Page 26 of One More Time

Her next breath was a little steadier. “I know you do, and I love you. Give me a sec. I’ll see if he can talk.”

I heard footsteps, followed by my mother’s muffled voice. My brother got on the line a moment later. “Hey, man.” His voice was thready.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“Bad timing for Mom to stop by.”

“She’s just checking on you.”

“I know. I don’t look good, so she wants to hurry me back to the hospital and get the doctor to try to change my mind about treatment.”

“I know.” My voice was clipped, and each beat of my heart was a dull, aching throb. “What can I do to help?”

“Nothing. I’m okay. Just a rough day. You sure you can handle me coming up there?”

“Absolutely.” My voice was more confident than I felt. I didn’t doubt that I could handle it, but I knew it would be brutally hard.

I heard our mother’s voice in the background. “Do you want me to talk to her again?”

“I can handle it. I love you, man.”

“Back atcha.”

After we ended the call, I texted my mother. I love you, and Derek loves you.

At this moment, I wanted to run from my life. I didn’t think I could handle going back into the winery for more small talk. When I stepped out into the hallway, I was relieved to see a server passing by. He took my empty bottle. I eyed both directions in the hallway, thinking it was going to be a pain in the ass to thread my way through the crowd in the front of the restaurant.

He thumbed the other direction. “Back door.”

I followed where he pointed and slipped out into the darkness. I stopped for a minute once I was outside. The winter air was a bracing jolt.

Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I began walking. A moment later, I glanced ahead to see a silhouette turning onto the sidewalk. My pulse galloped faster. It was McKenna.

“McKenna!” My words were ahead of my brain, but it kicked in quick.

What the hell are you doing? You’re not a good bet, not for someone like McKenna.

Shut up.

The list of reasons I wasn’t a good bet for anyone for anything more than casual was pretty fucking long. Yet I didn’t want to think about that now.

The air felt sharp and crisp as I began to jog. She didn’t hear me call her name.

“Hey,” I said when I reached her.

She jumped back and let out a startled gasp.

“Oh, hey, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

When I looked into her eyes, I saw raw fear flickering in the depths. Protectiveness rose inside me like a roar. I wanted to bundle her into my arms and make that fear disappear.

“Seriously.” I reached a hand out to curl it over her shoulder. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” I could feel the subtle tremor in her body. “Are you okay?”

She blinked and looked away quickly. My hand fell away. It was beyond clear that she needed space. She curled her arms around her waist before she brought her eyes to mine again. “I’m fine. I guess I startle easily,” she explained.

That was maybe an understatement. But then, maybe I was being an idiot. “Sometimes I can be a dumbass.”

“What do you mean?