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“No inflation, baby. These are solid steel. Remember, Kay said they’d repel bullets.” He flexed them.
“That’s not backed up by medical science.”
“The study results are pending. Yesterday’s evidence should land it in the medical journals.”
He’d let her check the wounded area this morning, and though, yes, he was healing fine, seeing again how close that bullet had come had given her a bad moment. He’d insisted on checking all of her scrapes and bruises, too, and the look in his eyes, the tightness of his expression as he put gentle fingers and his lips on several of the places, including that spot on her face, told her he felt the same.
Covering her more serious feelings, she rolled her eyes at his teasing and pointedly returned her attention to her screen. The one that had darkened multiple times for lack of activity. But before she could make another pretense at studying, it was her phone’s turn to speak. It hummed like a bee, indicating an incoming phone call.
The dread that clutched her stomach—was it Mr. Sully or Dr. Portland?—eased as she saw the caller, though a spike of irritation with herself came right behind it. “Oh shit, it’s Rory. I was supposed to call him last night.”
“Go ahead and answer. If you need privacy—”
“I’m good, but I’ll step out if you get another call.”
He gave her a thumbs up, but added, “You can put it on speaker if you want.”
She did, accepting the unspoken offer of solidarity it represented. “Hey, Rory. I’m sorry, I meant to call last night, but Brick and I had to escape a homicidal arsonist. Brick got shot, and I had to jump off a bridge.”
“I had to pull you off,” Brick corrected. “You had a death grip on that railing.”
She ignored him. “We were beat when we got home. Didn’t even stop for pizza.”
“That’s tragic. Everyone should treat themselves to pizza after a day like that.” Amusement was in Rory’s voice. She remembered it cracking and changing when he was in his early teens. In the past several years, the timbre had become even richer and deeper, unmistakably a man’s voice. It was as if making peace with the wheelchair and pursuing Daralyn had brought him to full adulthood. “All joking aside, tell me what’s going on and how I can help.”
“What have you told Mom?”
“Nothing yet. You only talked to her a few days ago, so there hasn’t been a need to say anything. I was waiting to hear from you to see how you wanted to go with it.”
Thinking of her last phone call with her mother was like seeing the coffee cup in Colin’s truck. Something mundane that seemed surreal, seen from the far distant, entirely different place her mind was now.
“I don’t want you to lie to her. If she brings up anything that requires the truth, you can tell her the basics.”
“She’s going to want more than that. To tell the truth, so do I. You’re worrying me. You don’t sound like you.”
“I just…it’s…I’m not sure I’m up to talking about it over the phone.” As the feelings in her stomach did a sharp twist, poking her like barbed wire, she could feel Brick’s gaze upon her. “I know I said on the last call with her I’d be too busy, but my plans have changed. I’m coming home for Easter after all. If that’s okay.”
Rory’s response held relief, but also a gentle rebuke. “If that’s okay? What kind of question is that? Mom will be ecstatic. Marcus and Thomas are planning to be here. Julie and Des were going to try to come, too, but it’s not looking good. She has a theater performance that weekend. But Mom and Daralyn are already setting up the menu, so bring your appetite.”
She put a hand on her sensitive stomach to quiet it. “I’ll do that.”
Rory paused. “Les, I know we aren’t as close as you and Thomas, but we’re no longer kids. If you need something, I hope you know I’d do anything to help.”
Another surprising reminder of the maturity that, in fairness, she knew had been there for a while now. “I know you would. I really do. I just need to work some things out in my head before I talk about it.” She let a little humor slide in to soften the truth. “I don’t need anyone trying to solve it for me. You all can be a little overprotective.”
“What? Us? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“She has all the protection she needs,” Brick put in. “From the guy who used to protect your scrawny ass on the football field.”
“Scrawny?” Rory snorted. “Are you at your office? I can practically smell the bad coffee.”
“Yeah. Les is studying and keeping me company while I’m working. I’ll be coming with her for Easter.”
Another significant pause. “Okay. I’ll tell Mom we need to butcher a whole cow.”
“Tell her if she mashes a crop of potatoes for me, that’ll be sufficient. Oh, and if Daralyn bakes a bushel of those biscuits she does.”
“You’ll be in too much of a carb coma to protect anyone.”
