Chapter One

Mia Ferris glanced at her watch for what felt like the millionth time, but was probably only the thousandth. She fought down the now-familiar burst of fear and anxiety, struggled to stay calm. Nobody needed to see her freaking out, that was for goddamn sure.

Nick had been in surgery for three hours now, and Mia had felt every single second of it. The hospital waiting room had been cheerless when she’d first walked into it that morning, and by this point, it was grim and small and gray, with all the charm of a prison cell.

OK, not really: it was actually fine, as far as these places went, but it was definitely shrinking. Mia felt the walls closing in on her as her panic rose again and she took a deep breath.

Calm, calm. Calm.

“Mia?”

Startled, Mia jumped a bit, then raised her eyes to Marnie Spencer’s. Her gut clenched up tighter, since the woman’s gray eyes were exactly like Nick’s.

“Yes?” Mia said.

“Honey, I’m going to the cafeteria to get some coffee. You want some?”

“Oh. No, thank you.” Mia smiled at Nick’s Mom. “I’m good.”

“You sure?” William Spencer boomed out, and Mia jumped again. Two days she’d been listening to Nick’s Dad’s voice, and she still found it intimidating. Well, actually, she found the whole man intimidating, and despite the fact that he’d been kind, Mia couldn’t relax around him at all. “Maybe you want some breakfast? You haven’t eaten.”

Mia shook her head. “No, really. I’m fine. Thank you, though.”

“Yeah?” Now Katie Lloyd was in on it. “I think you need to eat.” She turned to Marnie and Will. “Could you please grab her a sandwich? Tuna, if they have it, OK? If not, chicken.”

Mia bit back a sigh of exasperation as Reena Mackay and Maggie Branson nodded in agreement. She looked to the looming, hulking men for help, but Adam Pierce, Mitchell Corrigan, and Joe Carlisle were all backing up their girlfriends one hundred percent. Surrounded by nodding heads and expressions of deep concern, Mia gave in. It was easier than arguing, she knew, and it was the only way for them to stop treating her like a piece of fine china.

She knew that her friends and Nick’s parents were just being supportive, but it was starting to grate on her. After all, she wasn’t the one who was unable to help her own child. She was just the girlfriend, and Mia damn well knew it. Why was everyone behaving like Mia’s pain and worry were so much bigger and more important than their own? It was baffling, to put it mildly.

“Alright,” Mia said softly, reminding herself that everyone was feeling helpless. If it helped Nick’s parents to take care of her, then who was she to snatch that small comfort from them? Nick was their only child, and what Marnie and Will were going through had to be hell. “A sandwich and coffee would be great. Thanks.”

They nodded, looking happier. Mia watched them leave the waiting room, then she looked back at her friends. She toned down her glare, and settled for a glower.

“What?” Reena said, genuinely startled. “What’s that look?”

“Seriously?” Mia said, trying hard not to hiss or snarl the words. She’d been up the entire night and she knew that she was being uncharacteristically short-tempered. “You’re going to act like you’re not handling me with kid gloves?”

“OK, look, we’re sorry,” Reena said, her blue eyes gentle. “But we’re worried about you.”

“Me?” Mia shook her head. “Why me more than Marnie? Why me more than Nick?”

“Because Marnie has Will to watch her back,” Katie said. “And Nick has you.” She paused, wondering if she should say the next part, but she wasn’t really the shrinking violet type, so of course she went ahead. “Also, you’re acting damn weird.”

“I – what?” Mia said, wondering just how the hell she was meant to act when her boyfriend was having his left leg amputated below the knee. “Well, of course I’m acting weird, Katie. Did you expect me to act normal?”

“No,” Katie replied. “But I also didn’t expect you to show up here this morning with four dozen fresh-baked banana muffins.”

Mia blinked. “I was up all night and I needed to pass the time. I thought we’d all have shown up without breakfast, and I wanted to take care of everyone because –”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Katie interrupted her. “But the point is that ever since you found out about Nick losing his leg, you’ve taken care of everyone involved except for yourself.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is true. Nick told you about the surgery almost three weeks ago, and since then, you’ve gone out of your way to be there for everyone. Marnie told me that you made all the arrangements for their flight in from Wyoming, and that you called all around Denver for three days and found them the best hotel room rate. You got them from the airport, you took them to their hotel, and you’ve spent every day with them since they arrived.”

“Did you expect me to abandon Nick’s parents?”

“They used to live an hour outside Denver,” Maggie pointed out. “They only moved to Wyoming two years ago, so it’s not like they don’t know the city or don’t have friends here. You didn’t have to take it all on yourself, Mia.”

“I didn’t –”

“You’ve done hours and hours of research about neuromas,” Katie carried on. “I think you now know more about nerve tissue tumors than most doctors. Nick said that over the past three weeks, he’d wake up in the middle of the night and find you gone, and you’d be out in the living room on your laptop, desperately trying to find some way to remove his neuroma without removing his lower leg.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Mia snapped. “Me trying to find some way to avoid all of this?” She waved her hands around the waiting room. “I was trying to help –”