Page 61 of Catch Me, Cowboy
“You couldn’t have ridden and gotten here when you did.”
“I didn’t ride.”
It took her a moment to digest that small fact. He’d given up his comeback ride to be with her.
She gave him a cautious look as she considered the possible consequences of his sacrifice. “Even though you missed this ride, things will okay with the documentary, right?”
“I don’t know.”
“Surely they’d understand that you weren’t thinking straight what with a friend having rolled his truck.”
“It was more than my friend rolling his truck.”
“But—”
He pressed her head back down against his shoulder. “This isn’t the time.”
But it was a distraction and heaven knew she needed one. She was about to mutter those exact words when the emergency room doors opened. Both she and Ty jumped to their feet as a doctor in scrubs approached.
“Sean Gallagher.” He gave them both a quick nod. “Ms. O’Connor?”
“Yeah.” She could barely breathe and once again Ty’s hand was on her shoulder. He was there for her.
“Your grandfather doesn’t have life-threatening injuries.”
Relief slammed into her, making her knees feel rubbery and ridiculously weak. She pulled in a shaky breath, let it out again as Ty’s arm tightened around her. Waited for the details.
There wasn’t much to tell. Gramps was bruised and had some broken ribs and a gash on his head that had been stitched, but as far as they could tell, no internal injuries. He was also conscious and swearing a blue streak about going to the hospital—a place that killed people.
“My grandmother died from a hospital stay,” Shelby said automatically.
“Your grandfather won’t. But we need to talk about the cause of the dizzy spell that he had before wrecking the truck.”
Shelby stared at him for a moment as his meaning sank in.
“Son of abitch.” The words came out before she’d realized she’d said them and she automatically muttered, “Sorry.” Then explained. “He’s been pretending his loss of balance was due to his knees. I should have pressed things. I didn’t think itwashis knees—”
“It’s not easy to press Les,” Ty said more to the doctor than to her.
“I know how stubborn some of these guys can get. Trust me.”
“What now?”
“We admit him and observe overnight. I’ll contact his primary physician, bring him up to date. He’ll probably order tests, discuss medications.”
“Good.” Shelby leaned back into the hand that Ty had kept at the small of her back. “Will we be able to see him?”
“As soon as we get him into a room, sure. Just be aware that he’s on pain meds and may not be all that lucid. He may not remember the visit. And he may be vivid in his language.” The doctor smiled a little.
“I just want to see him.” Assure herself that he was alive and well and then maybe yell at him for not telling her the full truth about his dizzy spells.
*
Les was asight. Bandaged on his head and arms, hooked to an IV, and fighting the pain meds to stay conscious. The guy was truly afraid of hospitals and Ty had a feeling Les thought if he closed his eyes for even a moment, it might be for the last time.
“Gramps…” Shelby’s voice was steady, but he had his palm pressed against her lower back and he could feel her shaking.
“I’m fine, baby girl.”
