Page 39 of Property of Bones

“Good. Alright. I’ll send the discharge nurse in with your papers, and then you can head home. Do you have any questions?”

She looks at me pointedly.

“Me? Oh, uhm, my brain sort of checked out when you said no lifting over five pounds. Listen, Doc, I can handle a lot of pain. What Ican’thandle is not helping my mama. She’s up there in age and has diabetes. Her legs get so swollen she can barely walk. I can’t just stop helping her with things simply because a bone’s got a little crack in it.”

“I get it,” she says. “I do. But if you don’t give your ribs…which are broken in half, not just cracked…time to heal, you could do some serious damage. One wrong move and a bone could puncture your lung. If that happens and it’s not caught in time, it could be fatal. Sometimes it’s a very slow, very painful death.”

She pauses, letting that sink in.

“Sorry to be blunt, but you need to understand how critical rest is right now. And on top of that, there’s a third rib witha minor fracture. Nothing to panic over yet, but if you’re not careful, that crack could get worse.”

Her voice softens. “Now, is there someone else who can help your mom until you’re healed?”

Well, dang.

“My aunt,” I sigh. “She just sent her daughter off to college, so she’ll probably be grateful for the distraction.”

“Good. If you start having a hard time breathing, I want you to come into the ER straight away. Otherwise, make an appointment with your doctor in a week.”

“Thank you, doctor,” I say. She gives me a nod and walks out.

I turn to Jack. “Can I borrow your phone? I guess mine’s still at home.”

Without a word, he unlocks it and hands it over. Secretly, I’m a little giddy. I mean, don’t most guys act like their phones are state secrets?

I open the phone app and punch in the number I had to memorize when I started working. “Yes, I need a taxi at Palm Valley Medi-”

The phone is suddenly plucked from my hand, and Jack’s scowling face fills the space.

“Cancel that,” he growls and hangs up.

“Jack!” I protest. “I need that ride. I have to check on my mama and then go home. I know it’s not far, but I’m way too tired to walk.”

“No, what you need is to be in bed and resting,” Jack says firmly.

“And that’s exactly what I plan to do as soon as I get home. Now, please call them back.” I give him my bestpretty please with sparkleslook.

“I’m not letting you get into a car with a stranger, Sunny,” he growls, arms crossed.

“Then why did you let me use your phone?” I shoot back.

“I thought you were going to call your Ma.”

“But how am I going…”

“Sometimes you have to spell it out for them,” Spike interrupts from the doorway, voice dry and amused. “If Sunny’s anything like my Riley, they don’t always realize we’re here to take care of them. Not just because we want to, but because weneedto.”

Jack’s jaw twitches, but his eyes go all soft when he looks at me. “I’m taking you home. You just need to decide if it’s yours or mine. Either way, I’ll be staying with you.”

“I was just gonna stay with Mama and Aunt Molly,” I say, already bracing for the incoming ‘nope.’

“Not happening.”

“Well, why in the world not? I wouldn’t be alone.”

“Because you won’t be able to stop yourself from taking care of your Ma,” he says flatly.

Dang it. He’s not wrong. That man sees through me like I’m made of thin glass.

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