Page 89 of Broken Ice, Mended Hearts

“No cooking, and we’ll all clean up while you entertain Levi.”

Thinking of Jack and Eckie’s kid made me smile. “I’m glad he’s coming. The last time I saw him, he wanted to read books and play with his karaoke machine.”

“He has one of those?” Pip hated karaoke, something I knew from when I’d insisted on doing it last summer. “Call Jack and tell him not to bring it.”

I took a sip of lemonade, then squinted at Pip over the glass. “Why don’t you sing for us, Gagné? I promise Levi will never bring it again.”

“Ha ha.Tu te trouves drôle, non?”

I snorted. “Jag vet att jag är rolig.”

“The fuck does that mean?”

“You said I thought I was funny, so I told you IknowI am.”

He tilted his head. “You speak French?”

After a dramatic shrug, I waved him off. “Un peu.I studied it at school for a few years.”

“You fucker. How am I just now realizing this? Now I have to learn Swedish.”

“Bonne chance.”

“You’ll help me, won’t you?”

“Bonne chance.”

After a good laugh, we finished our lemonade, and Pip took the empty glasses to the kitchen for refills. I looked out the window while he was gone. Though some trees were bare, others still sported autumn leaves, the reds and golds reminding me of the new hope I had for a future together. Before that could become a reality, we had things to discuss, and I plunged right in when he came back. “How long is your leave of absence?”

He handed me my drink and sat down. “Until the end of January as of now, but they said we can play it by ear. I’ll take longer if I need to.”

“Are you sure that’s all right?”

He reached over and took my hand. “Shuford, Mulberry, and Friedlander all approved it.”

“Yes, but what about you? There must be a part of you that would like to be out there with your buddies. It’s no fun watching them play when you know you could be helping.”

“I’m not leaving you alone, Sven.”

“I can hire a nurse.”

He gave a frustrated grunt. “And who’ll take you to rehab?”

“I’ll get an Uber.”

“No. There’s a lot to think about. Like that laundry list of post-concussive symptoms we’re watching for. You don’t even like to admit it when you have a headache, and there’s no way you could be objective about all the other things.”

“I can.”

“No, you can’t.”

I scoffed. “The nurse could do it, then.”

“Would the nurse sleep with you to know if you have insomnia? Then there’s things like anxiety and irritability. I know you, babe, and I can see things a nurse won’t.”

“Bullshit.” I didn’t want him to leave, but I had to push him on this, because he’d resent me if he stayed when he didn’t want to. “I’d be fine with a nurse.”

He snorted. “This is a perfect example of why I need to be here. You can be kind of cranky. What nurse will know Sven’s cute-cranky from concussion-cranky?”

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