Silence settled over the group.
And just like that, Gray no longer felt out of place. He felt like grinning. Sophie wanted to see him. Even after he’d flirted with her, made her help him cook, and then barely spoken to her while they waited for her name to be called, she was asking for him.
Of course, she probably hadn’t realized yet that she had an entire get-well committee on hand. Swallowing awkwardly, he followed the doctor down the sterile hallway.
All boyish hopes that Sophie might anxiously be waiting on the hospital bed for Gray to check on her faded when he heard her laugh all the way down the hall. Instead of finding a wounded bird holding a broken wing, he found a preening peacock, sitting hip to hip with an elderly man, giggling over what appeared to be an ancient photo album.
“Oh, Gray!” she said, her face glowing and smiling, instead of somber and in pain. “Meet my new friend, Mr. Bronson. He was just showing me pictures of when he and his wife went to the circus in Paris and the baby elephant escaped.”
Gray couldn’t figure out if he wanted to smile or just walk away in exasperation. He’d spent the past twenty minutes enduring glares from her overbearing family, and she was in here discussing baby circus animals with a man who looked like Santa Claus.
Her gaze fell on the doorway behind him and her smile faltered slightly.
“Mom? Dad? What…Wow, everyone’s here. What’s going on?”
“We came to see if you were all right, of course!” Marnie said, dashing to her daughter’s side and grabbing for her wrist. “Oh gosh, what a huge bandage.”
“Mom, seriously, it’s just a few stitches on each finger. I’ll be completely back to normal before my next dump.”
Everybody except Mr. Bronson winced. The old man patted her knee. “It’s good to be regular, dear.”
Sophie’s welcoming smile was long gone, and she fixed Gray with a glare. “Really? You called my entire family because of a little cut finger?”
“Oh no, that was me, dear,” said the plump redheaded nurse who had just entered the room. “I just sent your parents a text message to say how pretty you’d gotten over the years! I wasn’t thinking that they’d probably freak out that an emergency room nurse was seeing their daughter. Sorry, everyone. I just didn’t think…”
“Obviously,” Gray muttered.
“Don’t worry about it, Anna,” Sophie said with a reassuring smile. “I’m sure my family and friends feel silly for rushing down here.”
“On the contrary, Soph. I, for one, was terrified. I actually stopped at the hospital chapel on the way up here,” Will said as he dug through a basket of lollipops intended for six-year-olds.
“Knock it off, Will. Don’t mock the chapel. And don’t belittle Sophie’s injury,” Brynn snapped.
“Says the big sister who was more focused on ogling her ex than worrying about Sophie,” Will muttered under his breath.
Gray stiffened awkwardly. This was a conversation he didn’t want to have…ever. Sure, he owed Brynn an explanation, but not here.
Sophie apparently agreed, because she scowled fiercely at her family.
“Dad, you can’t go abusing your hospital connections just to spy on your kids. I’m sure Anna or Dr. Hoyne could have told you over the phone that it was just a finger scratch and not head trauma.”
Both parents looked away guiltily.
“And Brynn,” Sophie said pleadingly, “please quit looking at me like I just shot your cat. Nothing happened between Gray and me; we were just together for work reasons.”
Brynn sputtered, obviously not enjoying being called out. “I wasn’t worried about that, I was just surprised…”
“And bitchy,” Will said around a neon green lollipop. Did the man never stop eating?
“And you,” Sophie said, turning on Will. “Thank you for coming down, but come on. You didn’t know better? You couldn’t have run interference?” She glanced meaningfully at Brynn.
Will shrugged, unperturbed as ever. “Brynn called me saying that there’d been an accident and that she was worried about you.”
“Brynn called you?” Marnie asked.
“And you actually came?” asked Dr. Dalton.
For the first time since Gray had met him, Will seemed to falter. “I came for Sophie, obviously. I was worried.”
Awkward silence settled over the group.
Gray wondered what his next move should be. Did he try to explain to the family why their daughter was at his home on a Friday night? Out of habit, he looked to Sophie for guidance. She was forever giving him hints on appropriate social behavior.
But not this time. She was too busy staring at the bandages on her fingers like she could heal them with her eyes.
Gray cleared his throat nervously. “Ms. Dalton, if you’re feeling better, I think I’ll let you spend time with your family. I’ll see you on Monday. Unless, of course, you need a ride home,” he finished politely.
Sophie’s head snapped up, her wide eyes blinking up at him.