Stepbrother Cowboy: A Western Romance by Lee Moore, Angela Kelly Page B

sit in the back with tall dark and ugly if you don’t mind,” I said and scooted in before Jackson could swing his hat at me.
    “I told you kid…” Jackson growled.
    But we all knew what the jokes and mock anger was about. None of us particularly liked Tim, nor anything that he’d done as of late, but he was a son. A sick son. If it was the tumor that had been making him loco and twisting his thoughts, then maybe we should cut him some slack. We rode in silence for the thirty minute trip to the hospital. The mountains kept my view and I wanted to ask Jackson a thousand times what else happened yesterday, but didn’t. I figured I’d know more when the time was right.
    The hospital we went to wasn’t the one I’d remembered, though it was in the same spot geographically. This was a modern monstrosity almost five stories tall, whereas the old one was only two. We walked without talking to the glass paneled front where there were two automatic sliding doors, the emergency doors further down the drive. There still wasn’t much parking, but I didn’t expect there to be much out here in god’s land where cows outnumbered people.
    “Hold on Cameron, I have one more thing,” Sandy said, tugging on my elbow. Jackson and Ali gave me a pitying look then headed in.
    “So, now that you know what’s really going on, how do you plan on fixing it?”
    “I think it’s still the same answer I gave last night.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Mending fences.”
    I left her there, her mouth open a bit and saw both Jackson and Alison heading towards the elevator as Sandy hurried to catch up to me.
    “Wait up,” I called, and they stepped inside the open elevator, holding a hand against the door.
    “Took you long enough,” Alison poked me, and I jumped. Damn the girl!
    “That never gets old,” Sandy said, and although I couldn’t see her expression, I knew she was probably laughing. Hell, they were all probably laughing.
    “Any word?” Sandy asked aloud.
    “None. He goes into surgery in twenty minutes.”
    “The Bart’s will be in the surgical waiting room then.”
    “That’s what the information desk told me dear.”
    “Are you getting smart with me old man?”
    “I’ll show you smart later on you-” I let their bickering wash over me and stepped back next to Alison.
    “Hey girl.”
    “You ok?” She asked me, brushing my cheek.
    “Not really.”
    “What’s wrong, have you been crying?” I ducked my head as Jackson looked over his shoulder at me.
    “No,” I lied. “This is just a little awkward. What if Carl and Tyler…”
    “They’ll be too busy to be angry,” she assured me, hugging me softly.
    The door opened, and we followed the signs to the surgical lounge. A woman was holding onto Carl, probably his wife, with Tyler standing there, dressed in his uniform, looking broken, defeated. Tyler’s eyes flashed in anger when he caught sight of me, but his look softened when Sandy rushed forward to give everyone hugs. I waited a tense moment, but Tyler looked at me and motioned with his eyes. I followed him to the far side of the room.
    “Are you here to gloat?”
    “No, no. How is he?”
    “They don’t know.” He said, his voice cracking.
    “Is it bad?”
    “As bad as things get. We’re all praying for a miracle.”
    “Listen, that thing in his head, the tumor, you don’t think it made him a little crazy, do you?”
    “Yeah, I do, but that isn’t my call. I do need an answer from you. Are you going to be pressing charges when this is all over?”
    “God, we don’t need to worry about that, let’s get the boy through surgery.”
    He paused and gave me a long look.
    “You aren’t here to gloat?”
    “No, actually I’m here to offer my regards and prayers, if they’d help from a lowlife like me.”
    “Lowlife? I may have been hard on you for being heavy handed on my nephew, but you seemed pretty straight up to me. You could have killed him, but you didn’t. Dade said you’d be a good