I snorted. “You aren’t invincible either, Mr Firefighter.” I felt myself suddenly go pale as I stared at Elliot. “Are you even a fireman any more?”
“Yes, I am,” he answered, then leaned forward. “What’s wrong?”
Unexpected tears fell from my eyes and splashed on to my cheeks.
“I don’t know anything about your life now,” I sniffled. “Everything is different now. Everything.”
Elliot used his hands to wipe away my tears while Mum got up to grab me some tissues.
“Well, that’s an easy fix. Start askin’ questions, good lookin’. Ye were always good at that.”
I managed a laugh as I sniffled again, ignoring the ache in my head.
“Are AJ and everyone else okay?” I questioned. “Your mum, your dad, Bailey? Is everyone okay?”
There was a flicker of something in Elliot’s eyes, but before I could guess what it was, it was gone.
“Good as can be,” he answered with a smile. “Everyone sends ye well wishes. They’ve all visited at some point when ye were sleepin’ off your coma, lazy bones.”
Hearing everyone was okay was a relief.
“Where is Bails? I’m surprised she’s not here with you.”
Bailey was like Elliot’s shadow; she had been from the time she was little.
“Australia,” Elliot said. “She lives in Australia. She moved away two years ago; she has a boyfriend there. We sort of had a fallin’ out, we don’t speak much any more.”
Shock tore through me.
“What?” I blinked. “Why? What the hell happened?”
“Things changed, Noah.” He shrugged, not looking me in the eye. “Me and me parents weren’t happy with her movin’ away to be with someone she met online, and she rebelled against us, I guess.”
I couldn’t believe it.
“Phone her,” I demanded. “Let me speak to her.”
“Can’t.” He cleared his throat. “We don’t have her number; she calls us when she wants to check in to let us know everything is okay. I . . . I spoke to her briefly yesterday; she won’t call again for a few months. That’s the way things are right now.”
I was flabbergasted beyond belief. That didn’t sound a thing like the Bailey I knew. She was close to her family, she adored Elliot, and she loved me just about as much as I loved her. I called her my sister and she called me hers. To think she could have fallen out with her family and moved halfway around the world was unbelievable . . . but the situation I’d awoken to was something I still couldn’t believe myself, so I couldn’t dismiss what Elliot said about his sister – no matter how much I wanted to.
“This is . . . I can’t wrap my head around this.”
“You will in time,” Elliot said softly. “It’s just a change ye weren’t expectin’.”
He was right about that.
“Has anyone else moved away?” I quizzed. “AJ?”
“AJ leave me side?” Elliot looked at me and grinned. “Not likely. That boy loves me.”
I snorted. “I’m glad to hear your bromance is still going strong.”
I looked at his face and couldn’t get past his beard, and when he noticed he huffed with laughter.
“Go ahead.” He waved his hand, amusement dancing in his eyes. “Get the slaggin’ underway, I’m sure ye’ve plenty to say about the beard. Don’t hold back, lemme hear it.”
With a grin I said, “It looks like a cat up and died on your mush.”
Elliot’s deep laughter made me smile, and my mum beamed as she came back to my side and handed me a tissue.
“Did ye lose a bet with AJ or something?” I continued, dabbing my cheeks until they were dry. “It seems like something he’d enjoy seeing on your face.”
“Ye wound me, woman,” he said, still grinning. “Believe it or not, it was me own choice to grow it out.”
“Make the choice to shave it off then, or trim it at least. You look like a bloody lumberjack or a Wookiee. Should I call you Chewbacca now?”
Elliot’s laughter made my stomach erupt with butterflies. God, I loved his laugh. It was full of life and always brought a smile to my face when I heard it. Even now I was beaming, though my head felt like it was splitting in two. His laughter made me feel better. He made me feel better.
“I’ll make ye a deal, I’ll trim me beard and keep up the maintenance if ye promise to take things easy while you’re recoverin’. What d’ye say to that, sasanach?”
Sasanach. The familiarity of the teasing nickname he’d always called me enveloped me like a warm, cosy blanket.