Page 41 of Zero Confusion

“Is my brother okay?” he asked anxiously.

Her tone softened. “He is. Come back in a few minutes, and I’ll take you to him.”

Miles stepped away, throat tightening for whatever emergency was happening on the other side, for whatever family might be receiving bad news. Leaning against the wall, he glanced around the waiting room, noticing his surroundings for the first time. The air was steeped in grief. Several people were scattered throughout, each one miserable in their own way. Some were slumped over in their hard plastic chairs—sleeping or staring off into space with red-rimmed eyes. Others were pacing, radiating concern and dread with each step. In the corner of the room, a man sat hunched forward, face buried in his hands as if he’d been crying.

Miles quickly averted his gaze, not wanting to gawk at someone else’s tragedy.

His phone vibrated, and he pulled it out in time to see the low-battery warning flash on the screen before it went black. He’d forgotten to charge it before bed—too distracted by Zach, by the whirlwind of emotions bottled up inside him, by the possibilities stretching before him.

By the hope glowing inside his chest.

Without Zach nearby, Miles felt unmoored, drifting in an ocean of uncertainty. He needed Zach’s touch, his sly smirk and soft reassurances that everything would turn out well. Both with Max and with the two of them.

But Zach wasn’t here.

All Miles could do was wait.

Too much waiting today, and not enough patience.

The room was depressingly quiet. No hushed conversations, no outside sounds, not a single inconsiderate person playing a song at full volume. Miles would have taken anything at this point, any indication of life.

A movement out of the corner of his eye drew his attention to the man in the corner straightening in his seat.

Miles squinted in confusion. Mara had mentioned Ray joining them at the hospital, but Miles assumed he’d gone home.

Why hadn’t he?

Quickly crossing the room, he plopped down next to Ray, who didn’t react, his focus fixed on the sun-faded landscape on the wall. After a moment, Miles nudged him with an elbow. “Hey, man.”

A few seconds passed without acknowledgment, and then Ray slowly moved his head, his glassy eyes staring blankly.

“Miles,” he said with no emotion in his voice. “Weren’t you in Portland?”

“Yeah, got the call about Max in the middle of the night, hopped on a plane. Zach drove us here from the airport.”

“Zach is here?” Ray glanced around without curiosity. Something about him seemed adrift, half-present, as if his thoughts were somewhere else entirely.

“Nah, he went home with the rest of them,” Miles said. “Were they your ride? I’ve got my rental here if you need to take it.”

“I drove myself,” Ray said in the same monotone voice. His gaze slid off Miles’s face, his features hardening. “I can’t leave yet. I need to see Max, but only family is allowed, so I’m waiting.”

Miles nodded, not sure how to respond, and they lapsed into silence. Ray tipped his head back, studying the ceiling as if it held all the answers, and Miles wondered why the gruff man was so affected by Max’s accident. It seemed rude to just ask. After cycling through the possibilities in his head, the most likely scenario was that Max and Ray were best friends. Despite all his trips back home on the weekends and during breaks, Miles had been steadily growing further apart from his brother and didn’t know all that much about his life anymore. Maybe Max was Ray’s Zach.

And if Zach had been in an accident and Miles wasn’t allowed to see him because he wasn’t technically family…

Jitters of anxiety jumped up and down his throat and made his skin tingle with horror. The idea was unbearable.

The plan brewing in his head was a little risky, but his family wasn’t here, and his heart hurt too much to do nothing. He hopped up and headed to the nurses’ station, smiling widely at the older man writing notes on a clipboard.

“Hi, I’m here to see my brother, Max Carter. Are we allowed in yet?”

The man slowly lifted his gaze and scrutinized Miles. “You’re his brother?”

Miles glanced back at Ray. His shoulders were slumped, resignation obvious in every heavy breath he took.

“Yes,” Miles said, “and our oldest brother, Micah, is here too.”

Micah was fifteen and at home with his twin sister, Misty, but that was more of a technicality.