“He’s going to be okay.”
Shelby gazed up at her sister standing in the door of Reece’s hospital room. In her leather jacket, jeans, and boots, she looked every inch the kick-ass cop that she was.
“Docs say he’ll be out of here in a few days,” Eva added, rocking a little on her feet, hands stuffed in her pockets.
“I know.” She returned her gaze to the bed, where he’d been drifting in and out of consciousness since the doctors treated him for the Xanax overdose. “But he asked me to stay with him, and I just can’t bring myself to leave until he comes around.”
Eva nodded and stepped into the room. “Shelby, I’m sorry. I was pissed when I found out about you and Reece, I’ll admit it. Reacted…” She winced. “Badly.”
“To say the least. You punched him, Evie.”
“I was afraid for you. I thought, how can this possibly work?” She looked at the bed, heaved out a breath. “But, you know, I was wrong. It does work. For the two of you, it does. Cam said he’s never seen his brother so…at ease. Even with the shitstorm flying around him this past week, Reece has been happier. You do that for him.”
“Not after yesterday.”
Eva came the rest of the way into the room and sat down in the chair next to Shelby’s. “Yeah, well, he had a right to be pissed off. You fucked up, Shel. Why didn’t you ever tell me about this Jason Mallory character?”
“I didn’t want you to be ashamed of me. More ashamed of me,” Shelby blurted, unable to keep the truth from slipping out when all of her emotions were so close to the surface. She stared into her sister’s eyes, saw tears there, and her own vision blurred. “I see how you are with Mom, and I’ve always been afraid I’ll just keep doing the wrong thing and someday, I’ll reach for you and you’ll turn your back on me like you have her. I’m terrified of that.”
“Oh,” Eva breathed and closed her eyes as if in pain. She leaned over and wrapped Shelby in a hug. “That’s not going to happen. I will always be there when you reach out, no matter what. And I might get mad and I might say things I shouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop loving you. Ever. Until Cam, you were all I ever had. Nothing can break that bond, okay? So tell me when you get in trouble from now on.”
Sniffling, Shelby drew away. “I don’t plan on getting in any more trouble.”
“That’ll be a nice change of pace.” Eva straightened her shoulders, whisked away tears with impatient wipes of her hands. “Okay, enough waterworks.” She stood. “I’m gonna go, but when that man wakes up”—she indicated Reece with a jerk of her thumb—“you make sure he knows how you feel about him. Life’s too fucking short to miss out on spending it with the man you love.”
Shelby gazed over at Reece. He was pale, so still under the bleached white blankets of the bed. Her heart clenched. Life was short—and his had almost ended far too soon.
“Oh, and one more thing,” Eva said from the doorway and tossed a small padded envelope to Shelby. “Thought you might want that back.”
Heart thudding, she waited until her sister was gone before opening the metal prongs that held the envelope closed. She dumped the contents into her palm…
And wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.
Her wedding ring.
She slid it onto her finger and immediately felt whole again. A sob caught in her throat. Okay, the tears were going to win out, as they had so many times in the last few days. She loved this ring, loved what it symbolized.
And it killed her that it wouldn’t mean anything after the annulment.
Sobbing openly now, she slid the ring off her finger and returned it to the envelope.
It was two days before Reece was able to stay awake for more than a few minutes at a time and although he still felt fuzzyheaded and nauseous, he was happy to at least be upright again.
He knew Shelby had been with him for the last forty-eight hours, because he remembered seeing her at his side the few times he’d resurfaced. She’d appeared hazy, apparition-like as if he were dreaming her, but he was positive he hadn’t been and waited restlessly for her to walk through his door. Except she didn’t. The day wore into afternoon, then into evening, and she didn’t.
But Dylan did. He tapped on the frame and hesitated. “Can I come in?”
Reece’s immediate gut reaction was a massive hell-to-the-fucking-no he couldn’t come in. But he couldn’t be held accountable for his wife’s sins, and their friendship ran too deep, went back too far, to dismiss him outright.
Reece nodded and sat up straighter in the bed. “All right.”