Page 104 of Phoenix

How can I do that when I just know something terrible is going to happen one day, and I’ll be heartbroken all over again?

“He can’t turn off his desire to diffuse situations. He inserts himself places he shouldn’t and it’s dangerous. We were on this ghost tour thing, and this guy came up to us. Apparently, Case had arrested him before. He was drunk and being an asshole. Case stepped in.”

“So he was protecting you? That’s what you’re saying?”

“I mean...no. He was being the hero. I don’t need a hero. Like, apparently in Atlanta, after the football game he went to with Grayson, he put himself in the middle of a fight he didn’t need to be in because a man was getting too aggressive with a woman.”

“He was protecting her.” He tips my head up so I’m looking at him. “He was doing what any real man would have done. He protects those he cares for, and the person he cares for just so happens to be my little sister. That’s makes it okay by me.” He shoves away from the counter to make his own plate.

“So if I were to say I’m going to leave right now and move to Savannah to be with a cop, you’d be okay with that?”

“Like it? No. I don’t want you that far away, but let’s face it, Little Sister, I travel a lot for work, and I’m never in this city as it is. You should be where your friends are. Where you’re happy. You can lie to me and say you’re happy here, but I know better. I see your pictures when you’re in Georgia. I know the truth.”

“What about work? What then?”

“You hate your job.”

“What? No I—”

“Yes, you do. You may not hate nursing, but you hate working in the ER. You know that. I know that. Everyone knows that.”

“I can’t just pack up and leave. And even if I could, he may think I’m more trouble than I’m worth now.”

“If he thinks that, he doesn’t deserve you anyway.”

I climb from my chair and go around the breakfast bar to hug my brother.

“Thank you.”

He wraps his arms around me and squeezes. “For?”

“Always being honest and for being the best.”

“Being the best is in my blood. I can’t help it.”

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