Page 9 of Retaking the Shot
“And here I thought they liked you because you still had all your teeth,” I teased.
Everyone looked up at me and then burst into laughter.
“Okay, that was funny as hell.” Butcher laughed.
“Better than your shitty joke,” Orlov razzed him.
While the guys downloaded the app, I did the same. I had no clue what I should use for a user name and as I looked around the restaurant, I got an idea. I settled on StickWhisperer95.
4
Ford
My phone ringing woke me,and I considered not answering until I saw it was my mom. “Hey, Mom,” I greeted, my voice groggy.
“Ford Alexander Mahoney, why are you ignoring my calls? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for the last few hours.”
Pulling the phone away from my ear, I swiped the screen, and sure enough, there were several missed calls and text notifications from earlier in the morning. When I had gotten home from the hospital the night before, I’d noticed the battery had died, so I had plugged it in and gone to bed. “Sorry, it was a long night. What’s up?”
“I was calling to let you know your grandfather fell yesterday, and your dad is heading up to Vermont later today to check on him.”
I jolted out of bed. “Is he okay? What happened?”
“According to your grandmother, he was clearing some leaves from the rain gutter and fell off the ladder. He broke his leg which is worrisome, but otherwise he’s fine. We didn’t even find out until late last night when they finally got home from the hospital. Your dad wasn’t too happy they waited so long to let us know.”
My breath caught. “But he’s going to be okay?”
“From what your grandma said, he will be.”
“Damn, I’m glad it wasn’t worse.”
“Me too, sweetie.” She paused. “So, what about you? Everything all right?”
I knew what she was really asking. When I was living in London and getting drunk almost daily to ease the pain of my breakup with Coop, I’d ignored her phone calls then as well. Unfortunately, I couldn’t reassure her I was fine because I most definitely wasn’t okay.
“Ford?” Her concerned tone pulled my attention back to the conversation.
“I guess it was a night for the Mahoney men to go to the hospital.” I chuckled nervously, trying to play it off as though it was nothing for her to worry about.
“You were in the hospital?” she gasped. “Why?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Listen, you can’t just say you went to the hospital and then not give me any sort of explanation.”
I let out a heavy sigh. “I know, but it’s probably more of an in-person conversation.”
“Your father and I can come?—”
“Didn’t you say Dad is going to Vermont?” I asked, knowing I should probably tell them what happened but hoping I could put off seeing them for a couple of days. I should have known better.
“He is, but not until later.”
“Okay. How about I go over to the house?” I suggested, thinking that getting out of my apartment for a bit might help clear my head a little.
“Have you eaten?”
“No.”
