“We need to figure out your trigger,” Ethan announced grimly.
Three hours later, Ethan raised his hand in the air between them. “No more. We both need to eat and rest.”
Max ran a hand over his exhausted face. “I might fall asleep mid-bite. I’m exhausted.”
Ethan smirked. “Sounds about right. How’s Moose feeling?”
Max rolled his head to the side. Ethan watched the expression on his face go from concern to annoyance. “Not helpful, buddy.” His lids closed as he exhaled loudly. “I wanna see you do a better job.” He muttered so quietly, Ethan almost missed it.
“Sorry?” Ethan asked.
“He’s fine.”
“Right… Why don’t you close your eyes while I grab food from the diner around the corner?”
Max leaned to the side until his head hit the pillow and a leg came up to a ninety-degree angle. Ethan observed him a moment before shaking his head. They were no closer to figuring out his trigger than before they had started working.
He grabbed Max’s keys and slipped out of the back door before rounding the brick building. The air around him was charged, but he could not sense magic attached to it. Taking a few cleansing breaths, he tuned into each of his siblings on his way down the street. Once he was sure they were safe, he closed the connection.
Stepping inside the diner, the smell of fried chicken and fries assaulted him. At the counter, he put in a to-go order for Max and himself. Once he paid, he returned to the cool night air to wait, and he pulled out his phone.
Without overthinking it, he pressed a few buttons and raised the phone to his ear. A familiar excitement bubbled up within him.
“Hello?” her voice asked distractedly.
His smile stretched his lips as far as they would go. “Hey, Serena!”
“Oh hey, Ethan.”
He imagined her eyes rounding for a second as she focused on the call. “Bad time?” he asked and looked through the diner’s window. A waitress bustled from one table to another, tucking a tray under her arm and pulling out a pen from her hair.
Serena’s soft chuckle pulled him back. “No, I was just doing my drawer for the night. Something I can help you with?”
“Why does it have to be something I need?” he teased.
A puff of air blew into the phone. “Oh, I don’t know. Since your family’s arrival in my life, it’s always something.”
“Ouch!” he hissed. “Tell me how you really feel. Maybe I just wanted to hear your voice.” The latter slipped from his lips before he could stop himself. The pregnant pause afterward announced she had not missed it. His face warmed with embarrassment, and he was thankful she was not in front of him right then.
Ethan cleared his throat. “Actually, never mind, I need to go.”
“No!” she snapped, and they shared another long pause. He heard a breath of frustration escape her. “I’m glad you called. How is the ring working out?”
He chuckled. “Since I saw you hours ago? I suppose it’s working fine.”
“Is everything okay with Max?”
Ethan sighed, debating whether he should tell her the real reason he’d called. Although, hearing her voice tied with it. It seemed whenever anything happened in his life, he was inclined to reach out to her. He managed to avoid it during the time he was away, but after seeing her hours ago, it was worse.
“He’s okay. He just had a problem with one of his surgeries today,” Ethan said carefully as a couple passed him on the sidewalk.
“Oh? Doesn’t he speak with animals? What went wrong? I’d think he could manage a surgery a little better, being able to take in what the animal was feeling.”
“He does and it is helpful, but it seems he’s come into more of the family inheritance,” he said and smiled at a teenager who passed him before entering the diner.
“Oh!” Serena said, and he imagined her pretty lips forming the letter.
Clearing his throat again, he nodded to himself. “Exactly. I left him to rest and have been trying to figure out what his trigger could be, since nothing has worked.”
