“Because before the stroke hit, I was on my way to being a supremely arrogant, narcissistic asshole,” he said. “And while the stroke was a reality check for me to change my life, it doesn’t mean I’m okay with being a burden to Lexi in its aftermath.”

“How are you a burden?” I asked. I was genuinely mystified.

He stopped again and stared at me. “Annabelle, you saw me. I went to save you from those falling weights and damn near got us both crushed.”

“You protected me,” I said. “And put yourself in harm’s way to do it.”

“You don’t understand. The doctors can’t figure out what’s wrong with me,” he said. Frustration made his tone sharp. “I’m fine one second and then everything goes sideways and my heart rate accelerates and I can’t breathe, and then my left side starts to go numb. It’s like there’s another stroke lingering beneath the surface just waiting for me to let my guard down.” He shook his head. “And no one can tell me why it keeps happening.”

“They’ll figure it out,” I said. I had a theory about what was happening. I’d seen this sort of thing before, with my sister, Chelsea, after our mother died, but I kept that to myself, for now.

“There’s no guarantee of that, but even if they do . . .” He paused. His gaze held mine, and he reached up with one hand to grab a stray curl that the evening breeze had tossed across my face. He rubbed it between his fingers as if absorbing its texture before he gently tucked it behind my ear. I held perfectly still. I wanted to press my cheek into his palm, but I didn’t.

“Even if they can fix it,” he continued, “there’s no guarantee that I won’t have another stroke tomorrow, next week, next year. Did you know that twenty-three percent of people who have a stroke have another? How could I let Lexi sign on for that? One second she has her long-lost brother back, and the next she has a big old useless bedridden, drooling potato for a sibling. I won’t do it. I won’t risk it.”

“Shouldn’t you tell her what’s going on and let her decide?” I asked.

“No, because I know what she’ll choose,” he said.

We reached my patio and he stopped on the path before it as if there were an invisible boundary he would not cross. To heck with that. He might succeed at keeping his sister at arm’s length, but I wasn’t going to let him do it to me. The awareness between us wasn’t going away. In fact, it was only getting worse with every second I spent in his company. I liked him. I really liked him.