Page 14 of Breathless

“I know. I’ll wait.” Seamus reached up to squeeze his shoulder as Thoreau filled the bottle from the cream ale keg. “I’m sorry, Thor. We’re all on edge lately. It’s beyond generous for you to offer up a place for him. He can be a pain, but I imagine the fact that Fiona is there will put him in a better mood. I just… Okay, here’s what I got from your brother, the nurse. Don’t let him talk for the first week unless it’s an emergency. Make sure he has his medicine and treatments, and make him drink as much broth and tea as he can stomach, because it will soothe his throat. Even if he refuses. And he will.”

Thoreau’s mood lightened a bit. “He’ll hate all of that. Especially the no-talking bit.”

Seamus gave him a look and Thoreau couldn’t help but chuckle. “What? You know I’m right. Or have you forgotten he’s the initiator of multiple Finn phone tree scandals?”

“No comment.” But his lips were pressed together suspiciously. “Just be nice.”

“Me? I’m an angel.” Thoreau slid the top over the neck of the bottle and flipped down the wire hoop to secure it. “Ask either of our mothers. I’m done here, if you want to head back up. I’ve got to hurry if I want to get to the hospital without hitting traffic.”

He slipped the bottle into an inside pocket of his jacket and Seamus frowned suspiciously. “And what, exactly, are you planning to do with that at the hospital?”

Thoreau held up his hands. “I already called Bronte. She said, hypothetically, that his medication had been reduced enough that he could have, and I quote, a few small sips of beer. That’s all I’ll let him have.”

“Wyatt? You’re sneaking Wyatt a beer in the hospital?” Seamus stared at him for a long moment before a smile curved the edges of his mouth. “You’re bringing my cousin beer I’m not allowed to taste yet, before inviting him home to recuperate with the girl of his dreams?”

“Well, it’s not an indoor pool,” Thoreau responded dryly. “But we work with what we’ve got.”

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