Page 140 of Firecracker

“So, how are you healing?” Jamie asked.

“Good, I guess.” He held up his arm. “Got my cast on this morning.”

“Uh…that’s good?”

Tyler shrugged. “They just splint it until the swelling goes down. Then they put a cast on it.”

“How long for the cast?”

“Six to eight weeks.”

“Jesus. Are you gonna be off work that long?”

“I guess so.” He sighed. “But the concussion symptoms are a lot better. Burns are healing fine.”

“That’s good.”

“Yep.” He paused and eyed Jamie, who tapped his fingers on the armrest of the chair. He waited, one eyebrow raised. “What is it?”

“Arden.”

His heart bumped. “What about her?”

“She’s not good.”

Tyler swallowed, his heart rate quickening. “What’s wrong?”

“You.”

Tyler frowned.

“She came to see you in the hospital.”

“Yeah.”

“To tell you that she loves you.”

“Yeah. Funny how it took me getting hurt for her to realize that.” A burning sensation hit his gut.

“She came back before she knew you were injured, asshole!”

His tense jaw loosened. “What?”

“Yeah. I was the one who told her. She was standing in my apartment, all excited to be back and try to apologize to you and fix things, because she knew she’d messed things up, and I had to tell her you were in the hospital. She thought you were dying. I think she had a…a flashback or something.” His face tightened. “She passed out on me and scared the shit out of me when she heard.”

Tyler’s gut clenched, remembering Arden’s face when he’d opened his eyes and looked at her in the hospital room. She’d been scared, but she’d tried to be so brave. “She was already here?”

“Yeah. I guess after a talk with Mom, she realized she had to come see you. She got back the morning after your accident. She didn’t even know about it.”

“Shit.” He closed his eyes on a wave of hot shame. “Shit.”

“Yeah. And you rejected her.”

“It’s for the best. She…” He swallowed. “She told me I interfered in her life too much and I was stopping her from being able to start over. She kept saying she wanted to prove she could do things on her own. I screwed up.”

Jamie fell back into the chair, eyes closed. “Jesus Christ.”

“I’m an idiot. I’m sorry. She’s your sister.”

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