Page 7 of Harbor Lights

Con resisted the urge to scold her for getting into this state. It wasn’t helpful.Best bedside manner!

“Now, what have we got?” She moved to the sink and washed her hands thoroughly, aware of Siobhán lifting herself onto the bed.

She turned as she dried her hands on a paper towel. “Siobhán, is it? Or do you prefer Shiv?” That was what Joey had called her.

The woman blinked. “Shiv. Either. I don’t mind.”

Con was distracted for a moment by her eyes. Amber, almost yellow, a color she’d never seen on a person before. Like ocean-smoothed glass. But all she could see in them was distrust.

“It is okay if I remove this?” She reached slowly toward the wounded arm, as if she was dealing with an easily spooked animal.

Shiv raised her arm. “Yeah, of course.” Con went to remove some sort of tape holding the towel in place. She raised an eyebrow at the makeshift dressing.

“It’s all I had.” Shiv nodded her head. “I’m an electrician.”

“It’s all starting to make perfect sense.” Con laughed, but Shiv didn’t join in.

She finally peeled the dressing off to reveal a network of cuts along the inside of Shiv’s forearm. Most were shallow but several oozed blood.

“So, what happened here? Glass?” She reached for some tweezers and extracted a sharp point of glass. She held it up in front of Shiv’s eyes. “I guessed right.”

“Yeah, I thought I got it all out, but maybe not.” Shiv chewed on the thumbnail of the other hand.

Con swung a lamp over the exam table. “Could you lie down, so I can see better, please?”

Shiv complied, swinging her legs up and leaning back with her arm raised.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Silence lingered as Con concentrated on searching for splinters of glass, which she dropped into a dish beside her.

“I was trying to fix a leak in the roof. I didn’t have the right equipment, and I fell. It was a dumb thing to do.”

“Did you know you were going to be stuck up there in that ruin before you arrived? It would be difficult to plan for, if you weren’t aware.”

She stood back.

“I’m confident I’ve got all the glass out.” She dabbed the oozing blood from the largest wound. “That’s going to need a few stitches. And maybe this one here.” She indicated a smaller, but deep, incision.

Shiv remained silent as Con prepared her instruments, her good arm slung across her eyes.

She maneuvered the injured arm until it rested across Shiv’s chest. A small part of her brain acknowledged the corded muscle beneath soft skin before she switched back to professional detachment.

“It will hurt a little. Let me know if it’s too much.”

“I’ll be fine,” Shiv muttered.

Con wiped the whole area with alcohol wipes until she was sure it was sterile, then she prepared her needle for the stitches.

As she began, she considered trying to engage Shiv in conversation to distract her, but her attempts so far hadn’t proved fruitful, so maybe it was best to focus on the task at hand.

“I didn’t.” Shiv moved her arm from her face.

Con looked up briefly.

“Know the house was a wreck. It’s pretty basic.”

“I know. And about as isolated as you can get on our little island.” Con turned back to her task.

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