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Gabs
With a firm grip on Boone’s hand, I walked through the hospital front doors. I’d messaged Christopher as Boone parked and he’d responded that he’d meet us in the lobby to take us back to the family waiting room, so I wasn’t surprised to find him standing off to the side with his hands in his pockets.
He stood straighter before coming toward us. I dropped Boone’s hand and rushed to hug my brother. He awkwardly wrapped an arm around me and patted my back. He hadn’t ever been great with accepting affection, but he’d always tried with me.
“Hey, Gabs, Mom’s in recovery, but not awake yet. I’m still waiting on word about Dad. Who’s this? I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”
I pulled back and closing my eyes, took a deep breath at the relief that Mom at least was out of surgery. Opening my eyes, I turned to smile at Boone, who came up and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me in against his strength.
“Christopher, this is Boone. Boone, my brother, Christopher.”
Boone reached out a hand to shake my brother’s. “Hey, nice to meet you, although I would have preferred it to be under better circumstances.”
Christopher gave him a nod before he turned his attention back to me. “Follow me and we’ll go back to the family waiting room. Not sure how long it’ll take before we hear anything on Dad, but we should be able to visit Mom soon.”
Slipping my hand back into Boone’s, I followed Christopher through the hospital until we came to a small waiting room. It was much smaller than the main one and more private. Clearly for people waiting on news, there was no one coughing or sick in here, which I appreciated. The few other people in the space were to one side, so Christopher led us to the opposite side.
“When’s Silk getting here?”
I frowned over at Christopher as I sat in one of the hard, plastic chairs. “Huh? Why would Silk be coming in?”
He rolled his eyes. “Gabs, you two have done everything together for over a decade. Kinda expected she would have been your first call after I rang you earlier. What’s going on? Did you two have a fight or something?”
I shrugged, not liking how both men were looking at me expectantly, like I was about to reveal some big secret.
“She’s married with a baby now. Nothing’s happened, she’s just busy these days, that’s all. We’re not kids anymore, Christopher. We don’t live in each other’s pockets.”
I looked down at my hands as I picked at my nails. The truth was, I missed Silk and the closeness we used to have. And as much as I loved that Boone had come with me and Christopher was here too, having Silk would have been nice. But I wasn’t going to call her. Not yet anyway. She was my boss, after all, and I was going to need some time off work in order to help Mom and Dad, so I’d have to call her eventually.
Christopher broke the silence. “I’m going to go grab some coffee. Do either of you want anything?”
I shook my head without looking up, then Boone cleared his throat. “I might come with you and grab one. I need to make some calls to make sure everything is covered back at my ranch.”
Wincing at the fact I’d pulled him away from his animals and chores, I glanced up to his face. “Thank you for coming with me. I know how busy the ranch is at the moment—”
He cut me off with a short, gentle kiss. “Darlin’, I wouldn’t be anywhere else. I’ll just give Liam a call. He’ll be fine to take care of everything that needs doing tonight.”
He gave me another light kiss before he moved to stand. “Be back before you know it, sweetheart.”
Boone
While I did need to let Liam know I would be away for a while, the real reason I wanted to get out of there without Gabs was because Christopher had given me a look that said he needed to talk to me. I doubted he wanted to give me the usual big brother threat of “don’t you dare hurt my sister.” At least, I hoped he wasn’t going to waste time with that bullshit.
“Thanks for following my lead on that,” Christopher said as we made our way down the hallway. “Look, I’m not sure how long you and Gabs have been together, but her reasons for not calling Silk are bullshit. Those two have been inseparable since they were teenagers. Deep down, I know Gabs wants her best friend here, but for some reason, doesn’t feel like she can call her.”
I wasn’t sure where Christopher was going with this. “So, what are you saying? You want me to get hold of her phone and call Silk for her? Not sure I want to break her trust like that, to be honest. We’ve only known each other a month and this thing between us is still new. I really like your sister and don’t want to ruin it before it has a chance to be something more.”
He nodded. “I can respect that. I think I still have her phone number somewhere. I’ll give her a call and let her know.”
With that, we continued to the cafeteria to get coffees. I also grabbed a bottle of water for Gabs, along with a few packets of chips and M&Ms, in case she got hungry later. While I waited in line to pay, I gave Liam a quick call and explained what was going on. After he assured me he had it all under control and I could focus on Gabs, I hung up and paid for my stuff.
Christopher and I started to make our way back to the waiting room and I figured I might as well let my parents know what was going on while I had a few minutes. My dad was retired now, so he should be able to head over to help Liam if I needed him to.
“Boone? Honey, what’s wrong that has you calling so late?”
Yep, that was my ma, cutting straight to the point.
“I’m fine, Ma. But the lady I’m seeing, well, her parents were in a nasty car accident today and I’m at the hospital with her. I was wondering if Dad would be able to help Liam out over at the ranch? Not sure how long for at this stage. Oh, and of course, you, Summer, and the girls are welcome to head over there too.”
