“Jesus.” Jesse had heard that call, but he’d had no idea it involved Ellie.
He shoved his lunch back into the bag and got to his feet, then headed over to the First Aid Center. A knee injury was the last damned thing Ellie needed. How was she going to keep up with the twins? How would she work? If it was a break or a torn ligament, she might even need surgery.
Damn it.
He stepped inside.
Ellie stood in the middle of the room, talking on her cell phone and walking back and forth, still in her ski boots. She wasn’t limping. She didn’t look injured at all.
She ended the call and walked over to him. “Hey.”
“I heard you’d been hurt.”
“Oh, that was my sister.” She pointed to a dark-haired version of herself that was lying in one of the beds, her leg elevated and splinted. “Jesse, meet Claire.”
* * *
Ellie pushedClaire’s wheelchair out to the parking lot. “I called the ER and checked her in. We shouldn’t have to wait too long.”
Jesse walked beside them, carrying their skis and boots. “Smart.”
Ellie couldn’t help but feel drawn to him. It wasn’t just that he looked like every Colorado girl’s vision of heaven in that Ski Patrol parka. It was the fact that he cared about her. She’d seen the worry on his face when he’d burst through the door at the First Aid Center. He’d thought she was hurt, and once again he’d come to help her.
“I don’t need to go to the ER,” Claire protested.
“Stop being stubborn. I’m the registered nurse, so I get to make these decisions. Besides, Cedar is meeting us there.”
Claire looked up at Jesse. “Do you see how she bullies me?”
Jesse didn’t seem to know that Claire was joking. He kept his silence, the wariness on his face telling Ellie that he felt it unwise to wade into an argument between sisters.
“We both rebelled against my father. I became a nurse instead of a doctor, and Claire went into woo-woo and became a massage therapist.”
“Massage isnotwoo-woo.”
Jesse glanced over at Ellie, caught the smile on her face, and the confusion on his faded. “Do you always tease each other like this?”
“Yes,” they answered in unison.
“What’s the point of having amucholder sister if you can’t tease her once in a while?” Claire asked.
“What?” Ellie feigned outrage. “I’m only eighteen months older.”
They reached Claire’s SUV.
“Now what?” Ellie unlocked the doors with the fob.
Jesse opened the rear passenger side door. “Claire, it would be better if you rode in the back instead of up front. That way, you can keep your leg elevated.”
Ellie nodded in agreement. “Good idea.”
“Oookay.” Claire looked confused.
“Why don’t you stand on your left leg? I’ll climb in from the other side, lift you onto the seat, and help you scoot backward. You can use the other door as a backrest. Ellie, can you support her injured leg?”
“Absolutely.”
With Ellie to steady her, Claire got to her feet—or her foot. “Now what?”