William stared at me, frowning. “I’m sorry, but I can’t promise you that.”
“Really?” I croaked, feeling betrayed. It was stupid to feel that way because I was a grown-ass woman who didn’t and shouldn’t ask her brother to stay where she was, but I was scared. If William moved, then I had nobody. My mother lived two hours away, but she didn’t count. My friends were just acquaintances, fun to hang out with, and often left my life without a trace. An overwhelming ache went through my chest. What would my weekends be if William didn’t live in the same city? My face scrunched up, and my nose tingled.
“Hey, hey.” William sat up and rested his hand on my shoulder. “What’s up with that face? I’m not moving anywhere… yet.”
I stared helplessly at him, and stupid, fat tears rolled down my face. And then I was full-on sobbing, though I wasn’t sure why. Fear of William moving to another country? Fear of the unavoidable massive heartbreak if it didn’t work out with Andrew? Too much sex in a short period of time?
“If I move, you move with me.”
“No, I can’t,” I whined. “My home is in Atlanta, and I have a business to run.” I bawled harder, my whole body shaking. “I’ll be aloooneeee.” It came out as a wail. Okay, I didn’t recognize myself. My mind was overheating with way too many things to process: Andrew wanted to date me; Dr. Garcia was a mole; my brother wanted to move to a different country.
“Oh, goofy.” He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to his chest. “You won’t be alone. Dr. Darcy Andrew Jones will be with you.”
“Not all the time, only when he can visit me.” I shook my head, wiping my nose—not intentionally—on his shirt.
“Stop crying. It’s bad for your skin.”
I took a deep breath, tightened my arms around William’s waist, and enjoyed his big brotherly warmth. God, what would I be without him? For thirty-three years, the furthest we lived apart was an hour. After a moment, I extracted myself from his hug and wiped my face with the hem of my shirt. “I’ll miss you if you move, but I’ll be okay.”
William glanced at his chest and cringed. “I know you’ll be okay. It’s not like I’ve moved already. Don’t forget I also have a clinic.”
He got up, unbuttoned his shirt, and limped to his suitcase.
“William,” I said. “What’s wrong with your leg?” And only then did I notice that there was a pillow under his feet. His feet weren’t crossed at the ankle as I’d initially thought, he was elevating one of them.
He took his shirt off, grimaced at the wet spot my face had left, and then folded it neatly and placed it in his dirty pile. His left side and part of his back had red marks and bluish-purple bruises. I jumped to my feet and rushed to him.
“What happened?”
“It’s not so bad.” He stepped away and shrugged on the shirt.
“Not so bad?” My mouth dropped open. “William, let me see your leg. Is it broken?”
“No. Just a sprained ankle.”
“Who did this?”
“OMG, Adriana. What’s with all the questions? I did. Okay?”
“What? How?” I stared at him.
William wobbled back to the bed, doubled over the pillow and rested his right leg on it. He leaned against the headboard, checked his watch, andfinallymet my eyes. “I wanted to see Brandon. He said he wasn’t far, just in the next town. So I rented a scooter.”
I was thunderstruck. “You rented a scooter?” He nodded. I hadn’t seen any rental places around here. “Where did you find it?”
He shrugged. “A guy at the shop next door let me use his.”
“William,” I said, but I wanted to yell. “You don’t know how to ride a regular bike, why would you think you can handle a scooter?”
“I handled it just fine.”
“Yeah. Clearly.” I waved my hands at him. “Did you at least wear a helmet?”
“Please.” He rolled his eyes.
“Please what?”
“Of course I did. It was the grossest, but I’m not an idiot.”
