Pieces of Us (Missing Pieces #3) - N.R. Walker Page 0,3
here. I’ll put him on.” He held the phone out to me. “It’s Angela from the workers’ comp place.”
Needing to sit for a bit to give my leg a break, I took the call in the breakroom. “Justin Keith speaking.”
Angela replied, talking a mile a minute, and it took my brain a second to change gears. Apparently, she had filed all the appropriate paperwork and ticked every box that needed ticking, all the medical reports and doctors’ findings had supported the claim, and the matter had been resolved.
“What does that mean?” I asked. “I don’t . . . I can’t follow, sorry. Dallas said the medical costs were covered. And the van.”
“Yes, that’s correct. But this is a separate matter. This is your personal claim, Justin. We talked about this a few weeks ago.”
The truth was, I couldn’t really remember. I knew the claims were going on, but I couldn’t seem to get my brain to think about money or process what any of this meant. “Uh, my memory isn’t too good, sorry. That time was blurry for me.” And even now, my words were coming slower. I’d had a busy morning and I hadn’t slept much and I’d woken up strung out, and it was starting to catch up with me. “I’m tired, sorry. My brain doesn’t work right when I’m tired.”
“That’s okay, Justin. I won’t keep you. I just wanted to let you know that the claim is now resolved and a payment figure has been awarded in your favour.”
“Okay, that’s good.”
“Would you like to know how much it is, Mr Keith?”
“Uh, I probably should, shouldn’t I?”
She was quiet for a moment. “The amount awarded to you, Mr Keith, is three hundred and eighty thousand dollars.”
As she spoke some more about getting the paperwork and signing off on everything, my mind began to turn in circles. That was a lot of money and I knew it was, but I couldn’t quite get a grasp on it, and then Megan drove into the yard and it was all a bit too much.
“Are you still there, Mr Keith?”
“Yeah, but my homecare nurse is here. I have to go. Did you need to speak to Dallas again?”
She said yes, we’d need to organise a time for an appointment to sign off on everything, so I got to my feet and found Dallas speaking to Megan near the stairs to the flat.
“Hey, Dall. Angela needs to speak to you,” I said, passing him the phone.
“Everything okay?” he whispered, holding the phone to his chest.
“Yeah ’s fine. Just tired is all. Might need a nap after my torture session with Megan though.”
Megan laughed but studied me. “You look tired, Justin. Your boss isn’t working you too hard, is he?”
I looked at Dallas. “Nah. He’s kinda dreamy though, isn’t he?”
Dallas laughed and went back to the phone call, and Megan held out a walking cane. “I brought a present for you, Justin.”
I stared at the cane. It was black and looked perfectly fine as far as canes went, but I didn’t want it. “No thanks.”
She smiled. “You’ll like it better than the scooter.”
Well, no, I wouldn’t. “It doesn’t have wheels. I like the scooter ’cause I can go fast.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes and followed me up the stairs. There was something I really wanted to ask her, and I’d kept reminding myself all weekend to ask her when I saw her on Monday . . .
Oh, that’s right.
I took a seat at the dining table and waited for Megan to do the same. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course you can,” Megan replied.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about it a lot. And with my leg and m’arm, and m’head too, I guess, being what they are.” I shrugged. “But I was wondering what’d be the best position for me and Dallas to have sex?”
Chapter Two
Dallas
I was pretty sure Justin would be sleeping after his homecare appointment. He’d been getting tired before Megan arrived, and I worried a little that I’d given him too much work to do this morning. He hadn’t slept well and he’d been all out of sorts, but there was no way I was letting him believe for one second that he was useless.
Useless.
That fucking word.
The last thing in the world he was, was useless.
When Megan was finished, I met her at the bottom of the stairs. “How is he?”
“He’s fine,” she replied with a smile. “He was just about asleep on the couch before we finished, so I’d say