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“I love you too,” he said, his voice low and his gaze intent.
There went my next round of tears. He looked around wildly before he spied a chair nearby. He tugged it close and sat down as he reached for the box of tissues and handed me a few more.
I dabbed at my eyes and blew my nose, mumbling, “I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
I rolled my eyes. Sarcasm could always help me find my composure. I lifted my hands up as the tears raced down my cheeks.
“Hey, Helen just said that's normal.”
“I'm not crying because I had an accident.” I sniffled.
“Well, maybe you are,” he said softly. He reached up and brushed my hair off my forehead, smoothing it back. “I missed you.”
I swallowed, my throat loosening. “I missed you too.” I blew my nose again. “Wow. I suck at reunions,” I offered with a little laugh. I dabbed at my tears with the balled-up tissue.
He shrugged. “Is anybody good at them?”
“Well, you're not crying.”
As he stared back at me, I realized he had a sheen of tears in his eyes. He rested his hand over mine, still tucked under the blanket, and squeezed gently. “I should have told you I would be out of town for two weeks.”
“You didn't have to go,” I pointed out, laughing as soon as I said that because I was being contrary and stubborn.
“No, I didn't.”
I took a shaky breath, relieved I seemed to have my tears under control. “I didn't call you back because I wanted to come back early and surprise you. I heard you got attacked by a bear.”
“Who told you that?”
“Daphne. Are you okay?”
This time, he rolled his eyes. “Pretty much. I’ll have some nice scars on my leg. It hurt like hell when it happened, but I'm fine.”
There went my tears again. So much for playing it cool. I reached for another tissue and blew my nose.
ChapterThirty-Five
GRANT
Harley swiped at her cheeks with her palms, and I passed over some more tissues. My throat was knotted with emotion, and my chest hurt.
“Are you okay?”
She sniffled, blinking rapidly as she lifted her gaze to mine. “Uh-huh, but you got attacked by a bear,” she wailed before bursting into another round of noisy tears.
This was the first time a woman had cried like this in front of me. Although I had two sisters, they were more prone to losing their tempers than bursting into tears.
“I'm fine,” I insisted. “I swear. You want to see my leg?”
She shook her head quickly when I stood to jokingly unbutton my jeans. “Grant!” she yelped just as the door opened, and Helen peered in again.
She pinned her gaze on me. “You need to stop getting her heart going. That's what caused this in the first place.”
I looked down at Harley and back at Helen before I sat down quickly. “Sorry.” Helen disappeared again. “What is she talking about?” I asked, fully aware Harley had yet to explain what happened.
“You know I've been dealing with that heart issue,” she began. She twisted a tissue between her fingers.
