Just as he hadn’t trusted himself to meet Maggie and Sydney in the driveway when he heard the engine of Maggie’s old Buick rumble to a stop. Lilian had come home as soon as she’d heard the news, so he’d let her be the one to hurry out to the car, open Maggie’s passenger-side door, slip an arm around her.

Coward.

No, he wasn’t being a coward. He was stopping himself from descending into a tirade of misplaced frustration and fear. From saying everything he’d thought ever since receiving Sydney’s call almost two hours ago.

He’d assumed when he’d seen her name on his phone’s screen she was calling to give him an update on the man they’d gone to meet at the summer camp. Instead, she’d scared him half to death by telling him Maggie had fainted.

“She’s sure it’s just because she had an empty stomach. But after she came to, we drove to a little deli and now we’re on the way home and—”

He’d hardly heard her next words, instant alarm starting in his lungs and spreading to every limb. Sydney had said something about a goose egg on Maggie’s head, and as the women filed in the house, he’d seen the scratch on her cheek, the grass stains on her coat.

Why hadn’t Sydney called him sooner? She’d taken her to a deli? They should’ve gone to the nearest hospital, had Maggie checked over. What if the impact of the fall had left her with a concussion?

This was why he’d stayed in the kitchen, setting the teapot to boiling and preparing a cup of Maggie’s favorite orange spice tea instead of following the rest of them to Maggie’s bedroom. A blustering interrogation wouldn’t do Maggie any favors. He hadn’t even talked to any of them save when Maggie walked in the front door. He’d mumbled something then about being glad she was home and thankful she was okay.

But what if she wasn’t? He dropped a teabag in Maggie’s usual yellow mug and poured steaming water over it.

“She requests that you buck up and face her before she lays down for a nap.” Lilian.

He placed the teapot on a cold burner and turned. “How is she?” Besides impatient to see him, apparently. Which meant he needed to get his brittle distress under control.

“Honestly, she seems completely fine. Maybe a little tired, but then, she doesn’t usually take morning road trips.”

Nor should she have needed to. They could’ve tried calling the camp again. Found an email address. Saved themselves the trouble of making a trip that only resulted in disappointment.