over. Bru rubbed his legs. “Nah, I’m good. I’m going to go back. I need to. Get things back to normal again.” His head lifted. “Did you talk to Coach for me?”
“I did, and though he’d love to have you on the field right away, he believes it might be good for you to sit out the rest of the season. You’re still a full-fledged member of the team and he said you’re welcome to sit in on practices.”
This didn’t seem to sit well with my brother, and I sat next to him. I jerked my chin at him. “Let’s focus on you getting through the rest of the term academically. There’s always next year, and Coach still says you’re on the team.”
“Yeah, I guess.” He rubbed his hands. “I’m the one who messed up by getting sick, I guess. I was stupid.”
It had come up that Bru had taken a dip in Murphy’s lake on my end. I’d never said why or anything about that haze, but I’d been worried about something in the lake affecting him.
The doctor had assured us that couldn’t be the case, but Bruno was obviously holding on to that.
Callum tilted his head. “You did nothing wrong. Getting sick can happen to anyone.”
Bru nodded, but again, he was holding on to that.
Callum asked him once more if he was okay, but Bru was adamant he’d be fine. Callum must have believed him enough because eventually, our guardian did head out. He asked to speak to me before he did, so I followed him to the door.
“As always, my phone is on for you both,” he said. “I’m not going to be leaving the country this time, so I’ll be close.”
After the not-being-able-to-reach-him fiasco, Callum put me in contact with one of his personal assistants. He said that’d be the quickest way to get to him if needed.
Our guardian had taken these past few days to be there for us, and though I wasn’t certain where he was traveling for business this time, I, at least, had a way to reach him quickly.
It was crazy that, these days, I enjoyed the security. He’d come through so much for us.
“And before I go, I wanted to mention something I’ve been working on,” he said. “I suppose I wanted your opinion on it before I relayed anything to your brother. I don’t want to step on any toes.”
“Okay.” I leaned back against the wall.
“As you both know, I travel a lot for work, but I was thinking about doing more work closer to you both. What happened with Bruno was quite alarming and put things into perspective for me. I’ve been looking into purchasing a home here in Maywood Heights.”
I blinked.
He raised a hand. “But only if that’s all right with you both. I’m having people look into it now, and I think we’ve found something appropriate and not far from here.” His head lowered. “What do you think about that?”
I was kind of at a loss really. He wanted to be here.
He wanted to be here for us.
My lips parted. “Bru would really like that. I know he would.” Callum was like his favorite person ever.
Callum’s head tilted. “And what about you? Like I said, I don’t want to step on any toes.” He put his jacket on. “I know you’re both going to be in college soon, and me relocating here wouldn’t just be for the sake of proximity. I’ve got quite a few business ties out of Maywood Heights, and it’d be nice to be nearer and grow them.”
I really didn’t know what to say. “I think that’d be cool. Actually, really cool.”
The older man smiled. “Excellent. I’ll let my people know to continue with the planning.”
“Thank you, Callum. Just…” I felt myself smiling fully for the first time in days. “Thank you for everything. Everything with my brother and just everything.”
I felt like I was thanking this man every five seconds.
