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She smiled but was still worried that he was doing too much too soon.
“How was your day?” She knew that he’d seen the doctor this morning for a follow-up. But since she’d been asleep after working all night, she didn’t know how it went.
“It was good. I got the all clear, stopped by Elite to let them know I was back in the game. Then had a meeting at The Plate with Riley and Dax, and got to spend a couple hours working on my bike.”
“Wow. You’ve been busy,” she tried not let anxiety bleed into her voice.
Stephanie wasn’t sure how she felt about him returning to work. She knew, of course, that he would have to. But now it scared her to think about what might happen to him.
“Oh, and I talked to Grant,” he mentioned casually.
“You did?” Now she tried not to let shock bleed into her voice. “You talked to your brother?”
When Ace had told her what happened, she’d tried to just listen and not react. No matter what his brother had done, he was still family. He was blood. That complicated things.
“Yeah,” he confirmed.
She stared at his profile, trying to get a clue about how it had gone. His expression was unreadable. So she asked, “How did it go?”
“Good. Better than I thought. He apologized and told me that he loves her.”
“Are you okay?” He sounded so calm, but she had to imagine that finding out your brother not only had an affair, but was also in love with your ex-fiancée would sting.
Ace nodded. “I am. In some strange way, it made me feel better.”
“Good. I’m so happy that you talked and that it went so well.” Stephanie was impressed at his reaction. She loved Simone to death, even when her sister tested her patience and drove her crazy, which was most of the time. But she wasn’t sure she’d be able to forgive a betrayal of that magnitude.
“I also talked to my parents.”
“Whoa, you really have been busy.”
“They want to meet you.”
He’d mentioned her to his parents?
She could feel his eyes slice towards her as he pulled into a parking spot in front of a lighted sign that read Corkscrew Italian Dining. It was a new restaurant that had opened up on the river, and was Ace’s direct competition.
Deciding to ignore his last statement she figured that she would stay on safer ground. “I thought we would be going to The Plate.”
He grinned the grin that she was sure had gotten him out of trouble as a kid and into trouble as a teen. “I didn’t want to be interrupted.”
Oh boy.
As he shut off the engine her phone buzzed. She wanted to ignore it. So bad. But she knew that she couldn’t. It didn’t escape her that it wasn’t healthy that she couldn’t shut it off. Her sister was an adult and it was reasonable to assume that she could take care of herself. Her brother was in a top-notch facility. When she was at work there were times she would go hours without being able to check her messages. But for some reason when she wasn’t, she couldn’t ignore it, no matter how badly she wanted to.
“Sorry,” she apologized as she pulled the device from her purse.
It was Brookside. Her stomach sank as she answered it. If she knew her brother needed her, there was no way she could enjoy dinner. Not if her brother was in distress.
After speaking to the nurse on duty who informed her that Scott was having an episode and asking for her, she told her she would be there soon and hung up.
“Is it work?” Unlike Stephanie, Ace didn’t hide the disappointment in his voice.
She hated hearing it and hated that she was the one responsible for causing it even more. But it was just one more reason she knew that this wouldn’t work. “No. It’s my brother. I’m sorry, but I need to go. If you could take me home an—”
“I’ll take you,” he cut in.
She shook her head. “Oh no, you don’t have to do that.”
