Page 86 of Liar's Point

Shit shit shit.

Tears stung her eyes, but she refused to watch as he flushed out the cut.

“You okay?”

She glanced up to see David standing by the curtain.

“Yeah,” she said, but the next searing pain stole the breath from her as the nurse lifted a little flap of skin.

David stepped over, his brow furrowing as he glanced at the end of the bed, where her bare foot was propped on a pillow beneath an ice pack. After diving out of the path of a speeding truck, Nicole had scrambled to her feet and turned her left ankle, and now it was swollen to the size of a rump roast.

“How’s it feel?” David asked.

She took a deep breath. “Have you seen Misery?”

He frowned. “Damn. Really?”

She nodded.

“I’ll have them get you something for the pain.” He glanced at her foot again. Then he looked at her, and Nicole’s stomach clenched because she could tell he had bad news.

“What is it?” she asked.

“I talked to the attending physician, Dr.Chan.”

“And?”

“It’s a lateral malleolus fracture.”

“So, it’s broken? Does that mean a cast?”

“You’ll need a boot and crutches.”

Her stomach sank. “How long?”

“Depends,” he said. “Probably five weeks.”

Fire tore up her elbow, and she yelped.

The nurse froze. “Sorry. Let me just finish sterilizing this.”

Nicole looked at David again, trying to focus on his words and not the sensation of having her skin peeled off.

He moved closer, his forehead wrinkled with worry. He wore charcoal slacks and a blue dress shirt that matched his eyes. He smelled like cologne, too, which reminded her that they were supposed to be on a date right now, not stuck in the ER.

Nicole’s mind was still reeling. Everything had been so chaotic with police cars and paramedics and people stopping to gawk as she lay sprawled on the sidewalk. Luckily, no one else had been hurt, but the guy who’d run the light had raced off without stopping.

“He’ll be in in a minute to explain,” David said.

“Dr.Chan?”

“Yeah.”

She took a deep breath. “Can I use your phone? I lost mine back at the accident scene.”

“Sure. You want to call your parents?”

“No.”

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