“She gets it from Chelle. She was always just like that. I don’t think there was a damn thing she couldn’t do.”

The pain in Wes’s voice tugged at him, called the protective instinct inside Braden. He nudged the man’s side with his elbow. “You’re determined, too. Nothing you’re doing right now is small stuff.” Raising a kid was probably the biggest thing there was.

“Stop trying to get into my pants.” Wes nudged him back.

“Ah, come on. Don’t pretend I have to give you compliments to get there.”

Jessie ran up to them before Wes could reply. He narrowed his eyes at Braden, his lip twitching as though he wanted to say something but couldn’t.

“It’s your turn, Uncle Wes!”

“Yeah. It’s your turn.” Braden crossed his arms and earned another dirty look from Wes.

They went back and forth in between their turns. When they finished their second game Wes got a bunch of quarters before letting Jessie loose in the small arcade.

While Braden ordered them some food, Wes moved a table under the window in the wall so they were right by the door and could see her.

I never would have thought of that. The thought rubbed him wrong, sandpaper against his skin. It was something so simple, yet if he had been here alone with Jess, he never would have done it. Mostly, he was too busy thinking about himself, or what the next thing he could do was. He’d never really been responsible for much of anything other than his job.

“So what brought this on?” Braden asked him as they sat across from each other at the table.

Wes shrugged, didn’t bullshit or pretend he didn’t know what Braden meant, and said, “I was supposed to go through Chelle’s room. I can’t keep it the way it is, but I really fucking want to.” He laughed humorlessly before continuing, “I don’t know, maybe I just used it as an excuse so I wouldn’t have to do something important. Bowling is a whole lot easier than packing away my sister’s things, but I thought about Chelle. She’d be doing more with Jessie, and I wanted to do that, too. So I did.”

Braden used his foot to touch Wes’s leg. “You didn’t use it as an excuse. Being with her is more important than anything else.”

Wes turned and looked through the glass, watching her. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Usually am.” He hoped for Wes’s half-grin and got it.

“Asshole.”

They were quiet for a minute before Braden said, “Thanks.”

“For what?” Wes picked up a straw wrapper and rolled it into a ball.

“For telling me that. For inviting me.”

Their eyes held each others and he tried to read what Wes was thinking, wondered what Wes saw in Braden’s stare.

“She wanted you to come. She likes you.” He flicked the rolled up wrapper at Braden. “And I kind of like you, too. I don’t know what that means. I still have a lot going on with Jess, and I haven’t let myself...fuck, I haven’t really let myself give a shit in a long time, but yeah. There you have it.”

That took a lot for Wes to say. The fact that he did, that he wanted Braden to know that, made Braden’s heart slam around in his chest. There were so many things he did for fun, but he felt like more than just a good time with them. He felt important. It was as if someone lodged something in Braden’s throat. He wanted to speak but couldn’t. His chest squeezed and he took a deep breath, forcing himself to speak. “Knew I’d wear you down eventually. I’m Braden Roth, after all.”

They both laughed before Wes nodded toward the room. “Let’s go play with Jess.”

Braden stood and went with him.

***

The ER got too many MVA’s to count. Every time his pager went off, Wes knew it was another call, for another car accident. The weather was shit, and people obviously didn’t drive very well in it. That didn’t count the typical ER patients. He’d listened to so many lungs, given so many breathing treatments, that he thought if he heard the word “lung” one more time today, he’d lose it.

And he still had a decent drive home ahead of himself.

Wes held his hands in front of the heater while his car warmed up. He’d gotten up early this morning to put chains on because he’d known he would need them, so luckily he didn’t have to do that.

He wasn’t in the car ten minutes before traffic was dead-stopped. Unless he wanted to turn around and take the really long way, this was the only road from the hospital to Blackcreek. He had no doubt there was a wreck somewhere ahead that would delay him who knew how long.