There’s shuffling on the other end, then a quiet creak of a door.
“What’s going on?” he asks, his voice louder now.
“Really, I’m fine. I didn’t mean to worry you. Although I could use some brotherly advice.”
Cam has always been my safe place. When our mom was deeply depressed after our sister died, our father was her caregiver. And Cam became mine. Our parents didn’t force him to care for me. They wouldn’t have. But it’s simply in his nature.
My brother and father butted heads when Cam was a teenager and even while he was in college, and they’re different in a lot of ways, but I believe witnessing the dedication with which Dad took care of Mom had a profound effect on him.
So, now, in the middle of the night in whatever part of the world he’s in, he’s still caring for me.
“Claire, c’mon.”
After a long sigh, I admit, “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Okay… I think you’ll need to be a little more specific.” His tone is surprisingly airy and welcoming for a man who just received a rude wake-up call.
“After this summer, I mean. I don’t have another job lined up.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “You know me; I always have a plan. I searched for job openings at the beginning of the summer and made a list of potentials, but…”
“But what? What’s wrong with them?”
I shrug, even though he can’t see me. “Nothing’s wrong with them. It’s just…”
“Do you want to keep working for Asher?”
Subtlety is not a characteristic my brother possesses.Especially when it comes to me. He doesn’t like to beat around the bush.
“That’s not a possibility.”
“Why? Did he find a new doctor?”
I pick at a hangnail on my thumb and instantly regret it when it starts to bleed. “Um. I don’t know, actually. I haven’t asked him.”
“Claire.” My brother says my name inthattone. The infamous, reprimanding one.
“Cameron,” I volley right back. “My contract was only for the summer. That’s what we agreed upon.” Both professionally and personally. Not that I want to mention our situationship to my brother. This arrangement has been spelled out from the beginning: I’m only here for the summer.
“You’re being stubborn,” my brother says with more bite than compassion.
Annoyance sparks in my blood. “I’m not being stubborn. I’m being realistic.”
He doesn’t respond right away. Fortunately, when it’s the two of us, silence is never awkward.
After several beats, he sighs. “You want to stay, don’t you?”
“What?” I scoff. “That’s not the plan.”
“Didn’t say it was.” He’s being a brat and he knows it. “Plans change, Claire. Just look at me.”
“That’s different. You never wanted to follow in Dad’s footsteps. That was his plan, not yours.”
“Still. The plan was laid out for me. But I chose to go off course, and so can you.”
I let his words simmer, eyes closed. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what a career here would look like past the summer.”
“There have to be doctor’s offices around. You’re not in the middle of nowhere.”
My chest constricts. He’s right. He usually is.
