The following morning while Holly and I were enjoying coffee, my phone rang. I answered immediately when I saw it was Caleb.

“Hey, do you know what time you’ll be back? I was thinking I could plan to pick you up.”

Instead of Caleb’s voice, Levi Phillips’ voice greeted me. “Hey Ella, it’s Levi. Small delay.”

“Is Caleb okay?” I asked quickly, my heart beating rapidly as anxiety coursed through me.

“Oh, he’s fine except he broke his leg,” Levi replied nonchalantly. “I was assigned to call you and let you know.”

Panic knotted in my chest.

“Why are you so calm about this? What happened? Are you sure he’s okay?” My questions flew out, one after the other, barely a pause between any of them.

Levi chuckled. “I’m calm because there’s nothing to freak out about. I’m not happy he broke his leg but he’s fine. I swear. Here.”

There was a rustling sound, the sound of footsteps, and then another rustling sound before Caleb’s voice came through the line. “I promise I’m fine,” he said, his tone slightly pained.

“What happened?”

His frustration filtered through the line with his sigh. “Something stupid. The fire was pretty much out, and we were checking the building. A beam fell on my leg. I should’ve waited a little longer, but it is what it is. As soon as the helicopter gets here, they’ll take me straight to the hospital when I get to the station. I’m trying to convince Levi the hospital isn’t necessary, but he’s being a pain in the ass about it so far.”

Intellectually, I knew this wasn’t a major thing. He had a broken leg, nothing more. But panic spun through me, clanging loud and metallic in my thoughts.

I didn’t realize I was crying until I sniffled slightly. Caleb’s voice softened. “Look, it’s okay. It’s a fucking pain in the ass, but I’m fine. Not a big deal.”

I hiccupped. Holly had stepped into the bathroom when the phone rang and came out at that moment, her concerned gaze sweeping over me. I pulled the phone away from my mouth to explain. “A beam fell on Caleb, and he broke his leg.”

Her eyes widened and then she shifted into her practical mode. “Well, I’ve gotta go because my shift starts soon. Tell him I’ll see him at the hospital later. I’ll call you as soon as he gets there.”

Caleb must’ve heard what she said because he replied. “Tell her she can count on it.”

“I’ll meet you there,” I said quickly. “Any idea when they’ll fly you out?”

“Not yet. The fog is thick this morning. Once it clears, we’ll be on our way.”

I heard several voices in the background and Caleb replying to them before speaking to me again. “Babe, I gotta go.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you when you get here.”

I held onto the phone until the line went dead in my ear. Then, I set it on the counter and promptly burst into tears. Holly was sliding her jacket on and walked back over to the counter beside me, resting her elbows on it.

“You okay?” she asked.

I dragged my sleeve across my face and sniffled, nodding as I did. “I don’t know why I’m crying. I mean, he’s fine. It’s just his leg. Right?”

Holly rubbed my back, her eyes softening. “Yes, lots of people break their leg every day. I’m sure he’ll be fine once it’s set. But maybe you should think about why you’re falling apart over this.”

I mustered a glare and another hiccup to go along with it. “Fine. I’ll see you later at work. Because I’m coming to the hospital as soon as he gets there. Promise you’ll call me?”

Holly grinned. “Of course. You need a ride?”

“No, Caleb said last night I could use his truck.”

Holly arched a brow, but said nothing as she spun away. “See you later,” she called as she walked through the door.

* * *

A few hours later, I hurried into the hospital, not even bothering to check in at the reception desk. Inconveniently, I was stopped as I started to hurry down the hallway.

“Excuse me ma’am.”

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a young man in scrubs. “Yes?” I asked, trying and completely failing to rein in the impatience in my tone.

“You need to check in at the desk before you go back there,” he explained.

Feeling rushed and frantic inside, I bit back a curse. It wasn’t his fault he was getting in my way. “I’m here to see Caleb Fox. He knows I’m coming.”

The man wasn’t swayed. “You still need to sign in.”

Oh well, oh hell. With a huff, I spun around and hurried back to the reception desk. After quickly reciting my name and signing in, I was given permission to go.

Once I reached the room where Holly told me Caleb was, I didn’t even think to knock and just shoved through the door. Dr. Lane, or Charlie to me, was standing beside an examining table talking to Caleb. She glanced back, her gaze concerned. “Excuse… Oh, hi Ella, what are you doing here?”

Why didn’t everybody know I had every right to be here instead of asking me all these questions? With another sigh, I opened my mouth to explain, but Caleb beat me to it.

“She’s here to see me, Doc,” he explained. “If it’s okay with you, can she stay?”

His eyes were on mine, and butterflies spun wildly in my belly. Only Caleb could give me that look while he was waiting for his broken leg to be set and looked to be in a bit of pain.

Charlie glanced between us and then shrugged. “It’s up to you of course. I’m not up on all the gossip around town. Are you two together?”

“Yes.” Pushing past all the uncertainty inside and closing the door behind me, I walked to the examining table, rounding to the opposite side from Charlie. “How are you?” I asked, curling my hands on a bar on the side of the table.

Caleb had one leg resting on the table and the other hanging half off the side. His hair was mussed, and his eyes were weary. He smelled faintly of smoke, and I wanted to cry again. I swallowed against the emotion thickening in my throat and tried to breathe slowly.

“I’m fine. Doc here is going to get this casted up and then I’ll be good to go,” he explained, gesturing to his right calf. “I won’t be driving though, not for a while.” He reached for one of my hands, his grip strong and warm. “Don’t look so worried. It’s not a big deal.”

Charlie chuckled and glanced between us. “You firefighters. Doesn’t seem to matter what happens, you bounce right back. This one is going to take a bit though. Don’t you dare let him drive until I clear it,” she said, her eyes flicking to me.

I nodded, rather emphatically. “Of course not.”

She lifted a clipboard resting on the counter behind her. “I’ll be back shortly.”

When the door clicked shut behind her, the room got quiet. I simply stared at Caleb, absorbing the sight of him—the clean, strong lines of his face, and his dark chocolate eyes. He was leaning back against the pillows. He looked tired, but relaxed. Tears still pressed hot against my eyelids—not from sadness, but from a mingled sense of joy, confusion and regret.

Why in the world a simple thing like his broken leg would nudge me past the logjam inside of my heart and mind, I didn’t know. I loved him. The fear and anxiety I’d been carrying inside for the last year or so had shut me down again. The mess with Lance and how it all played out had worn on me.

When you’re young and a friend dies, you eventually learn that it scars your heart, but the scars heal and you carry on. The scars don’t go away, but they do change you. All that time we’d been apart had made me forget so much. I couldn’t change the past, but I could change our future.

Caleb’s hand was still curled over mine, and he gave it a gentle squeeze. “You okay?” he asked.

I didn’t realize I was crying until I felt the cool trail of a tear on my cheek with more tears wicking up from the knot of emotion in my heart. “What is it with hospitals? I seem to cry whenever I’m near one,” I muttered with a swipe of my thumb across my cheek.

For some reason that made me laugh. It started as a regular laugh and then it just kept going. By the time I caught my breath, Caleb was grinning, simply watching and waiting. “Are you done with that now?” he asked when I finally managed a few breaths without laughing.

With a hiccup, I nodded, snagging a tissue from the counter behind me, yet not daring to let go of his hand. “Uh huh.”

“What’s so funny anyway?”

I sobered quickly, lifting a finger to smooth over his brows. “I don’t know. I love you.”

He held my gaze for a long, searching moment before tugging me to him quickly. Sliding his arm around my waist, he rose up to pull me close. “I love you too. But I suspect you already knew that.”

I barely managed to nod before his lips were on mine.

The sound of the door opening snapped us apart. Charlie entered with a nurse and a med tech. Her eyes bounced between Caleb and me, a smile playing at her lips. She didn’t say a word. Seeing as we had an audience and they had a job to do, I stepped out of the way.