His expression cleared instantly. He even exerted normal pressure on his leg while putting away the tea. “Of course. Why?”
“I just thought...” She stopped herself. He wouldn’t be planning to walk across Nicaragua if his leg was causing him trouble. She must’ve imagined that he felt pain. Or maybe he’d just twisted it, which could make anyone wince. “Never mind,” she said. “See you in the morning.”
Ten
SOMETHING WOKE OLIVIA a few hours later. She wasn’t sure what—until she listened carefully. Then she realized it was the TV. Although the house was otherwise dark and quiet, she could hear the drone of voices and wondered what Brandon was watching.
It had to be late.
She checked her phone on the nightstand. Sure enough, it was three-thirty.
She tried to go back to sleep. It wasn’t any of her business what Brandon was doing. But after lying awake for another twenty minutes, she got up to see if he was okay. Maybe he needed someone to cover him and turn off the TV....
He had a television in his bedroom. She’d seen it when they’d napped in there before. But that wasn’t where she found him. Perhaps he’d thought he’d keep her awake if he used that one. Or he liked the loft better, because he was there, asleep in a recliner.
He’d changed into an old T-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts. That he’d wanted to get comfortable didn’t come as any surprise, but his leg in a brace and buried beneath half a dozen ice packs did.
“Oh, God.” She hadn’t imagined the flicker of pain on his face earlier. Although he’d masked it quickly, there was no doubt now. Besides the brace and the ice, she saw a bottle of prescription pain medication on the table beside him. Obviously his leg was still giving him a great deal of trouble.
Her presence and the two words she’d uttered were enough to wake him. He opened his eyes and looked at her. Then he tried to sit up and grab for the remote, but it had fallen out of his hands and onto the floor.
She retrieved it for him, but by then she’d already seen what he probably didn’t want her to see. He’d been watching the footage of his own fall. From what she could tell, his support crew was a couple of hours into trying to get him help. She could see the dark speck he made on the mountain, hear the helicopter from which they were filming and the frantic discussion going on between the cameraman and the pilot. She could also feel the tremendous concern, the sheer urgency of the situation. According to the stopwatch on the screen, whoever held the camera had been filming for two hours and forty-four minutes, but rescuers hadn’t yet been able to reach Brandon on that steep slope.
How long did he have to lie there, in a crumpled heap, waiting? She’d never thought about that. She’d seen the same clip as everyone else—the part where he lost control and tumbled like a rag doll down the cliff, hitting rocks and trees along the way—but not this extended version. This wasn’t for public consumption. She hadn’t even considered how hard it would be for emergency help to get to him or how it must’ve felt for him to lie there suffering. It was a miracle they’d been able to rescue him at all.
“Are you wondering how you survived?” she asked.
He scratched his head as he relaxed into his seat. “I’m wondering how I screwed up so badly, how I put myself in that position in the first place.”
“You’re good at what you do, Brandon, but...anyone can make a mistake. Especially on a slope like that.”
He took the remote and snapped off the TV as if he couldn’t bear to see any more, and she frowned as she studied his leg. “I hope you’re really going backpacking across Nicaragua in two weeks because, if I remember right, I was invited to join you.”
“I’ll take you next summer.” He shifted so he could remove the ice packs on his leg.
“So that invitation—it was just a fake?” Nudging his hands away, she stripped off the packs.
“Sort of. I have to leave town, but I won’t be doing any backpacking.”
“Where are you going?”
Obviously uncomfortable revealing this information, he cleared his throat. “There’s a doctor in Europe. Thinks he can fix my leg.” He motioned to a small refrigerator in the corner near the wet bar. “The packs go in there.”
Apparently sitting up with his leg in a brace wasn’t an unusual occurrence. “You need another operation?” she asked as she opened the fridge.
“At least one,” he answered. “In order to regain full range of motion, it might take more.”
“And you’re not telling anyone because...”
Velcro rasped as he removed the brace and set it beside his chair. “I can’t risk losing my sponsors. If they think I’ll no longer be a force in the industry, they’ll sign someone else.”
“I see.” She folded her arms. “And you haven’t told anyone here at home because you’re afraid we might leak the truth to the press?”
“Figured if I’m going to lie, I might as well be consistent among all my friends.”
“What about your family?”
“What family?”
“Your mother loves you, Brandon.”
“And she loves Bob and Kyle and will soon have a grandbaby. I’m a big boy. I’ve made my decision and I’ll live with the results. There’s no need to worry her.”
How many times had his parents warned him not to take the risks he took? “That’s gallant of you. I think. Except, if I was your mother, I’m pretty sure I’d want to know.”
“I’ve considered that. But if I tell her, I essentially tell my stepfather, too, and I don’t want to hear him say, ‘I told you so.’ I especially don’t want to put up with having him act as if I deserve this.”
She could understand his feelings. She’d heard Bob expound on the subject of Brandon and
