Later that day, Joe found himself with his older brother's girlfriend in the waiting room. He and Callie had never been all that close, and they had gotten more distant since Iola died.
Iola had been Callie's best friend, and other than Frank the main thing Callie and Joe had in common. After her death it seemed they had fewer things to say to each other.
Joe still considered them friends, but they just weren't close in the same way he was to Chet or Phil.
Thus, he was rather surprised when she seized him in a hug on sight and burst into tears.
Unsure of what to do, he awkwardly patted her on top of the head.
"I'm so glad you're okay," she said quietly once she pulled herself together.
"So am I," Joe admitted with a flash of a grin.
"How's Frank?" Callie whispered hesitantly.
Joe paused uncertainly. "He's, uh, all right, I guess," He was torn between giving an honest assessment and protecting his brother's privacy.
"I know what happened, Joe." Callie said reading between the lines. "He, uh, sent me pictures."
It took Joe a few seconds to figure out she was talking about their kidnapper whose name Joe had only recently learned was Mark Anderson, and then he felt vaguely nauseous when he realized what kind of pictures they had to be for Callie's comment to make sense.
"Yeah." Joe ran a hand over his face. "I saw it happen," he whispered.
Callie squeezed his arm sympathetically. "I know that Frank probably doesn't want to see me, Joe, and I don't want to push him, but it would mean a lot to me if you could just let me know how he's doing whenever you can, and if you think he's ready to hear it, let him know that I will be waiting for him whenever he wants to see me."
Joe had never fully appreciated how good Callie was for his brother until that moment. "I will," he promised.
"Thank you," Callie said quietly. "One last thing, Joe,"
"Yeah, Callie?"
"Um, Vanessa told me about, well, you know, and I just, if you need someone to talk to, I'm happy to listen, I know you would probably usually talk to Frank about this, and I figure you probably don't feel like you can right now, so if you want to talk to me, I'm happy to listen, and you know, I've gotten a lot of advice from your brother myself, over the years so maybe we'll get lucky and I'll be able to channel him or something," she added the last part with a weak smile, but Joe appreciated the effort just the same.
"Thanks, Cal." Joe said getting to his feet. "I'll probably take you up on that offer, but I had better be getting back to Frank's room now…"
"Of course," Callie agreed. "I'll, uh, talk to you later, I guess."
"Yeah." Joe said with an awkward bob of his head. Until that moment he hadn't quite realized how much he wished he had his brother's advice right about now.