His phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out, fear hammering through him. Gabe’s name was on the screen, and Cole unlocked his phone to read the whole message.

Mom had a severe blockage. When they were doing the cath, her heart stopped and they had to shock her back. They’re prepping her for bypass surgery now, moving us to ICU waiting area on third floor.

Physically reeling, Cole leaned against the closest table.

He managed to type, Can we see her before surgery?

Three dots appeared and then No. Condition is critical.

He felt Sierra move in close.

“What’s it say?” she asked gently.

He didn’t know if he could speak, so he held his phone out to her. She angled his hand so she could see the screen, read the message, blew out a breath without dropping his hand. Cole pulled it away from her instinctively, so used to handling everything alone. This, though… He wasn’t sure if he could handle this at all, alone or with someone by his side.

The images flashed through his mind again, of his mom, his loving mom. He loved her, respected her, admired the crap out of her. She was everything Cole wasn’t—devoted to her family, giving, unselfish, forgiving… She was the glue that held their family together, before and after their dad’s death. Cole was the opposite, doing his best to keep his distance, to keep himself separate.

The backs of his eyes burned. Bypass surgery was serious shit—he didn’t need a doctor to tell him that. Heart stopped? Did that mean she’d momentarily died? His mom had always seemed strong and unbreakable, but now that seemed like an illusion. A heart attack could break the hell out of a person. Could kill her just as easily as a car wreck had killed his dad.

Acid bubbled up in his throat, sheer, burning fear that was on the verge of leveling him. He wasn’t ready to lose his mom. Dammit, he couldn’t lose her.

Sierra hoisted herself up on the table right beside him and brushed her fingers up and down his forearm. “She’s going to be okay, Cole. The doctors know what they’re doing. She’s getting the medical expertise she needs.”

All of his fear tangled up with all of his love for his mom and formed a big, painful ball in his throat that was doing its best to suffocate him.

He didn’t pull away from Sierra this time because it was a relief to have someone there. He hadn’t let his family be there for him for years and years, maybe most of his life, but he allowed himself to take strength from Sierra’s presence, to lean on her this once. Because he wasn’t sure how else to get through the darkness that was clawing at him from the inside.