“Course I’m awake. And hungry too. Any chance this place has some bacon?”
“I said the same thing,” my dad jokes from the doorway as he and my mom enter the room.
“Well, at least someone here has some sense about them.” Shep cackles. “What’s with the party?”
Miles touches Shep’s arm. “Dad, I found you collapsed this morning. Do you remember falling?”
Shepard pushes on his temple like he’ll conjure the memory into existence. I remember so many times when I tried to do the very same thing.
“Can’t say I do,” he admits, and then groans when he tries to move. “But I feel like it. Must have had one wild night at that Bear Shore party.” He chuckles again, deep and hoarse.
“Dad, it’s not funny,” Miles says, sounding pissed.
I reach out to hold his hand and comfort him.
“You were practically gone when I found you. Your blood sugar was so low you lost consciousness. How could you be so reckless?”
“Okay, everyone. It’s time to give the man some space,” a nurse says, pushing her way past the lot of us to get to Shepard.
“I like you already,” he says to her as she slips a blood pressure cuff on his arm.
I note her black scrubs and French braid. She’s the same nurse who let me back here.
“Well, I hope nottoomuch, because I don’t want to have to see you in here again in the same condition you came in,” she scolds. “I’m assuming you’re not all who you say you are.”
She lifts an eyebrow in my direction as I cling to Miles’s hand. “Blood relatives are the only ones allowed in this room right now.”
I don’t want to leave him here by himself, but it looks like I don’t have a choice.
“We’ll be waiting in the lobby,” I say to Miles, leaning in to kiss his cheek.
He nods and lets go of my hand. As I’m ushered out the door, I watch him scrub a hand down his face and wear track marks in two straight lines on the floor while the nurse tends to his dad. My parents pull me in between them and wrap their arms around my shoulders.
“So, if I was Shepard’s brother, that must make you Miles’s cousin?” my dad teases.
I cringe. “Sister, actually.”
He chuckles. “Yeah, that wouldn’t fly in the state of Idaho.”
When we push through the double doors, the lobby is no longer empty. There’s a corner chair taken, a mess of sandy brown curls resting in a pair of large hands. When he hears the doors shut, he lifts his head and stands. Reed doesn’t look in any better shape than Miles did.
“We’ll be over here if you need us,” my mom says, letting her arm fall away from me.
I nod.
Reed takes in the dress I was wearing when I left him on that balcony last night, but his face doesn’t register any form of surprise. So much has changed since I last saw him. So many questions have been answered. But there are gaps in my memory surrounding the accident. What exactly happened, I still don’t know.
“How is he?” he croaks.
“Well, he still has his humor intact, that’s for sure.” I huff out a chuckle. “But I think he’s going to be okay.”
“Sounds like Shepard.” Reed sighs. Then he runs his fingers through his disheveled curls. “Teddy, I?—”
“Let me start,” I say, turning to face him. I pull at his hands so he’ll sit down with me. He can’t be standing when I confess what I need to say next.
“I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
I expect to see the sting in his eyes, but I see nothing but recognition.
