Page 4 of Tough Love

“How much does he know?” I ask, tucking my arms tight across my body.

Evan sighs as he removes his hat and tucks it under his arm, revealing shortly shaven hair. I admire the stretch of his uniform sleeve as it fails to adequately accommodate the swell of his biceps when he crosses his arms before him. “A little.”

I nod, running my gaze once again over the ghost from my past I never expected to see again.

At sixteen Evan was already big for his age; his T-shirts were always baggy, because to fit his broad shoulders he’d need to buy the next size up. But back then he was just like me—a skinny teenager, heavily into the Emo scene. I spent so many afternoons sitting opposite him outside the local shops, brushing his overgrown hair out of his face, so I could see both of those beautiful eyes. I never knew just how handsome he was underneath it all. I was in love with what I had, satisfied with the boy who owned my heart. But damn, he sure filled out to make one heck of a man.

Evan lifts his strong jaw, and jerks his chin away from Briar. “Let’s take this a bit further away, huh?”

I take a couple of steps to give us some form of privacy and turn back to face him. He stops short of colliding with me, apparently expecting me to have walked further away.

“He knows his mum got hurt, but he thinks—like any child would—I’m talking about a few scratches, a bump on the head, that kind of thing.”

“You’re partially right,” I murmur.

“Pardon?” He squints as he takes me in.

“She did take a bump to the head, but it was just a lot more severe than what Briar probably thinks.”

Evan jams his hands in the front pockets of his uniform pants, drawing my attention downward. I jump on the spot when he purposefully clears his throat, and burn from shame at being busted checking out his ... seams.

“Can I ask how your sister is?” His brow furrows, his eyes hard yet understanding. “Katherine, right?”

“Yeah, Kath.” I shrug in answer to his initial question, falling into the nearest chair. “She lost consciousness not long after I got here, and they whipped her off to do something that takes the pressure off the brain. Apparently, she had a bleed caused by the trauma. They said they’d update me a soon as they had something definitive, but that was over an hour ago.”

He settles in the seat beside mine, his body turned slightly toward me. “I’m sure they’re doing the best they can.”

“Yeah.” Isn’t everyone?

He looks across at Briar, who’s lost himself in his imaginary play again, and then over my shoulder at the vacant halls and the clerks doing their thing behind the station desk. “Look, I can stay a while if that helps, but I might get called away.”

As though to punctuate his point, the radio on his hip crackles some garbled message that reminds me more of the teacher fromPeanutsthan an actual string of coherent words. I look pointedly at it, silently questioning.

“Nothing I need to worry about.” He shakes his head. “Would you like me to stay for a bit?”

I don’t know, do I? My head wants him to stay, would appreciate the company, yet my heart screams no. He tore a hole in my heart the day he left that never quite healed. Having him so close, close enough that I can smell his musky aftershave, hurts. Am I strong enough to deal with the suppressed feelings he unboxes?

I have to be.

Evan watches as I check over his shoulder at Briar, feeling the same desperate fear creep into my chest that I get every time I’m around children. “Yeah, that might be a good idea actually.”

“He’s not as scary as he looks.”

“I don’t know the first thing about kids.”

“Neither did Kath when she gave birth to him. Everybody learns by jumping in the deep end.”

If only I knew how to swim.

THREE

The boat I’m in starts to rock, the gentle motion growing more violent as the waves around me crash over the sides, stealing my oars and pushing me further out to sea. Sweat peppers my brow, my hands fat and hot with panic, and my heart racing at the sheer thought of being knocked over the side.

“Amelia. Wake up, honey.”

I jolt against the seat, ignoring the fact a nurse I’ve never seen before now stands over me, and look for Briar.

He’s not in the play area. He’s not on any of the seats. He’s gone.No way.

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