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“What happened?” Ash asked as I placed my cell atop my bureau and pulled open the top drawer.
“Mom had a stroke. They’re taking her to the hospital by ambulance.” I tossed a few pairs of socks and briefs onto the bed.
“Oh no.” Ash climbed from between our sheets and headed for me.
I knew he planned to drag me into his arms, but I moved toward the walk-in closet we shared to retrieve a carry-on bag, fully intending to refuse any comfort he thought I might need.
“Rhett.” He stood in the closet’s door when I turned around.
“I’m fine.” I snipped the words.
He eyed me but didn’t budge from my path. “Do you want me to go with you?”
My protective instincts over him roared to life. Hospitals triggered Ash, and there was no way in hell I would allow him to set foot into one for someone who hadn’t loved me like he did.
I moved closer and cupped his cheek, his scruff scratching my palm. “No.”
His hands clasped at my waist, drawing me close, and giving in, I dropped the bag. Forcing my body to relax against him, I exhaled, closing my eyes for a few seconds, soaking in the warmth of his familiar embrace of the only love I trusted.
“If you need me…”
“I always will,” I promised and pressed my lips to his, allowing myself a brief moment to share my sensitivities with the one person who deserved it.
4
Skylar
“You’re late,” my boss Julie snipped, her eyes like flint.
“I’m sorry,” I hurried past her for the employee cubicles to unload my bag and water bottle. “I got caught up reorganizing the pantry—.”
“Two days ago it was your sister’s linen closet,” Julie cut me off.
I bit back my annoyance at being talked over. God knew I experienced enough of that at home. “It won’t happen again,” I promised, my hands as shaky as my voice.
“I’ve heard that one before.”
I cringed beneath her sarcastic tone and the truth of her words. Seeing as how my head was in the clouds as my sister often said, I couldn’t help how easily distractions pulled me away from responsibilities.
A burst of giggles sounded from the toy store’s showroom, a crash following on its heels.
“Now what?” Julie cursed and strode off, allowing me to breathe and try to get my bearings on my flighty thoughts and emotions.
Yes, my focus had turned over the mess Nora had made of her pantry. Yes, I’d lost track of time while tidying up—and yes, I may have gone into autopilot while just rearranging all the groceries I’d bought for the two of us the day before.
Boundless energy had always kept my brain cells bouncing. I’d struggled since childhood to focus on anything that resembled schoolwork and had barely managed to graduate.
I didn’t hold a PhD in astrophysics or work for NASA like my sister did, but I kept house for her like a pro in exchange for room and board.
Even though my parents had never outright said it, I knew they thought I would fail at city life when I’d moved in with Nora a few months earlier at Dad’s prompting. There was too much distraction for someone easily led away from responsibility by all the shiny pretties.
I was like a dog, my attention snagged by every squirrel in the vicinity while Nora was the rigid, brainy owl, the valedictorian of her class. She’d graduated high school at sixteen and got her bachelor’s then master’s degree with ease. She studied physics and the stars thanks to the scholarships she’d landed due to her high honors and brilliance.
She also had a good head on her shoulders, while mine…well, sometimes my brain didn’t exactly feel attached to the rest of my body.
A young child’s laughter drew me back to reality that I was at work, and I scurried into the storefront and behind the counter.
The teenager I’d been scheduled to relieve glared at me.