Page 71 of Ice Darling
“It’s nothing.”
Rebel’s gasp pulls April away from her car.
I glare at the top of Renthrow’s thick head of hair. “You’re embarrassing me,” I hiss.
“If you don’t want to be embarrassed, don’t hurt yourself,” he lectures.
Gordie runs back to me and hands her daddy the rag. Her eyes locked on the blood on my hand, she whimpers, “Does it hurt, Delia?”
“It doesn’t,” I assure her.
April winces when she sees my hand. “That’s a lot of blood.”
“It’s just a scrape.”
Renthrow pats the rag a little too close to the cut, and I wince. He notices, and I quickly look away.
Sure, it hurts alittle. For some reason, with all their eyes on me, the cut is starting to throb now. But April already took me to task for not being careful earlier. This cut is a sign that I didn’t heed her words, that I was irresponsible, that I’m not as great a mechanic as she thinks I am.
My pride stings worse than the cut right now. I have to be tough like them. Smart like them. In control like them. April and Rebel have gotten scraped and bruised plenty of times, and I’ve never seen them make a fuss about it.
Renthrow cleans the blood with the rag, and then he asks firmly, “Where’d you get this?”
“I went looking for a screw and scraped it on something sharp.” I jut my chin toward the car I was working on. “I barely even felt it.”
“You might need a tetanus shot, Cordelia.”
My eyes double in size. “A tet—no, I don’t.”
“We should take you to the hospital. Just in case.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Rebel agrees.
“What?” I sputter. “No, I don’t need to go to the hospital. And I’m working right now. The customer needs their car back today.”
April steps forward. “Don’t worry about the car. I’ll finish up for you. It doesn’t hurt to get checked out.”
More protests rise to my lips, but before they can escape, Renthrow places one hand on my back, the other under my knees, and I’m suddenly airborne.
“Gordie, pumpkin, open the car door for Miss Delia. We’re taking her to the hospital.”
“Okay, Daddy!” Gordie says, stopping just short of offering a salute.
And, just like that, I’m kidnapped by a six-foot hockey player and a little girl in Hello Kitty slippers.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Renthrow
“It’s just a scrape,” the doctor says after we get to the hospital. “Miss Davenport will be fine.”
Cordelia tilts her head up and flings me a sharp “I told you so” look.
I promptly ignore it. “Are you sure she won’t need a tetanus shot?”
Gordie is in my arms, bopping her head and making her pigtails swing. I doubt she knows what tetanus is, but it’s enough for her that I’m being serious about it.
“I can order a test if you want,” the doctor says hesitantly.
