Hero By Night (Independence Falls 3)

The words stung. More than Chad wanted to admit. “You can’t remember what you had for breakfast or how the hell you landed in the hospital, but you want to play Oprah when it comes to my love life?”

Josh shrugged. “Short-­term memory loss, bro. I remember the things that matter.”

“I don’t think who is in my bed should make that list. And for the record, I don’t steer clear of relationships because Mom left.” Not entirely. “I just like women too much to settle down.”

He heard Brody shift in his chair and knew his brother was thinking back to this morning’s conversation in the bathroom.

“But Lena’s special,” Chad added.

“Lena?

The girl with the dog who moved into Eric’s place? I heard from some guys on the crew I was working with before I ended up here that she doesn’t like to be touched. Not even a handshake. How the hell does that work?” Josh leaned forward as he delivered his rapid-­fire questions.

“If you think I’m giving you a play-­by-­play—­”

“Enough,” Brody said. He rose and began to pace. “We didn’t come here to talk about what Chad is doing at night.”

Josh leaned back against the pile of hospital pillows. “Why are you here?”

Pausing at the foot of the bed, Brody hovered over them, looking every inch the big brother who’d carried the freaking weight of the family on his shoulders since their dad passed away seven years ago. It didn’t matter that his siblings were technically adults, even Katie, who’d been eighteen at the time. By a matter of weeks, but still, legal. Brody had taken over the struggling family business. He’d made sure there was food on the table and a roof over their heads. Now here he was again, taking charge. And Chad didn’t begrudge him this role at all.

“We’ve talked,” Brody began. “And Katie would be here too, but she got a call about a hog that needed a new home.”

“I get laid up and we become pig farmers?” Josh joked. But the words failed to mask the quiver in his voice.

Chad rested his hand on his little brother’s leg. It must be hell to wake up in a strange place every day, unsure why you were there. “Katie and Liam are starting a pig farm,” he said. “Or at least adding hogs to their barn of rescued misfits.”

“Katie’s with Liam Trulane?” Josh said, and Chad wanted to kick his own ass square into the next county. The last thing his brother knew, Katie had walked away from Liam. Sure, she’d explained everything to Josh, telling him about her wild love affair and the fact that she planned to move in with the man she once despised. But even if she’d told him yesterday, chances were he wouldn’t remember today. It was as if his memory drew a firm line between before and after the accident.

“Yes,” Brody said in his I’m-­taking-­charge-­now voice. “She is. And Chad’s right. The pigs are their problem. But we talked with her this morning after I learned that the hospital plans to release you. They want to send you to a long-­term care center by the university.”

“I can’t go home?” Josh asked, his eyes darting between his big brothers. Chad felt like an ass looking away, but knew it was better if their oldest brother, their ringleader since grade school, handled this one.

Brody shook his head. “Not yet. They claim the doctors there have some experience with short-­term memory loss following a traumatic brain injury.”

“So you think it’s the right move?” Josh said slowly. Chad tightened his grip on his brother’s leg. At twenty-­seven, his little brother looked like a lost child, and it freaking gutted him.

“It’s not our only move,” Chad said.

Brody nodded. “We’ll be interviewing specialists from all over the country. New York, Chicago, Dallas, I have a list of the top doctors who have experience helping ­people who have suffered similar injuries.”

“What about the business?” Josh asked. “You’ve got a company to run.”

Chad looked at Brody, saw the pained expression on his big brother’s face, and decided to take this one. “We sold the trucking company to Moore Timber,” Chad said. “We closed on the deal. You’re a rich man now. And we’ve got the free time to make the calls. Just sit back and relax. Enjoy having the pretty nurses fawn over you.”

Josh nodded, but Chad had a feeling his kid brother didn’t remember the sale. He’d known it was in the works. And Josh had been on board with the decision, pushing for it even, but it had still been up in the air at the time of the accident.

“We’re going to keep you in the loop,” Brody promised. “Even if we have to tell you the same things over and over. And we’re going to find a way to get you back to normal.”

Chad nodded in agreement, but his thoughts drifted to Lena and her fierce determination to travel the same road. He’d do whatever it took to help them. But normal? The past forty-­eight hours had shown him that it wasn’t an easy place to find.

Chapter 10

TURNING AWAY FROM the computer screen, Lena picked up the envelope she’d carried over from the apartment this morning and promptly abandoned beside her lukewarm coffee. The Summers family had left her alone all day. Chad had poked his head in once to tell her that he needed to swing by the hospital, but otherwise, silence. She’d used the time, and the high-­speed connection, to send out a dozen résumés to prospective employers in the area, everything from night security to receptionist. But now she needed to read the packet of papers Malcolm had dropped off yesterday.

Sliding the cover letter out, she scanned the paragraphs. The words formed a tangled mess in her mind. A Silver Star. The vice president. Lena set the paper down and rested her forehead on it. Her constant companion—­who might or might not be invited to the ceremony—­moved at her feet, pressing close against her leg.

Would she be ready in one month to stand up in front of the vice president, her family, and the press? She’d come so far in the past few months, in large part due to Hero. But she hadn’t pushed. She’d given herself the time and space to heal, removing the ­people in her life who demanded results. The ones who’d been there when she’d hit her lowest point, afraid to sleep due to nightmares, terrified to leave the house, or let even her husband close to her. She’d crawled her way back from that point, bit by bit, on her own. Still, the ceremony might be too much too soon.