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Gray nods. “I’ll be there if you want me to be. For both of you.”
I look into his eyes and nod. He always has been, and Noah and I are beyond lucky to have him in our lives.
11
Grayson
“How was she today? I should’ve turned my phone off and ignored the emergencies they called me in for. It’s not like I’m the only doctor they’ve got. Someone would’ve handled it. I should’ve known better.”
I shake my head. “Let’s be honest,” I say. “She wouldn’t have wanted you around today, and you know it. If you truly believed Aria needed you today, you would’ve stayed. You knew she needed space as well as I did.”
Noah falls silent and turns to look at Aria. We both watch as she busies herself setting the table, having refused our help. “She’s made a whole chicken roast, so she’s not okay,” he says. “She only does a roast when she feels guilty. I don’t want her to feel guilty. None of what happened was her fault, and I don’t know how to tell her that without reopening her wounds. I don’t want to make her cry, man.”
Her eyes are still red and swollen, and her smile is missing. Noah is right. She probably does feel guilty, but not for the reasons he’s thinking. My mind drifts back to this morning when she sat with me as I worked. The helplessness she was radiating when she told me about the phone call she got yesterday… I can’t even begin to understand what she must be feeling. I wish I could do something. If she’d let me, I’d be the one to tell Noah about it so she doesn’t have to, but it’s not my place. They might call me their family, but stuff like this I can’t be part of. I can’t help them. Not with this.
“Come on,” I tell him, my hand on his shoulder. “She’s put so much effort into dinner. We’d better go join her.”
Noah nods and forces a smile onto his face as we walk into the dining room. Aria looks up, and her expression sends a pang of hurt straight to my heart. She’s trying so hard to be brave, but I can see her falling apart right in front of me, and it kills me to have to pretend she’s fine when all I want to do is take her into my arms and catch every single tear she’s holding back.
I walk up to her and place my hand on her lower back. “Sit,” I tell her. Her eyes meet mine, and I can’t quite describe the moment that passes between us. It’s a moment of intimacy and trust, a moment of her showing me the burdens she’s carrying. She nods and sits down quietly as I fill all three of our plates.
“How was your day?” Noah asks her carefully.
Aria looks up at her brother, her shoulders tense. “Noah…”
He lifts his brows in question, and I sit down next to her, my arm on the back of her chair in a show of silent support.
Aria looks down at her lap before facing her brother again. “There’s something I need to tell you, and I… I don’t know how.”
Noah sits up, alarmed. I can see the scenarios running through his mind, but the truth is far worse than he’s imagining.
“Our lawyer called me yesterday,” she says, her voice barely above a whisper. “They… They let him go on good behavior.”
Noah stands up, his chair clattering to the floor loudly, his eyes wide. Agony distorts his face, and he lifts a shaky hand, pulling it through his hair. “Jack called you yesterday? Before…”
Aria looks away and wraps her arms around herself. “Yeah… that’s why I got home early.”
Noah walks up to her and takes her into his arms, hugging her tightly, both of them silent and lost in their grief. “I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you,” she mumbles against his chest.
Noah pulls away and pats her head. “It’s okay, Ari. You had more than enough on your mind yesterday.”
He lets go of her and walks over to the cabinet in the corner, grabbing a bottle of scotch. Noah rarely drinks. He’s too aware of what liquor does to your body, and he can’t stand the thought of it.
Aria and I are both silent as he pours all three of us a glass. He empties his own and refills it instantly, emptying that too. Aria looks at me helplessly, but I don’t know what to do either. There’s nothing I can do to make this better.
“Jack is looking into it, seeing if there’s a way to fight this.”
Noah nods, but looking at the both of them, it’s obvious neither believes they stand a chance at making a difference.
“Are you okay?” Aria asks carefully.
Noah nods absentmindedly. “Areyou?”
She nods, but it’s clear to me that both of them are just being brave for the other. I feel like I’m intruding on what is clearly a private moment of grief, and I rise to escape to the guest room. I only manage to take one step before Aria grabs my hand.
“I’m exhausted,” she says, her voice soft, her hand tightening around mine as she turns to face her brother. “Will you be okay, Noah?”
He smiles at her and nods. “Go. Go to bed, little one.”
