Chapter 21—Sebastian

“Hey little bro, how you feeling?” Sophia smiled as she walked into the room. That was the thing about my big sis; she always had a smile on her face. No matter how I was feeling, she had a way of making me feel better.

“So-so.” I tried to wave my hand, but between the blood tests, radiography and everything else that Emma had organized for them to do today, I was exhausted.

“That good, huh?”

I nodded.

“Where’s Emma? I’ve been looking for her everywhere.”

“Dunno.”

“Oh,” she said sadly.

“So, did you guys talk?”

I shook my head.

“Well, I think that you guys should talk.”

She was the fixer, the one that tried to solve everyone’s problems. I used to wonder as a kid if she had some magic wand that hid how she was really feeling inside. She must have felt sad occasionally. No one could be happy all the time. Or maybe I took all the miserable genes and she had only the happy genes.

Sheryl stepped in and my heart skipped a beat. Part of me had hoped that it was Emma coming in to say something. That she didn’t mean what she’d said earlier and that we could see how it goes and take it from there. I felt like such a chump. I knew that she’d wanted to say something. Pride got in my way and stopped her from saying it.

This was why I didn’t do relationships. I was just crap at them.

“Well, I have some good news. We’re done for the day. Dr. Edwards is going to go over the labs and get back to you. But so far, all the x-rays look good.”

Should she be the one that is telling me this? I’d thought that she was just a nurse.

“So, is Emma around?” Sophia asked, as if she’d read my thoughts.

“No, she’s with the consultant right now. But she just wanted me to let him know that everything was good so far.”

Sophia looked surprised. “Oh, okay. I’ll take him home.”

I nodded as I swung my legs of the table. “Thank God. I don’t think I could ever get used to wearing these aprons. Why don’t they make them sexier?”

Sophia laughed. “You’re in a hospital. Not a strip club or something. Besides I thought guys wouldn’t care about those kinds of things.”

“Guys like Mason?”

She blushed. Wow, she really had it bad. My big sis, who normally told me that her love life was nothing to do with me, was blushing.

“Hey, who called out my name?” Mason said as he walked into the room.

“So both of you are taking me home?”

Mason and Sophia looked at each other and sure enough my sister blushed again as Mason took her hand. Sheryl, who now looked completely lost, smiled and left the room. I thanked her for her help as she left.

“So, it’s official?” I said kind of jealous that the two of them had sorted it out and hooked up for real.

“You don’t mind do you?”

I shook my head. Mason was crazy to think that a great guy like him dating my sister would be an issue.

“Shoot, I forgot to tell you. Mom has good news.”

I smiled back at Sophia; that could only mean one thing. “She’s in the clear?” I stood up and anticipated giving her the biggest hug.

Then she said, “Uh-huh, but she wants to tell you herself, so act surprised.”

I nodded. “Where is she?”

“At your house,” Mason blurted out. “Get dressed, we’ll wait for you outside then we’ll all go.”

As they left the room, I realized that for the first time, my sister and best friend would be hanging out with me. Not so much, because they both wanted to be with me, but they were a couple and that was what couples did. I put on my jeans and shirt and wondered if I could do that with Emma. There was only one problem. She was my doctor and it wasn’t going to be as easy for us to hook up together as it had apparently been for Sophia and Mason.

***

“So, what do you think about Emma then?” Sophia said from the back of the car. She hadn’t even come to the examination room. It was as if she was hiding or something.

“Is it because she’s older or something? I just don’t get it. We really connected in Vegas…” I was staring at the window and thinking about the fact that two days ago I was on top of the world in that room and then after Emma just did a disappearing act on me. I felt as if I had flatlined.

“You see, the problem is she’s scared about losing her job,” Sophia said and I felt as if I was listening to a broken record. Emma had already made that clear.

Maybe this was some schoolboy crush. Shit, I had wanted her for so damn long, hadn’t got her of my mind as a kid and maybe as an adult those thoughts had just transformed into lust.

But if that was the case and it was really true, then how come I couldn’t get her out of my mind?

I felt as if I had used superglue on my heart and it just couldn’t come off unless I did some laser treatment or something. I smiled for a minute. Just one minute, remembering that my mom had got better and I didn’t have to worry about her again.

“Yeah, cause of her old man,” Mason sighed as he pulled into the drive.

Where did that come from?

“What’s her old man got to do with her job?”

They both looked at each other. Sophia was clearly telling Mason with her eyes that he should have kept his mouth shut. Secrets and Mason didn’t go well together. That was something that they would both have to work on in their relationship.

“Well, he got himself in some kind of debt and she took the job on to help pay it back. So they wouldn’t lose their house and everything.”

Mason laughed. “Yeah, maybe the best way for you guys to hook up is to pay her dad’s debt. That way she won’t have to be our doc anymore and you guys could have a shot.”

Sophia chuckled. “That’s a stupid idea.”

I was the only one who wasn’t laughing as I kissed them both on the cheek and said, “Sometimes Mason, you really aren’t just a pretty face.”

He looked concerned as he said, “But it was a joke!”

That was when Mom came out with a big banner, which read: “I’m in the clear!”

She had the biggest smile on her face and I could tell that all the stress of the last few weeks was free from her mind.

I hugged her and laughed. “Aren’t I the one who should be holding the banner?”

She smiled. “I’m free, son. Finally free.”

I could see the relief that was written all over her face. Mom was scared, probably petrified, but hadn’t wanted to let on how she was really feeling.

But at that moment Sophia rushed to my side and said, “Mason was joking. That’s a bad idea you have running in your head.”

I smiled and said, “Is it?”

Because to me, it sounded like the perfect solution. I had two things to celebrate today. Not only was my mom free of cancer, but I was going to get Emma. She didn’t know it yet, but once I did there would be nothing standing in the way of us being together. Not this time. I wouldn't let it.