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“Sounds super fun,” he deadpans.
I laugh. “It’s not terrible.” I wince and backtrack my words. “Yes, actually, it is painful while I’m doing it, while I’m rolling it out and using my tools on it. But you will thank me by week’s end, guaranteed.”
We take a break and I sit on the floor, stretching out my legs while he sits on the bench. Soon, our conversation drifts off the topic of his knee and to more casual, getting-to-know-you type things. It’s fine. I do this with patients all the time. Of course I’m going to ask them about their hobbies and we might even discuss some of mine. That doesn’t mean I’ve broken any promises to myself.
And those problems involve steering clear, emotionally, of any and all athletes. Especially injured ones.
Thanks for that, Brandt.
I stand. “So, what do you like to do for fun, Alec?” If I keep my voice professional, maybe he won’t know how attractive I think his muscles are.
“Football,” he says after taking a long swig of the water. “Used to be football.”
Yep. The tortured, injured player. I‘ve seen it so many times.
“Makes sense. I’m sure football took up the majority of your time. What about now, though? Do you ever get a chance to get out on the lake?”
He shrugs. “I go over to the high school and help with the team’s practices sometimes. The coach has been asking me to be more involved, but I don’t know if I will.”
“Anything else beyond football?” I laugh at the look of mock horror in his eyes. “I know. I know. Football’s pretty much my world, too. When it’s in your blood, it’s in your blood.” I give a clucky laugh.
“Oliver just got a new boat,” Alec says. “My brothers and I spent most of our summers here in Longdale. Back then, we were out on the lake all the time. Canoes, paddleboats, jet skis.”
“Did you build sandcastles?”
“A few times. That was more Gabriel’s thing.”
“Which one is Gabriel?”
“The one just older than me,” Alec says, swinging his arms in and out in front of him to loosen up. “I’m second youngest.”
I join him on the bench and lean forward to rest my arms on my thighs. “Who would you say is closest to you? You know, like your ride or die?”
“Growing up, it was Milo, the youngest, because we were close in age and had a lot of the same interests. But the last few years, I’ve gotten close to Oliver, too. He’s the second in birth order. Except, he’s in a serious relationship now, so I don’t see him as much.”
I’m trying to sort out in my head all the names of the brothers. “Big families fascinate me.”
“How many siblings do you have?” Alec asks.
“Just one. An older brother. But my mom had several miscarriages after I was born, so I’ve sort of felt something was missing, you know?” Whoa, whoa, whoa. That was a random fact to be telling a sort-of patient. Best get back to talking about something else. “Tell me about your brothers.”
He tilts his head and gazes at me. “Sorry about your mom’s miscarriages.”
I bat a hand at him. “It was a long time ago, obviously. And by about high school, I was glad to get all my parents’ attention.”
I smile, but I know that isn’t exactly true. Something in the way he’s looking at me compels me to open my mouth again. “I did love being the baby, the only girl. Only because I felt like I could do pretty much anything and my parents would dote on me.” I laugh. “But there was—there still is, a shadow of incomplete memories. Of missing someone or some part of me.” I shake my head and press my cheeks with my palms. “Sorry. That’s weird.”
“It isn’t,” Alec insists. “I’m thinking that if Milo hadn’t been born, I would feel the same way. Incomplete.”
A silence hangs in the air between us, but it’s not competitive like before. Alec takes a drink of water, which I’m glad for. He needs it.
“Sebastian’s the oldest, right?” I ask.
He finishes and chuckles. “What tipped you off?” he asks. “His need for control or his disapproving ways?” He frowns, but there’s a light affection there.
“I don’t know. He looks a little older than you, anyway.”
He shakes his head. “The family keeps teasingmeabout being an old man, though, ever since my injury and all my hobbling around.”
