Page 77 of Her Braun
"And you, Aldo, you should want to know that he's happy outside the firehouse."
"And he is!" Chief Campanelli turned to look at him with an overly bright grin on his face. "You are, aren't you, Braun?"
"Happy?" Braun smiled even more. "I'm good. Really good. Happier now that there haven't been any more incidents at Kay's house."
His chief loosened his hold on his wife and his expression softened to one of mild concern. "Incidents?"
Oh, yeah. He hadn't told Chief Campanelli what had been going on at Kay's house.
The speakers above their heads blared, calling out another fire in their area.
Gibson ducked past the chief and his wife, climbing back into the firetruck as the others spilled out of the lounge doors.
As they loaded up, Gibson saw the chief step into the ladder truck with them and leaned forward until he had a hand on Gibson's chair. "Okay, Braun. Fill me in on the way to the fire."
"Fill you in on the fire, sir?"
Pits gave him a glare side-eye.
Behind him Mats almost covered a snort.
Before their chief decided to kick his ass, Gibson started talking. "It started when someone broke the back windows of her house..."
Kay was busy at work seated on a rolling stool in one of the ER exam areas. She looked up and smiled at the little girl seated on the bed, clutching her teddy bear to her chest. "How are you feeling, Sophia? Okay?"
Sophia's eyes were round and blinking back at her. "You... you can start now, Doctor Kay. I'm... I'm ready."
Smiling at the young girl, Kay nodded. "I'm already halfway done, sweetie."
Sophia sat back, narrowing her eyes at Kay's face and then down at her foot. "I didn't think you started... I couldn't feel anything."
Kay bent over to add another stitch to the cut on the girl's foot. "I just have a few more and then we can bandage you up to go home."
"A bandage? Is it a pretty color?"
Kay grinned and looked up at the nurse who was attending with her. "Thuy? Can you bring in the bandages?"
Thuy nodded, smiling. "I'll bring in a roll of all the colors so Sophia can choose."
Sophia beamed at her. "Thank you," her voice had softened. "Can teddy have a bandage, too?"
Thuy gave the little girl a wink. "Absolutely. Doctor Kay knows how important it is to keep stitches and ouchies clean."
"Thanks, Thuy."
Kay continued to stitch the cut on Sophia's foot and thought about the girl's mother who had been hovering during the examination. As soon as her mother had stepped outside, Sophia had calmed down. It could just mean that her mother was high-strung. It happened.
But when the stitching was over, Kay would keep an eye on the mother and daughter to see if there was a reason to call CPS for a visit to check on Sophia.
"How did you hurt yourself again?"
Kay kept her gaze fixed on the bottom of Sophia's foot. She didn't want to put the little girl on the spot.
"I was playing around and dancing to some videos on YouTube. My mom told me to sit down and be quiet, but I was having a lot of fun."
Sophia sounded sad, but not fearful.
That was good.
