Beth Kery - If I Can't Have You

She sighed and brushed her son’s bangs off his forehead. Brendan still slept. He’d never let her pet him like this if he was awake, she thought, a familiar small pain going through her.

She hadn’t set a toe on Sunset Beach for over a year now, despite Eric’s invitation to continue with her swimming routine. She’d been all too happy to forget that bizarre, inexplicable incident. Kissing Eric just didn’t fit in to her safe, known world. When Eric appeared just as eager as she was to ignore what had happened, Colleen had assumed he was as regretful as she was.

So why had he made a point of reminding her of it yesterday in that examination room?

Even if they didn’t share a turbulent past, he was the exact type of man Colleen disliked: opinionated, arrogant, bull-headed. Movie-star-caliber good looks could only get a guy so far when they were accompanied by all those less-than-stellar qualities.

Besides, hadn’t her father used to say Colleen had cornered the market on stubbornness in the Kavanaugh family? It was no wonder she didn’t get along with Eric. They were like repelling magnets. Was that why her heart give a flutter when she heard someone enter the hospital room? She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the tall man who appeared next to the drawn curtain wasn’t the handsome surgeon.

“Hey,” she greeted quietly, smiling at her brother, Liam. He was in uniform, and his wavy, light brown hair streaked with gold looked windblown. “Did you walk over from the station?” The Municipal Building, where Liam worked as the chief of police, was only a few blocks from the hospital complex.

“Yeah, sorry I couldn’t get away sooner. How’s he doing?” Liam asked in a hushed tone as he bent down to give his mother a kiss on the cheek.

“He’s doing great,” Colleen replied. “Eric says the wound looks clean and that the bone tissue should heal with time. Brendan’s going to have to do some physical therapy, though.”

“That shouldn’t be too much of a problem. It’d be more of a challenge to keep Brendan still for any extended period,” Liam said, grinning. “Did Eric say what had lodged in his foot?”

“A rose thorn, of all things,” Brigit murmured, shaking her head.

It struck her as a little surreal to hear her little brother say Eric’s name so casually. A year ago, he would have said Reyes with a hard edge to his voice and a frosty look in his blue eyes. Now he spoke of him as he would a close friend or family member. Which Eric was, in a way, Colleen conceded. Liam had told her point-blank last month he’d fallen hard for Eric’s sister, Natalie.

Still, the change in the landscape of her life disoriented her a little. Things had seemed much more comprehensible when Eric Reyes was her enemy, pure and simple.

No matter. Brendan would be out of the hospital in a few days, and she and Eric could go back to keeping their wary distance from one another.

Liam sat down, and they talked for a few minutes in hushed tones until they were interrupted by the nurse coming in with a pitcher and some plastic cups.

“Dr. Reyes says he can have ice water when he wakes up if he wants it,” the nurse told Colleen.

Brendan’s eyelids flickered at the sound of the nurse’s voice.

“Mom?” he asked hoarsely, sounding a little anxious and disoriented. Colleen placed her hand on his forearm and squeezed gently.

“I’m right here, honey,” she soothed.

He focused on her sitting next to his bedside, and his anxiety immediately vanished. “I’m thirsty,” he said.

“Perfect timing, kid,” Liam said as Brigit stood to pour him some water. Brendan turned his head on the pillow and returned his uncle’s grin groggily.

“How are you feeling, Brendan?” Brigit asked.

“Okay.”

“Your foot doesn’t hurt?” she asked. As if her words had reminded him, Brendan lifted his head and stared down at his bandaged foot. He groaned, and his head fall back on the pillow.

“Does that mean yes?” Colleen asked anxiously.

“It doesn’t hurt, Mom,” Brendan assured, meeting her eyes.

Colleen loved her son to the ends of the world at the moment. He got exasperated with her mom-worry sometimes, but deep down, he knew how much she loved him.

“He just saw the bandages and thought of all the boring hours of lying in bed,” Liam said knowingly.

“Dr. Reyes said I can start moving around later this afternoon. He says it’ll make my foot stronger,” Brendan told Liam between sips of water.

“Did someone say my name?” Eric asked. The curtained-off portion of the already small space suddenly seemed as crowded as a dorm-room party.

“Hi,” Brendan said, smiling at Eric. “Did you do a good job on my foot?”

“Your mom didn’t tell you?” Eric asked.

“I just woke up,” Brendan said, leading Colleen to believe he didn’t remember much about his groggy transfer from the recovery room to his hospital bed.

“Then I’ll tell you,” Eric said. “You’re going to be tackling your uncle here by Thanksgiving, because I did a fantastic job.”

Brendan gave a tired little whoop of celebration.

Colleen couldn’t help but give a grudging smile as she watched Eric and Liam shake hands in greeting. She had to hand it to him. His cockiness was only exceeded by his charm.

Brigit and Liam stepped out of the room to give Eric room to examine Brendan, giving Colleen a chance to observe Eric’s easy banter with her son and the way Brendan seemed so comfortable with him.

“Do you work with kids a lot?” Colleen mused after he’d finished Brendan’s nerve response test, joking and talking with her son and distracting him with the fact that he was gently poking at his exposed toes with a sharp-looking metal instrument.

“I did my residency in pediatric orthopedic surgery,” Eric said. “When I was hired at Harbor Town Memorial, it was with an understanding that I’d be serving both adults and children, though.”

“Why did you decide to come back to Harbor Town when you could have worked in a larger hospital and just focused on children?” Colleen asked, puzzled. It suddenly struck her that she really knew absolutely nothing about him. Eric opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted.

“Hi, Brendan. Hey, Colleen.” Colleen looked around to see Natalie Reyes, Eric’s sister, peering around the curtain hesitantly. Eric glanced at Natalie and then back at Colleen. Suddenly, Colleen had her answer. He’d sacrificed some of his personal goals because he’d felt a fraternal responsibility toward his younger sister.

Natalie must have come from her office, because she wore an attractive chocolate-brown suit that highlighted her svelte figure and dark eyes.

“Should I come back later?” she asked.

“No, I’m all finished. My patient gets perfect marks,” Eric said. He walked over and gave his sister a peck on the cheek. Colleen noticed that Brendan’s eyes went wide at the gesture. He looked stunned that his newly acquired friend had just done something as treasonous as kiss his uncle’s girl right in front of him. Eric must have noticed, because he grinned.

“Natalie is my sister, Brendan.” He threw Colleen a quick, wry glance. “I see no one told you that, either.”

“Well, I’m sorry! It never came up. We were thinking about other things, like emergency surgeries,” Colleen said defensively.

“Natalie is your sister?” Brendan asked.

Natalie smiled and nodded.

“Didn’t the same last name ring any bells?” Eric asked, chuckling at Brendan’s continued wide-eyed stare of amazement.

Brendan grinned and shook his head.

“Liam told me you’re doing really well, Brendan,” Natalie said.

“I’m okay. Just sleepy,” Brendan said before he grimaced slightly. “And a little…”