“I’ll stand, thank you.”
“Okay.”
He walked to his desk but remained on this side of it, rather than sitting in his chair. A move like that seemed a bit pretentious and stuffy for his first chat with the woman he’d hoped to someday be his sister-in-law.
“She’s miserable, you know.”
Her words turned his stomach. “She is?”
Alex mumbled something about men being stupid before saying, “Yes. She is. So, I’ll ask again…why haven’t you bothered to contact her?”
“Avery said she needed time to process everything.”
“Yeah, well…that was two weeks ago. Time’s up.”
He knew exactly how long it had been since he’d seen her. Down to the very last minute.
“I told her to call me when she was ready.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned his ass against the front of his desk. “I picked up the phone a million times, but I figured if she wanted to talk to me, she would’ve called. I just assumed she didn’t want to see me again.”
“She didn’t.” Alex didn’t pull any punches. “Not at first.”
Hope began to bloom inside his chest. “And now?”
“Now she spends her days drowning herself in work and her nights cuddled up to Gus.”
Those hands came flying out of his pockets as Garrett straightened his spine. “Who the fuck is Gus?’
Alex’s bow-shaped lips turned into a slow grin. “Her cat. But I’m glad to see your jealousy is alive and well. Means you still care.”
“Of course, I still care.” He frowned. “I wasn’t trying toghostyour sister, Alex. I was trying to do the right thing and give her space like she wanted.”
“I’m sure you were.” Some of the heat cooled from Alex’s dark eyes. “And I’m trying to do the right thing now by telling you she’s a mess.”
Garrett studied the other woman closely. Through all her anger and desire to rip his balls off, he also found sadness and concern.
“I take it she doesn’t know you’re here?”
“No, and she’ll kill me if she finds out.”
“It’ll be our secret.” He offered her a small smile. “And, for what it’s worth, Avery’s lucky to have a sister who cares so much about her.”
“Thank you.”
Now that it seemed as though he was out of the line of fire, he shifted from the defensive to the inquisitive. “You said she’s a mess. Are you sure it’s because of me? I mean, she went through a pretty traumatic experience.”
“I know.” Sadness filled her sister’s eyes. “Those first few days after she got back, she had a rough go of it. She stayed at my place, which was good because she’d get these nightmares and wake up crying. I’d put on some coffee, and we’d talk them out. She told me everything that happened that day.” Alex drew in a breath and said, “Thank you, by the way.”
“For?”
“Risking yourself by going after her. You could’ve just gotten yourself and those other passengers back to the ship, but you didn’t. You went looking for her. And if you and your teammate hadn’t found her when you did, who knows what would’ve happened to her and that girl.”
“I wasn’t leaving until I found them.” She needed to know that.
“That’s what Avery told me.”
“You said she stayed with you when she first got back. What about now?”
“She’s back at her own apartment. I think the nightmares have subsided. She pretends to be okay, and…I don’t know. Maybe she really is. Avery’s a strong woman. A hell of a lot stronger than me.”