Their Second Chance Love. Kat Brookes

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      His brother nodded. “Might have to consider that.”

      Logan cast a glance toward the front door. He really should go. Not stick around to lay his problems at his brother’s feet. Carter already had his plate full with a new wife, helping to raise her two beautiful children, whom he’d recently adopted, and a baby on the way.

      “I know that look.”

      He looked back at his brother. “What look?”

      “The one that says you’re considering making a run for the hills,” Carter replied.

      When they were teens and something upset them, one or all of them would take to the hills where they’d hike and camp and work through whatever it was that was bothering them. There was just something about the peace and tranquility of being surrounded by nature, not to mention the feeling of being closer to God that being higher up in the hills gave a man. But when it came to his troubled thoughts where Hope was concerned, there would be no answers.

      “I feel like it,” he answered honestly. If he thought it would help to clear his head, he’d be driving up into the hills right now. Instead, he’d come seeking his brother’s counsel.

      “So what’s up?”

      “Jack’s in the hospital,” he said with a heavy sigh, struggling to keep the tide of emotion from washing over him.

      Concern immediately lit Carter’s eyes. Understandably so. They were all close with Jack Dillan. “What happened?”

      Logan dragged a hand back through the thick waves of his hair. “He suffered a stroke at work this morning. I found him on the floor of his office when I stopped by to pick up an order.”

      “Why didn’t you call? Nathan and I would have met you at the hospital.”

      “I knew you were finishing up a job in the next town over,” he explained. “Figured I’d wait until we had some answers.”

      “No wonder you’re not yourself,” his brother replied. “Is he gonna be okay?”

      “He’s got a long road ahead of him until he’s fully recovered, but the good Lord’s seen fit to give Jack more time here on this earth.”

      “Praise God for that,” his brother muttered. “Does Hope know yet?”

      Logan nodded. “I called to let her know what had happened as soon as the ambulance pulled away with Jack. She caught the first flight out of San Diego and managed to get to the hospital a little after four.”

      Carter’s assessing gaze studied him. “So you’ve seen her, then?”

      “I was there when she arrived.”

      “That also explains this mood that you’re in,” his brother acknowledged.

      “It’s not what you think.”

      “That she refused to enter the hospital until you left?” his brother surmised, not bothering to hide his irritation where Hope was concerned. “Because that’s what I expect happened.”

      Nathan and Carter were none too happy with Hope for the way she had handled the post-breakup with their younger brother. With the exception of the tearful embrace she had given him at his parents’ and Isabel’s funerals, her intentional avoidance of Logan and the scant number of times she could drag herself back to Braxton to visit Jack had his brothers harboring more than a little resentment toward her.

      Then again, Logan harbored his own fair share of that same emotion where Hope Dillan was concerned.

      “It didn’t happen like that,” he heard himself saying in Hope’s defense. Though why he felt the need to stick up for her was beyond him.

      “So you left before she got there?”

      He probably should have. Then he wouldn’t be struggling over thoughts of the past and feeling things he’d spent years suppressing. But Hope had looked so lost when he’d looked up to see her standing in that hospital corridor. All he’d wanted to do at that moment was comfort her. Thankfully, he hadn’t followed through with what instinct had been pushing him to do. It would have undoubtedly ended up with her pushing him away—again. And he’d had more than his fill of Hope rejecting him.

      “Neither of us ran,” Logan muttered as he stood fingering the brim of his hat. “We were both there for Jack. It had nothing to do with us.” That was how it had to be, because there was no “us” when it came to him and Hope.

      Carter nodded. “I’ll be sure to say an extra prayer tonight asking for the Lord to help ease your way while Hope’s home.” He reached out to clap a hand over Logan’s shoulder, giving it a supportive squeeze. “Come on in to the kitchen with me and we’ll have us a cup of coffee.”

      “I really should be going. It’s been a long day.”

      “Audra made pecan pie...”

      Logan hesitated a long moment before a smile quirked his lips. “Pecan pie, huh?”

      “Complete with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and caramel syrup,” his brother tempted even further, knowing Logan had the biggest sweet tooth of any of the Cooper boys.

      Maybe he would stay. Just for a bit. And by the time he finished with his coffee and dessert he’d have his emotions, as far as Hope Dillan was concerned, corralled once more. Because there was no way he was gonna risk putting his heart on the line ever again. Not for Hope. Not for any woman.

      * * *

      Hope was startled awake by the familiar tune of “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” She sat upright in the chair next to her dad’s hospital bed. A quick glance assured the phone’s ringtone hadn’t awakened him as it had her. Hurriedly, she snatched the phone out of her purse, bringing it to her ear as she got to her feet and hurried from the cubicle. “Hello?” she answered in a hushed tone.

      “Wasn’t sure you’d answer,” a voice far huskier than it had once been said at the other end of the line.

      “Logan?” she said somewhat groggily.

      A groan sounded. “I woke you.”

      “I was only catnapping.”

      “You probably needed it,” he replied. “Getting news like you got today tends to take a toll on a person. I’m sorry I woke you. Go back to bed.”

      “Don’t apologize,” she said. “My back and neck thank you for waking me. But I’m not home. I’m still at the hospital. I guess I drifted off in the chair by Daddy’s hospital bed in a rather uncomfortable position.”

      “How is Jack?”

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