I waited for words that never came. She wasn’t going to absolve me of this sin any more than she was going to scream at me for betraying her. I would get the same silent treatment I always did, no matter how many days I stayed at her bedside. The same silent treatment I deserved.

“Hey, you ready?” Mia asked as she knocked gently on the door.

I pulled the raw edges of my nerves back together and kissed Grace’s forehead, receiving just the blink, as usual. “I’ll see you in a few weeks, baby.”

While I gathered my things, Mia said hi to Grace in hushed tones I couldn’t quite make out.

She held in her excitement until we reached the elevator to the ground floor. “You’re coming home for your birthday?” Mia asked with a huge grin, pulsing a few times on her tiptoes.

“I’m coming for the Fourth of July with…my friends.”

“Ooh! Sam? Is Sam coming?”

“I don’t know, Mia.”

“Man, you’re grouchy. Not enough hospital gym time or something?” she mocked and pressed the button. “Just explain it to her. Sam will be okay.”

I sighed. I’d actually worked out a ton while I was here. It was becoming increasingly hard to be around Grace, and the gym was the one place I could work my body and my brain to exhaustion.

The elevator doors opened, revealing Parker lounged in one of the waiting room chairs. Damn, I’d managed not to see her the whole trip since Mom had picked us up at the airport.

“Parker.” My jaw flexed.

“Gray.” She flashed me a sunny smile. “How’s our girl today?”

“On an IV drip.” I passed her, not waiting for her to get out of her seat as I headed for the parking lot.

She raced after us, her flip-flops louder than rotor blades as she ran. “Wait up!” She clicked the “unlock” on her car, and I held out my hands for the keys. “Oh, there’s no way you’re driving my car, Gray.”

“Well, I’m sure as hell not giving you an ounce more control over any aspect of my life, Parker. So give me the keys, or I’ll call a damn cab.”

“Language!” Mia shouted from the backseat.

Parker glared, but there was zero chance I was backing down on this one. “You wouldn’t pull this shit with Constance or Joey.”

My older sisters were easily the most logical of the four. “Yeah, well, neither of them would have taken my love life into their own hands and wrecked an innocent woman because they didn’t approve.” Joey and Connie would both love Sam, I was sure of it.

“Your love life is here, Gray. In case you forgot, Grace needs you.”

Apparently Parker was not going to be on Team Sam.

I inhaled through my nose and exhaled through my mouth, counting to ten. “Give me the damn keys.”

“Lang—”

“Oh, shut up, Mia!” Parker yelled.

“Don’t talk to her like that. She didn’t do this, you did. You stuck your nose where it didn’t belong, and you hurt Sam. You hurt me.”

Her eyes widened. “You care about this other girl?”

“Yes.”

Her shoulders drooped, and she dropped the keys into my hand before walking around to the passenger side and climbing in. I adjusted the seat for my height and cranked the engine.

Parker didn’t speak until we were crossing the bridge to Roanoke Island, and I wasn’t complaining.

“Grace needs you.”

She sounded like a broken record. I shook my head. “Yeah, well maybe I need Sam. Did that ever occur to you?”

“No. It’s always been you and Grace. G-squared, the it-couple of First Flight High School. You have to give her some time—”

I hit the brakes a little too hard at the red light. “Does this look like high school, Parker? Does it?”

“No,” she mumbled.

“I’ve given her five years!” And it still wasn’t long enough. “Do you think this is easy for me?” I pulled into the tiny airport and parked while Parker seethed.

“Parker, Sam is really amazing. And Gray is like…happy around her.” Mia tried, God bless her, but I silenced her with a look in the rearview. I didn’t need her involved in my love life, either. Life would have been a hell of a lot easier with four brothers.

“So you’re giving up on her? Are you too good now?” Parker fired back, crossing her arms over her chest. “Mr. Top-of-my-class at the Citadel, big bad Army Lieutenant? Funny, I didn’t realize they let people in too stupid to read.”

Mia sucked in her breath. “Parker.”

I snorted. “Yeah, well, let me know when you decide to see if there’s life beyond the OBX, Parker. At least I wasn’t too scared to leave.” My feet hit the pavement. Then I dropped her keys in the empty seat, and Mia handed over my backpack.

“I love you, Mia,” I said, squeezing her hand.

“I love you, Gray, and I think you need to get back to Alabama and fight for Sam, because she’s phenomenal.”

“Yeah, she is,” I agreed, then turned to where Parker sulked. Why was she so hung up on this? “Parker, I love you, no matter what. But grow up and worry more about your life than mine.”

I shut the door on whatever protest she was going to make and made my way inside. Mia was right. Sam was phenomenal, but was she going to stay once I explained everything to her?

I wandered into the tiny gift shop while I waited for my flight and passed a Kitty Hawk deck of cards. Josh was right, too, I needed to lay my shit out in front of her and let her decide. As terrified as I was of letting her see that I was nowhere good enough for her, she deserved the truth.