Found at the Library by Christi Snow

the local high schools and with sports teams. He has an assistant who helps him on days when things are a bit tougher. She’d told me he had some bad days recently, but I guess there’s been more worse days lately than I realized.”
    He should have been there. Thinking about it made it hard to breathe. He should have known, but he’d been so caught up in getting ready for the gallery showing that he’d missed it.
    “What happened?” Mac asked and grabbed hold of Tommy’s bouncing leg, helping to ground him.
    “He tried to kill himself...an overdose of prescription pills and alcohol. And now he’s so angry that he didn’t succeed.” Tommy’s voice cracked. “He’s alive, and he hates me for it,” he whispered.
    “You’re the one who found him?”
    Tommy nodded wordlessly. That had been the worst. Ryder’s assistant, Cari, had taken off a two full weeks at Thanksgiving because she was getting married. Ryder had a fill in, but something happened. Cari became worried when she got a weird email from Ryder, and then couldn’t reach him by phone. She’d called Tommy to ask if he could go by and check.
    He’d known the moment he walked into Ryder’s house that something was wrong. When he’d found Ryder unconscious on the floor and foaming at the mouth, he thought he’d lost his brother, the only family he had left.
    “But he’s here,” Mac said. “So that means you found him in time. They can help get him well again...at least mentally. What’s his prognosis now?”
    “Extreme depression and a danger to himself and others. They’re committing him to a fulltime mental health facility as soon as they finish the tests to ascertain he didn’t do more damage to his brain.”
    “Is that still a possibility? Wouldn’t they have that figured out by now?”
    “Because of the previous damage, his brain is already more vulnerable. Unfortunately, he’s been so violent since he came out of the coma, they’ve been keeping him pretty sedated so they can’t get a good read on the tests.”
    “I’m so sorry. The waiting has to be the worst part,” Mac said. “But I don’t understand. Why isn’t anyone else here to help you? I remember seeing your mom on the news when he got hurt the first time. She was very involved and outspoken. Where is she now?”
    Yeah, she had been. His mother had loved and protected her two boys to the detriment of everything else, including her own health. “Our mom died from cancer earlier in the year. They caught it too late. She died within three weeks of diagnosis. That’s part of the reason Ryder’s so wrecked. He blames himself for her death.”
    “How could he think that if she had cancer?”
    “He was insured through the high school when he got hurt, but that insurance was pretty basic. It didn’t cover near what he needed, and our mom only worked as a waitress. She was still paying off his medical bills. He thinks she didn’t go to the doctor earlier because she couldn’t afford it.” And knowing their mom, Tommy agreed. But that didn’t change the fact Ryder wasn’t to blame for their mother not seeking medical attention sooner.
    “You don’t have any other family?”
    Tommy shook his head. “Our dad died in an Army training mission twelve years ago. But they never even got married. We were his part-time family, when he felt like giving us time. There isn’t anyone else.” It was only the two of them against the world now, and Ryder had tried to leave him here all alone. How could he have done that? What if the next time Tommy didn’t find him in time?
    “I need him to get better, but I’m scared. I have no idea what going to this type of place will do to him. He’s so angry right now. I don’t know what’s the right thing to do.”
    Mac cupped his face.
    Tommy almost reared back in shock at that touch, but then realized how good it felt. It grounded him, and he needed that right now.
    “I don’t know the answers, but you love your brother, and