Page 44 of The Cowgirl's Secret Love
Conditional approval. She stared him down, this teeny thing who didn’t look old enough to have finished high school let alone gotten her residency.
Dr. Sydney Jerimiah stood behind her clipboard and gifted him with a high-voltage stare. “No pressure on the leg whatsoever. That means noaccidentallywalking on it for the next six weeks. You understand that’s not a suggestion?”
He shook one of his crutches at her. “Pretty sure that’s why you gave me two of these. Also, with the angle you set my leg, I have zero chance of walking.”
“Imagine that.” Her firm expression slid into the barest hint of a smile. “While it’s the correct angle to fix your particular kind of break, you’ll thank me later that your foot is that far off the ground. I figure I have zero chance of keeping you out of barns, and casts don’t shake off manure quite as easily as cowboy boots.”
“Thank you.” The words came out gruff, but he meant them. He extended his hand and offered a firm handshake.
It was almost another forty minutes before Zach got there, which barely gave Finn enough time to get dressed, considering the damn cast.
He’d forgotten that even though he’d mutilated a pair of his jeans by cutting them off at the thigh, he still had to get the waistband over his foot in the first place. With the immovable cast in place, he was barely flexible enough to bend that far. Some fairly complicated wrangling ensued, and by the time he did up his zipper, he was sweating. Not to mention pain had flared hard enough that he didn’t plan to do any more moving than necessary.
“Ready to blow this Popsicle stand?” Zach slid into the room, pushing a wheelchair. He eyed the abandoned jean fabric sticking out of the garbage can. “Looks like you’re ready to roll. Literally.”
“You’d never make it on the comedy circuit,” Finn informed him bluntly.
Zach tossed Finn’s bag over his shoulder, gesturing him toward the wheelchair. “Don’t argue. I swear you can abandon the wheels at the exit door.”
“Not arguing,” Finn snapped.
His friend tossed him a sympathetic glance then shrugged. “I’m guessing you’re in a lot more pain than you’ll ever admit. Tell me to shut up if I start getting on your nerves.”
Finn sighed. Great way to show his appreciation by biting Zach’s head off over nothing. “You haven’t done a thing. I’m just…”
“I get it. Honest. No reason to apologize.”
There was a reason the man was his best friend.
Somehow Zach got him up on the truck seat and into a position that didn’t make Finn feel as if there were ice daggers driving into his skull or his leg. When Zach turned the music on quietly then didn’t say a word for a good half hour, Finn closed his eyes and let the painkillers wash through his system.
His phone went off.
Zach spoke up quickly. “It’s your brother. You’re set to Bluetooth through the truck, if you don’t mind me listening in.”
“Answer it. You’ll get all the dirt later anyway.”
A moment later, Finn’s middle brother was on the line. “Sounds as if you picked a bad time to go kitten hunting.”
“The ferocious beast is doing fine from what I’ve heard,” Finn said. “Hey, Duncan. I’ve got you on speaker. Zach’s here as well.”
“Hey, Zach. You need me to send you a box of duct tape to slow my brother down for the next while?”
Zach laughed. “I think we’ll be okay. The doctor has him wrapped up plenty tight.”
“Full-length cast,” Finn offered. “I’m not riding anything but shotgun for a long time.”
“Like what Karen Coleman had that summer we were at Whiskey Creek?” Duncan offered a soft whistle. “Damn. Sorry to hear that.”
“I’ll be fine.” Finn glanced at his friend in the driver seat. “How’d you hear I got hurt?”
“Not from you the way I should’ve, dumbass.”
“That’s what I told him,” Zach informed Duncan as an aside.
Duncan snorted. “Yeah, he probably didn’t want me to worry. But I am worried. You take care of yourself, Finn. Let people take care of you. I know it goes against our stubborn nature to be anything less than self-sufficient, but when you need it, help’s the best thing in the world.”
Tangled emotions whirled in Finn’s gut. It was good to hear his brother talking about help as a positive thing, but the fact Duncan had dealt with enough bullshit in his life to need help still infuriated Finn. “I’ll do my manly best to accept help when it’s offered.”
