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that she had just had all her fears confirmed made her sad. She knew the responsibility of talking to Harper would fall to her. And she would have to hurt him again.
    On the bright side, there was a road trip in their future.
    Exploring had always been one of their passions. It had started out as a SEAL’s need to reconnoiter the area, but she had joined him and added some fun to the task. They used to drive for hours wandering from state to state, sometimes only getting back minutes before he was due to report for duty. That had been when they were young and a little more carefree. Not that she’d ever tell her daughter, but Dillon had been conceived in the back of Harper’s old truck on one of his quick trips home.
    Two or three years ago they’d gone on a camping road trip. Two weeks in the middle of nowhere. Tate had been small then, maybe only three, and Dillon had been old enough that she’d resented leaving her friends. But they had all ended up enjoying themselves. It was one of the last clear memories she had of them doing something fun as a family. Dillon’s too. Tate didn’t remember it at all, which made her sad.
    How long she sat in that chair reminiscing, she didn’t know. But when a nurse took off running in the direction of Harper’s room she knew something was up. She bolted for the door. As she pushed through she heard him yell at them to get the fuck away from him. Harper stood on the far side of the room, bloodshot eyes wild, arm dripping blood where he’d caught it on something. Cat grabbed the back of one of the nurse’s scrubs as she tried to reach for him and jerked the woman back. “You need to get out of here. Now. I’ll talk to him.”
    The nurses argued with her, but Cat could outlast them all. “Get out!” They finally seemed to respond to the authority in her voice. They scuttled out of the room, tugging a sobbing young girl with them.
    Cat took a deep breath and waited for Harper’s anger to ease. He had fallen into a fighting stance, arms outstretched, ready to defend himself. She didn’t need to wonder what had set him off so thoroughly. It looked like one of the nurse assistants had come in to do something, flicked the light on and scared the crap out of Harper.
    His bloodshot eyes were blinking and he scowled fiercely, obviously in pain. Cat flicked the light switch down, plunging the room into as much darkness as she could. There was a nightlight in the bathroom casting a dim glow and a sliver of daylight beyond the blinds, but other than that the room was dark.
    “Harper, you need to get a hold of yourself. It’s just me in here now and I’ve dimmed the lights. What happened?”
    His stance relaxed and his big head tilted toward her. Tears streaked his cheeks and she knew the pain had to be excruciating. Plucking several tissues from the box on the table, she approached him. “I have tissues I’m going to give you, okay? And your arm is bleeding. We need to make it stop. Okay, babe?”
    “Yeah,” he croaked, obviously hurting. He held a hand out for the tissues. “I’m sorry I went off. She flicked on the lights and before I knew what was going on she had started doing things with my chest bandage. I didn’t hear her come in.”
    Cat felt sick to her stomach. “I was sitting just outside, but I didn’t see her go in either. I’m sorry about that. I was supposed to be on duty and I dropped the ball.”
    He leaned against the bed, hands over his face. “You weren’t on duty. I’m not a child.”
    She knew he wasn’t but the guilt still nagged at her. Lost in memories, she hadn’t seen the woman enter the room.
    “I’m going to touch you on the shoulder, okay?”
    When her hand landed on the tense deltoid muscle, he reached up, grabbed her hand and dragged her into his heavy arms. Cat knew the hug was for his own peace of mind, but she savored the touch. For just a few seconds she allowed herself to burrow into his chest, the scalding heat of his skin