Page 107 of His Heart

“I don’t have anything to talk about.” She moved her blanket off her shoulders and stood. “I’m fine.”

She walked into the kitchen and put her soup away in the fridge. When she came back, she settled on the couch next to me. I wrapped an arm around her and she tucked herself against me.

“Don’t worry so much about me,” she said.

“Brooke, I love you,” I said. “Of course I’m going to worry about you.”

She took a deep breath. “I love you, too. And I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“I don’t know. Everything.”

I set my chin on her head and held her close. I hated feeling so helpless. No matter what she said, I knew she wasn’t okay. Depression was serious. I’d been doing everything I could to coax her out of it. To love her through it. But she still held back. Kept it to herself. It was like she didn’t want to burden me with her problems. But I wanted to help her carry them. And I’d told her that. Tried to show her. I was here for her. I could help.

But if she didn’t want help, what else could I do?

I felt her slipping down a slope and if something didn’t catch her, she was going to crash. I could see it coming. The last time, I’d called in the big guns, as she’d said. Olivia coming to Iowa, and giving her the chance to reconnect with the Harpers, had been good for her. It had helped. For a while, she’d been doing so well.

But who could I turn to this time? What was my plan B if she didn’t come around? There wasn’t anything more Olivia could do for her. I’d hoped her therapist would make a difference, but if she wasn’t going to her appointments, that didn’t do any good. Short of driving her there and watching her go in—which I was seriously considering—I couldn’t force her to go. And if I made her go to therapy, would it help? Would she open up?

I knew what it was to struggle. To have circumstances beyond your control threaten to take you down. It was serious shit, and it could be hard as hell to deal with.

The heart that had loved Brooke had saved me. I wanted to return the favor. I wanted to save her. Not just for her, or for me. For Liam Harper, too. For the man who would have loved her through dark times if he had lived, and I had died.

I just didn’t know if I could.

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