Page 96 of Captivating Mr. Second Chance

“Where is he?” Ethan asked, spinning in a panicked circle like his brother was able to up and disappear, which wasn’t possible, so it couldn’t have been anything good.

“I suspect the radiologist has him for X-rays.”

Ethan swallowed down the jagged pebbles in his throat and clasped his hands behind his head, breathing like he’d finished a sprint.

“Are you okay?” the nurse asked him, adjusting the curtain at the doorway.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good,” he panted.

With a nod, the nurse pulled the curtain, leaving Ethan to call his mother and let her know he’d arrived before texting Leah to tell her his parents would be there any minute. Then he waited.

He checked his phone for any missed calls and paced the length of the tiny room. Between his anger about what had transpired with Laney and Bobby and his stress about Justin, he couldn’t sit still.

And he waited some more.

He called his mom. Trace was finally calm and in his room with Leah. He texted Laney, but when she didn’t respond after a few minutes, he rolled his eyes and tucked his phone away in his back pocket. It was almost dead, and he needed to conserve the battery as opposed to looking at it every five minutes for a call or message from her.

It was after eleven before Justin was finally wheeled back into the room on a gurney. He looked exhausted but managed a smile, and Ethan’s pent-up emotion hit him like a brick wall. His eyes stung with tears as he reached out for his brother’s hand when Justin extended his.

“What’s up, bro? You look wrecked.”

Ethan choked on a laugh as he wiped at his eyes. “You’re the dick who fell down a flight of stairs.”

Justin shrugged and shifted to get more comfortable in the bed as the doctor came in with a couple of X-rays. She slid them into place on a light box, showing them where Justin had broken his left ankle. “Your CT scans look good, but we’d like to keep you overnight for some observations and tests to be sure,” she said, giving Ethan a quick look then lifted her hand to Justin. “I know you said this wasn’t a balance or ambulatory issue, but we want—”

“I slipped,” Justin interrupted, and the doctor’s face broke out in an empathetic smile, but with the way Justin turned to Ethan, it was as if heneededhis brother to know this was a fluke, a complete accident. “I had socks on. You know how damn slippery those wooden steps are.”

Ethan patted Justin’s shoulder. “I know.”

“I’ve been meaning to put something on them for a while. Especially with Trace.”

“I know,” Ethan said again, trying for levity. “Maybe now, you’ll finally cover them, huh?”

Justin’s eyes drifted down to his hands in his lap, seemingly defeated, and Ethan kept his hand on his brother’s shoulder. He didn’t know how Justin was feeling—maybe embarrassment for falling, guilt over never getting around to covering those goddamn steps, fear of his disease getting worse, or all of the above—but Ethan was determined to make sure he wasn’t alone. In any of it.

The doctor went on, her hands in her coat pockets. “We need to be careful with your diagnosis, take some extra precautions, that’s all.”

Justin nodded, his head still down.

“We’ll try to get you out of here as fast as possible and coordinate with your doctors at Penn. They’ll probably want to see you up there.”

She tapped two fingers to the metal bar at the end of the bed before leaving, and Ethan took her place. “Hey.” When Justin raised his attention, Ethan smiled and clasped his hand on Justin’s non-broken ankle. “I love you, brother.”

“You too,” Justin answered quietly. “Have you talked to Leah? How’s Trace?”

“She was putting him to bed and—”

The curtain to the room flung open, revealing Leah, out of breath and wide-eyed.

“And she could tell you herself,” Ethan finished, gesturing to his sister-in-law. After some hugs and kisses, Leah sat on the bed next to Justin as they filled her in.

“I wish I’d known you were staying overnight. I could’ve brought some toiletries for us.”

“Us?” Justin repeated, shaking his head.

“Yeah. I’m staying with you.”

“No.” He let out a self-deprecating laugh. “No, honey, you don’t need to stay here.”

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