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Note to Readers
Ethan Green had feared this day coming, almost as long as he could remember.
The double glass doors whooshed shut behind him. An antiseptic smell assaulted his nostrils. On the intercom, someone paged a doctor. An orderly pushed a squeaky cart past Ethan.
Heart pounding, he headed straight for the information desk. “Can you give me the room number for ErmaJean Hicks, please?”
“I’ll be with you in a minute.” The volunteer answered the ringing phone. “Truelove Medical Center...” Ignoring him, the woman scrolled through the computer monitor.
He bit back his frustration. Beads of sweat peppered his forehead. A dozen scenarios, each one worse than the last, flashed through his brain. What had happened to Grandma Hicks?
A broken hip? A stroke? A heart attack?
Suppose she’d passed? Suppose he’d missed saying goodbye? Suppose he never got to tell her how much he—
“Ethan? Is that you?”
Amber Fleming’s blue eyes—the same blue as her hospital scrubs—widened and locked on to his. Something entirely painful zinged inside his chest.
Her hair the color of winter wheat, she remained as tall—or in her case as small—as he remembered. But other than her ponytail, the pesky tagalong he recalled from high school was long gone. A pink stethoscope draped around her neck, she looked very professional.
Ethan flushed. “You’re a nurse?”
She touched the photo ID badge clipped to her tunic. “Nursing student.” She tilted her head, setting the ponytail aquiver. “Matt didn’t tell you?”
Ethan tore his gaze from the silky blond hair brushing her shoulder. “No, he didn’t.”
He and Amber’s older brother had been best friends since they were kids. Ethan wondered what else Matt had failed to mention. His eyes cut to the bare finger of her left hand. No ring.
What was with him? This was Matt’s little sister. This was Amber.
He cleared his throat. “GeorgeAnne Allen left me a message this morning to drop everything and come to Truelove. She didn’t say what happened, only that my grandmother had been admitted to the hospital.”
“It must’ve taken you all day to get to the mountains from the coast.” Amber’s eyes darted to the volunteer, still on the phone. “I was headed to see Miss ErmaJean. Let me take you there.”
He swallowed. “Tell me the truth, Amber. Is Grandma dying?”
Amber laid her hand on his leather jacket. “She’s going to be fine, Ethan.” She led him through a pair of automatic doors. “Miss ErmaJean took a tumble at her house and broke her leg.”
Ethan followed Amber down the white-tiled corridor. “But she’s going to be okay?”
“Her leg has already been cast.” Amber pushed the elevator button. “But when she fell, she also hit her head. The doctor wants to keep her at the hospital for a few days as a precaution.”
The elevator doors opened, and they stepped inside.
“I want to talk to her doctor.”
Amber glanced at her watch. “Unfortunately, he’s probably left for the day, but if you talk to the duty nurse, she can put you in touch with him. Same info I’ve already given you, though.”
He frowned. “Why were you informed about my grandmother’s condition and not me?”
Pressing the third-floor button, she pursed her lips. “He told me because I was here.”
He stiffened at her implied rebuke.
The elevator doors closed.
“I got here as soon as I could.”
Ascending, the elevator lurched.
She crossed her arms. “When was the last time you visited Truelove? It’s been ten years, right?”
He didn’t remember Amber being this bossy or pushy. “I was deployed.”
“But you’ve been out of the Marines for four months, Ethan.”
“Not visiting Truelove isn’t the same as not seeing Grandma. She’s visited me in Wilmington several times.” He jutted his jaw. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
“Where were you when Miss ErmaJean got the flu? When her identity was stolen? When—”
“I get it, Amber,” he growled. “Since I returned to North Carolina, I could’ve