Page 110 of Be My Compass

He had to make sacrifices. He suffered. Gave his pound of flesh.

But it was a one-in-a-million opportunity.

Glory is going to pull through. I don’t care what the doctors say. She has to.

Our family is due another miracle.

My shoes bounce against the tiles. Harsh light flashes against the white walls.

Everything’s so stark. So cold.

Heath paces by me again. His long hair falls crazily over his shoulder, strands shooting every which way. His green eyes are bloodshot. Worried. Creased with lines that weren’t there before.

He sticks a hand into his pocket. Work boots thump the ground to a strict beat.

One. Two. Three.

He swivels. Marches the other way.

One. Two. Three.

I look up at my older brother. “Sit down.”

“I can’t. I've been sitting since before you got here.” He scrubs the short beard under his chin. “I’ve been—” He runs his hands through his hair again and the sun-streaked strands fall over to the other side of his face. “The waiting is what kills me. The not being able to do anything.” He stretches his arms. “I can’t stand the helplessness.”

“I know what you mean.”

He sighs. Sits beside me.

I put a hand on his shoulder. Squeeze. “What do you need?”

“Glory to be okay.”

“I was thinking more like coffee.”

He leans back in his seat. “I saw those pictures of you and Kae.”

“That’s not caffeine.”

“It’s a distraction,” Heath says.

I wave my hands go for it.

His eyebrows knit together. “I thought you were waiting to announce your fake relationship at the banquet. Wasn’t that what you agreed on?”

“It was.” I pick at invisible lint on my shirt. “Change of plans.”

“You got impatient?”

“Kaelyn did.”

“That’s weird. Did she tell you why she went off the rails?”

“No.” Unease slithers through my chest, oily and dangerous. I push it down with all my might. “But I don’t need to know the details. I trust her.”

Heath’s eyes shift away from me. “Sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself.”

“She’s everything to me.” I fist my hands. Rest it on my knee. “Pretending to date made everything weird. It’s like a new skin that we’re both trying to wear. It hasn’t settled yet. We’re still figuring it out.”

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