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"Listen," Grace said softly "I hate that you went through that It must have been hell No one should ever have that happen to theht a punch of emotion that blocked Grace’s windpipe, for Anna, for Josh She physically ached for hied to keep it all together "But you lived," she reminded Anna softly

"So? I still can’t play soccer"

"Could you before?"

"Yes! I was great before"

"Then you’re still great," Grace said "Play wheelchair soccer"

"That’s stupid And pathetic"

"No, stupid and pathetic is not doing anything at all but bitching about not going to Europe, when really, if you wanted to go, you’d just go I rown-up"

Anna let out a low, disbelieving laugh "I take it back I don’t like you better than the last few babysitters at all"

Grace sot soot a very senuine one Then her attention turned to the guy co but boxers, yawning

"He’s gone, right?" Devon asked, his voice sleepy and thick "Your brother?"

"Yep," Anna said

"You fell asleep on h that was so completely fake that Grace’s eyes flew to her, and then to Devon But Devon either missed that fact entirely or didn’t care He scratched his head, then his chest If he scratched his ass next, Grace was going to throw up in her mouth a little bit

"What do you want to do today?" Anna asked hiet dressed and out of the house that Grace nearly shoved hirow a set and kick his ass But when Grace had been Anna’s age, she’d have highly resented anyone telling her what to do In fact, it would have ue, hard

"Thought we’d go to Seattle and hit some stores," Devon said "The neboards are in"

"Don’t you have physical therapy?" Grace asked Anna, trying to toss her a life preserver

But Anna didn’t want one "Seattle sounds great," she said

"Cool," Devon said "But I don’t have ed "No proble at Devon "Out"

"What?"

Grace opened the front door and gestured with a jerk of her chin

"Dude," he said "I’m not dressed"

"Dude, I don’t care Come back when you can pay your oay"

Devon stalked stiffly out, and Grace shut the door on him Actually, she sla me toe the line? Because it sucks"

"There’s the line, and there’s coure out the difference, and we’ll talk"

Anna glared at her for a ed "I’ll need a ride to PT in an hour"

"I’ll be here" Grace watched Anna vanish down the hallway, then turned to the little pug demon puppy "So how do you feel about chocolate pancakes?"

"Arf!"

Chapter 13

Beware of chocolate squares; they make you round

For several days, Josh was up to his eyeballs in patients with the flu and strep throat Throat cultures and breathing treatments became his favorite words By the end of the third day, he was practically swaying on his feet in exhaustion "We done?" he asked Dee, knowing he still had to face the mountain of paperwork on his desk "Anyone left to see?"

"No" She knocked on wood "Don’t jinx it or so Run while you can"

"What about Mrs Porter? Didn’t I see her on the schedule earlier?"

"She was here, but she got tired of waiting Said you were cute, but not that cute, and she’d see you another day"

"What brought her in?" he asked

"Headache She said it was probably because she’d lost her glasses and would just get another pair fro you"

Josh spent twentythe torturous pile of files before he was paged into the ER One of the on-contract doctors couldn’t show up for the first half of their nightshift, and they needed Josh He called Anna, who infor rat because she had a date So Josh called Grace "I hate to ask," he said, "but--"

"I’ve got hi back"

"Back?"

"I took Anna and Toby to see a soccer ga soccer player before the accident Ever since, it was as if she’d erased soccer from her vocabulary "Really?"

"Wheelchair soccer"

It wasn’t often he was rendered speechless "She illingly, or did you have to kidnap her at gunpoint?"

"She illingly," Grace said, sounding airls on the field"

An odd emotion blossomed in Josh’s chest "I owe you," he said softly

"Actually, at the moment, I owe you"

Surrounded by hell, his life co for the first ti, Dr Scott Talk to you later"

Josh was still s when he headed into the ER The shift was a little crazy, but that was the nature of the beast in any hospital There was a purpose to all of it, to every orchestrated movement, and unlike everywhere else, here he thrived on chaos

You thrive on the chaos that is Grace Brooks as well…

Graceshe did, everyone she helped along the way, everything she said or felt, came from the bottom of her heart

He loved that

It was 1:00 aet hoain

He was halfway to his car when he got the call