Page 8 of Falling for Brody

Rhea shook her head. "I've never drawn much attention. This might be a little overwhelming."

Avalon waved a hand. "I hate to say 'get used to it,' but you're going to be a curiosity for a bit."

Rhea hadn't thought of things that way. "I'm not sure if I'm going to enjoy that, but I'll do anything to give Chip a wonderful life. And I think that this is the perfect place to raise him."

Sighing a little, Avalon shifted on the gurney.

Moving closer, Rhea reached out her hand and touched Avalon's arm. "Are you okay? Is there something I can do?"

Avalon shook her head. "I'm just worried about Misty."

A tear fell onto her cheek and Rhea quickly retrieved a tissue from her bag and gave it to Avalon. "Here."

She almost teared up in sympathy for Avalon. "I can't imagine what you're going through."

Avalon dabbed at her tears. "It's also Gabriel," she tipped her head toward the front of the ambulance, "Brody's cousin and Joshua's brother." She managed a smile. "Misty has really brought Gabriel a lot of joy, although he doesn't discuss those kinds of things. It's impossible to miss if you know him. It's still surprising in some ways. He's a sweetheart with family, the girls especially, but he's just as gruff with the other men. But he's always been a little more serious than the others.”

"That's really changed with Misty and Roya." Avalon continued.

Rhea smiled at the mention of the dog that had been injured. "Looks like Roya's in good hands with Brody's dad."

Avalon brightened at that. "Oh, of course. There's no one I'd rather trust to help her. I've always known him as Doc Armstrong when he was in vet mode. Everyone goes to him with everything from a bird they found in the park to a horse that's a part of a family. He is the best at what he does."

The ambulance came to a stop and Avalon turned her head to look around her. "Are we there?"

Brody called back and Rhea saw his smile. "We're here."

Chip looked up at the sound of his voice and smiled at her. "We're here."

Brody had likely missed the echo of his words, but Avalon didn't.

She gave Rhea a little smile as Rhea got up to open the back doors.

Rhea turned around and stepped down from the ambulance and froze up when she bumped into someone. "Sorry, I-"

A hand touched her hip and instead of pulling away she relaxed and turned her head. "I'm sorry." Brody gave her a smile and even though it was highly inappropriate given that she was technically at work, but damn. The man was gorgeous.

And younger than you.

That nasty inside voice. Which she told to,Mind your own business.

It just laughed at her, well trained at ignoring her.

"I guess," he gave her a one-armed shrug as his hand lifted off of her hip, "we'll get better at working around each other."

She nodded and together they took out the gurney, lowering it gently to the ground. Before they moved, Brody leaned back into the ambulance. "Hey, Chip."

Rhea turned and saw that Chip was already standing beside her, with his bag and tablet. She smiled at her son. He was so sweet and gentle.

Brody held out his hand. "Come on, Chip. I think I need your help."

Chip went right to him, taking his hand before jumping off of the bumper of the rig. "What can I do?"

Brody gestured at the double door just a few feet away. "See that button? Can you push that so your mom and I can take my friend inside?"

"Oh boy! I can totally do that!"

He bounded off, half skipping, half running. And then he jumped and landed with both feet just shy of the button.

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