TWO NIGHTS AGO, Brooke had shared a heart-flipping, butterfly-inducing kiss with Dan. After she’d made a positive difference in Earl Powell’s life. She’d accomplished something with Earl and Sherlock that gave her satisfaction. Her therapist would commend her for rejoining the world.
Her feet were back underneath her. The ground more stable. She couldn’t have gotten there without Dan. He’d helped her rediscover her confidence—a confidence that allowed her to enjoy life again. A confidence that allowed her to hope.
Brooke opened the jewelry box and unwrapped another angel. The Hope angel held a dove, its wings spread and ready to fly. Her phone rang in her pocket. She set the Hope angel next to the Joy one.
She answered her phone, hoped it was Dan, calling to tell her he’d gotten the night off.
“Brooke.” A weak voice drifted across the phone line.
Concern replaced her disappointment. “Ben. What’s wrong?”
“Can you come. And get me?” His plea was disjointed, as if he spoke through tears he refused to shed.
Brooke switched the phone to her other ear and forced herself to listen through the rush of blood in her head. “Where are you?”
“The movie theater in the Bay District.” He hiccupped.
“Where’s Valerie?” Brooke tugged on her boots. Grabbed her jacket. Searched for her purse.
“Watchin’ the movie.” Ben’s voice drifted. The connection scratchy, as if he was moving. “Brooke. I don’t feel so good.”
His words lodged like a knife between her ribs. “When did you last check your numbers?”
“I don’t know.”
The silence twisted the knife, drove it deeper. “When did you eat last?”
“I don’t know.” More shuffling. More static. His voice more diluted. “Valerie said we could eat after the movie.”
Brooke rushed outside, slammed her front door and raced through the side gate.
“Brooke?”
“I’m here. Ben. I’m here.” Brooke scanned the empty street. Taxis wouldn’t wait on this street. She had to go to the city center. Into the traffic. That was the only way to get to Ben.
“Brooke.” He whispered, “I’m scared.”
The crack in his voice clipped her knees as if she’d face-planted into the cement. “I’m coming. Ben. I’m coming.”
“Okay.”
“Ben!”
Silence. She stared at her phone. The screen went blank. The call ended.
Brooke ran. Waved her arms for a cab. Ran another block. Shouted and lunged into a cab before it stopped. She clicked on Dan’s name in her contact list. Clutched her phone.
Chanted, Pick up. Pick up. Pick up.
Voice mail picked up. Dan’s recorded voice greeted her.
On the third attempt, she hung up before the voice mail greeting and called Nichole. Asked her to meet her at the movie theater.
Sprinting into the theater, Brooke dialed Rick. He’d gone back up north to help with the fire recovery. Rick picked up on the second ring. Brooke’s words tumbled into the speaker.
“Brooke.” Rick’s steady voice swirled around her. “Slow. Down. Breathe.”
Brooke explained the situation and scanned the movie-theater lobby. She found the familiar redhead sitting on the floor outside the arcade. Brooke raced across the checkered carpet and skidded onto the floor beside Ben.
“You came.” Ben collapsed toward her.
She dropped her phone to catch Ben. “We have to check your numbers.”
“Valerie went to get my stuff from the car.” Sweat matted his hair against his forehead.
Brooke scanned the lobby. Where was she? How could Valerie leave Ben like this? What had Brooke done leaving Ben with her? Brooke drew Ben closer.
Valerie hurried inside and rushed over to them. Her eyes wide. Her bright lipstick worn to a pale smear.
Brooke grabbed the backpack and dug through it, searching for the kit Rick told her Ben always carried. She unzipped the leather superhero bag, set the meter beside her, kept the syringes at hand.
“You’re doing that here?” Valerie set her hands in her coat pockets and rocked back on her booted heels. Her lipstick completely gone, her lips colorless. “Right now?”
Brooke muffled her shriek. Wanted to scream at the woman to get over it. But she didn’t have time to waste on Valerie. Her reply was no less bitter. No less curt. “Yes. Right now.”
“I’ll go wait outside for Nichole.” Valerie held up her hands toward the main entrance and backed away. “Ben told me they were coming.”
Brooke shooed the woman away.
“It’s not her fault. She really doesn’t like needles. They make her sick.” Ben rubbed his nose. “Her face is green, like moldy broccoli.”
That wasn’t Brooke’s problem. Or her concern. This was all Brooke’s fault, anyway. She’d wanted to believe in Valerie. She handed Ben the lancet and vial of test strips, and her fingers shook. “Can you do this part?”
“You don’t like needles, either?” Ben eyed her. His skin too gray.
“I don’t like seeing you hurting.” He wouldn’t be sick and hurting if she’d listened to Dan. If she’d trusted Dan to know what was best for his own son. If she hadn’t meddled, where she wasn’t invited. This wasn’t the harmony she’d wanted for Dan and Ben.
“It’s gonna be okay.” Ben scooted into her side. “You know why?”
Brooke watched him. Wanted to believe. Wanted his confidence.
“Because you’re here.” Ben pricked his finger. “Now I won’t have to go to the hospital.”
Brooke wrapped her arm around his shoulders and Ben walked her through the process: where to put the test strip, how the unit powered on with the test strip inserted, where the batteries went and where the extras were.
Wesley sprinted toward them and plopped down on Ben’s other side.
Brooke tossed her cell phone to Nichole. “Can you call Rick back?”
Brooke called out the readings. Nichole repeated the numbers to Rick and listened for his instructions. Nichole ordered Valerie, still hovering in the periphery, to buy a soda and pretzels from the concession stand. Brooke ordered the woman to hurry up.
Brooke set her alarm on her phone for a ten-minute recheck. Another test strip. Another reading. Still too low. Rick added a granola bar and cookies to the concession purchases.
After thirty minutes, which felt like days later, Brooke stuffed the superhero kit into Ben’s backpack, helped Ben stand and repeated Rick’s instructions about a small balanced meal for Ben. She hugged Ben’s backpack in one arm and held Ben’s hand with her other.
Outside the movie theater, Brooke confronted Valerie. “I’m taking Ben home with me. Dan will want to see him as soon as he can.”
“Thanks.” Valerie nodded and buttoned her fitted jacket as if putting herself back together. As if she’d been the one suffering a health scare. Then hugged Brooke, tightly like a dear friend.
Valerie released Brooke and squeezed Ben’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re better.”
Ben wrinkled his nose. “Sorry about the movie.”
Brooke glared at the sidewalk, frustration rolling through her, her love for the sweet boy soaring. Valerie should be apologizing to her son.
“We’ll watch it another time.” Valerie waved to Nichole and Wesley, then walked away.
The foursome headed to the parking garage and climbed into Nichole’s car. The boys played a video game in the back seat, their heads together. Suggestions for moves and cheers over better levels filtered out.
At a red light, Nichole took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. Exhaustion leaked into her voice. “I don’t know how Dan does it. Working nights. Volunteering for everything. And keeping up with Ben’s diabetes.”
“He loves Ben and what he does.” Brooke glanced over the seat at Ben. His color was returning. His hair no longer damp.
“I love Wesley and don’t mind anything if it’s for him,” Nichole admitted. “But my data entry work is a different thing completely.”
“Yet you’re working to provide for Wesley.”
“Exactly.” Nichole pushed her glasses onto the top of her head to pin back her hair. “Unless I can figure out who has my super secret trust fund and why they haven’t told me about it yet.”
“Valerie is the only person I’ve ever met with a trust fund large enough to live on for the rest of her life.” Brooke leaned back on the headrest.
“It’s interesting that Valerie has this trust fund while her mom had to go back to work,” Nichole said.
Brooke straightened. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know the details.” Nichole tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. “So I could have it wrong. But Ben talks about how his Grandma Lulu retired late. Now she’s traveling so much to catch up with her friends and their adventures.”
“So she worked late into her life to support Valerie’s travels?” That sounded backward to Brooke. Valerie should’ve been working to support her mother in her retirement. Then again, Valerie should’ve been aware of how to handle Ben’s diabetes, as well.
Nichole shrugged. “Grandma Lulu has often talked about the value of hard work. And praised Dan and I for setting good examples for the boys.”
Dan was everything a father should be.
“I’ve helped Grandma Lulu more than once with her computers,” Nichole said. “She’s a fascinating lady.”
“Like her daughter.” Fascinating was one word Brooke could use to describe Valerie. There were others, some kind and some not so kind. “Can you believe Valerie wanted to take Ben on tours of the soccer stadiums in Europe? That’s not going to happen now.”
“Wow,” Nichole said. “I’m sure he would’ve loved that. It sounds really expensive.”
“Now you sound like Dan.” A quick grin passed over Brooke. But she wasn’t ready to smile yet. Brooke checked the back seat again. “I can’t believe how careless she was.”
“She’s not a full-time or even part-time parent.” Nichole pulled into Dan’s driveway.
Neither was Brooke. Ben was going to be with her now. And she didn’t know how long. What if she was as careless as Valerie? “Can you keep your phone close tonight?”
“Sure,” Nichole said. “I’m a light sleeper, anyway. Call or text anytime. Dan still hasn’t replied?”
Brooke checked her voice mails and texts again. “Nothing.”
“Must be a bad night at work.” Nichole opened her car door.
Could it be worse than Ben’s scare? Brooke touched her stomach, willed it to stop churning. How did Dan manage his work and his life? He’d kept his humor and his lightness. Ben and Wesley spilled out of the car together, twin grins on their faces. Excitement lit up both their gazes. Ben looked no worse for his episode. Brooke envied his resilience.
The boys wanted a sleepover—they’d been plotting in the back seat. Brooke promised a basketball shoot-out, walking the dogs and s’mores at the fire pit tomorrow afternoon, if they could wait.
Nichole agreed. Then added another condition. “This only happens if Brooke and I get to play, too.”
The boys shared a look, then nodded in unison.
Nichole pointed her finger at them. “I saw that look. You don’t believe we can win.”
Ben stifled his laugh with his hands. Wesley patted his mom’s arm. “It’s okay not to win, Mom. It only matters that you have fun.”
“Oh. Now it’s on.” Nichole rubbed her hands together. “You both better get lots of sleep and be prepared to lose. Because tomorrow it’s on.”
Nichole pulled both boys into the same bear hug. Made Brooke promise to call no matter the time. Then helped Wesley back into the car.
Brooke shut the door of her apartment and looked at Ben on the couch. Archie was curled up on his lap. Cupid rested on the back of the couch behind Ben’s head, his tail draping around Ben’s neck. Luna and Rex framed Ben on either couch cushion.
The muscles in Brooke’s shoulders relaxed. It hadn’t taken Ben long at all to make himself at home.
Ben grinned at her. “Can I sleep here tonight?”
“You want to sleep on the couch and not in your own bed?” Brooke sat in the recliner. Ben looked fine. Acted fine. Still, she worried something else could happen. She glanced at his backpack on the kitchen stool. She should get the test kit out.
“Definitely.” Ben curved his palm over Archie’s back. “I’ve never slept with cats and dogs before.”
“I’m sure they will love to have you,” Brooke said.
Ben giggled, pushing Cupid’s tail away from his mouth.
His laughter unknotted more of those kinks in her body.
Ben’s hand stilled on Archie, his bottom lip disappeared. “You’re not mad I called you, are you?”
“No.” She slowed her words into an easygoing rhythm, the same way she rocked in the recliner. “Not at all.”
Ben played with Cupid’s tail and avoided looking at her. “I wanted to stay with you instead of Valerie.”
“Why?”
Ben shrugged. “I just feel safer with you.”
That heart Brooke kept trying to restrain flipped over again. For Dan’s son. Brooke sank back into the recliner. She could relate to Ben. She knew the power in feeling safe. She felt the same way with Dan.
DAN RUSHED INTO the backyard and hung up from the pediatric ward at Bay Water Medical.
Ben hadn’t been admitted. Where was his son?
Where was his family? No one answered his calls.
Where was Ben?
Terror ricocheted inside him, bouncing against his ribs, up into his throat. He’d been more calm facing an armed family than he was now.
The shift had started out routine, then tripped into anything but, with a standoff with a patient’s armed family. Dan had been forced to remain in a bedroom with a gunshot victim until the police had arrived. Between the standoff and the paperwork, he hadn’t looked at his phone until he’d climbed into his truck hours later to drive home.
The list of missed calls choked him. Valerie’s voice mail about an incident meant he hadn’t listened to any other messages. He’d started calling for answers.
Dan lifted his fist, ready to pound on Brooke’s door. Someone was going to tell him where his son was. Now.
The door swung open and Brooke shoved him in the chest.
Dan never budged, opened his mouth to demand answers.
Brooke steamrolled over him. “Wake up Ben and I’ll kick you.”
Dan’s mind stuttered. He tilted like a tree in a strong wind. But he had to know. Had to know he’d heard her right. “Ben is here?”
“You never read our texts,” she accused. “Never listened to my voice mails.”
“I...” He’d panicked. Straight-up panicked like he’d been trained not to do. Like the father of the little girl with asthma in the ER.
Brooke’s gaze softened. She recapped the evening, starting with Ben’s call, then the events at the movie theater and Nichole’s assistance.
“Where’s Jason?” he asked.
“On a plane to New York for business.” Brooke rubbed her hands together. “He probably hasn’t landed yet.”
“Why didn’t Valerie answer her phone?”
Brooke scowled. “She probably turned it off, so she wouldn’t have her sleep disturbed.”
Dan massaged the back of his neck. That sounded like Valerie. She’d have assumed Brooke had everything handled.
“You should know I was not nice to her.” Brooke shifted from one foot to the other in her fuzzy socks. “I’m not apologizing, either.”
Dan liked Brooke as she was: determined and protective of Ben. And him. “I’m not asking you to.”
“Ben was up rather late. That’s my fault. He had to call his grandpa. Ben wanted Rick to tell me that Ben didn’t need to check his blood through the night.”
Dan stared at Brooke. “You checked his blood.”
“Absolutely. I would’ve done it every hour all night to be sure. I don’t trust those machines. My dad had one and it never seemed to register his counts correctly. Or maybe it was that my dad liked to visit with the friendly nurse at the lab.” Brooke waved her hands around her as if scratching that story from the air. “It doesn’t matter. Rick and Ben convinced me that Ben was good. Sorry I made him test so much.”
But it did matter. A lot. Brooke had tested his blood without flinching. Never stuttered. Never called to tell Dan to come home and take care of his son. Or maybe she had—he hadn’t listened to the voice mails. But somehow, standing there, he doubted it. “Where did you say my brother is?”
“Jason had to fly to New York for a business meeting. Ben told me that he felt safer with me rather than with his mom.” Broke walked over to the door, peered inside her apartment, then softly closed the door again. “Are you sure your brother is a professional gambler? He has a lot of business meetings.”
Dan wasn’t sure of anything. “What did you say?”
Brooke blinked. “Are you sure your brother is a gambler?”
“No, about Ben.”
“He felt safer here.” Brooke brushed the hair out of her face. “I’m sorry. We should’ve kept calling. I fell asleep in the recliner.”
Dan understood exactly why Ben wanted to be with Brooke. Dan grabbed her hands and pulled her attention to him. “Stop apologizing.”
“But...” she said.
He squeezed her hands until she quieted. “Thank you.”
She tipped her head and watched him. “I was the one who encouraged you to do the sleepover.”
Dan shook his head. He was speechless, humbled, grateful. And he was desperately trying to catch his heart before it fell completely for such an incredible woman. But he kept fumbling and falling harder.
Brooke stepped away and opened the front door. She waved Dan closer. “Look how precious they are.”
Dan peered inside. Ben lay stretched out on the couch. One arm thrown above his head. Cupid slept, curled up on his stomach. Archie shared Ben’s pillow, snuggled against his head. Luna had flopped down on the floor in front of the couch. Even Rex snuggled on the couch near Ben’s feet.
“I don’t know how you sleep,” Brooke whispered and shut the door. “I’ve checked on Ben every hour.”
Dan tugged Brooke into his arms and dropped a soft kiss on her forehead. “Thank you.”
Thank you for taking care of Ben. Thank you for being here. With me.