“Yeah.” Hunter grinned and clapped the guard on the shoulder. “Jessie is on duty all day and he’ll make sure the asshole doesn’t come back in.”
“Thank you, Jessie,” I said, giving him a nod before walking away and motioning for Hunter to follow me. The two finished the conversation they’d been having about some football team, and then he came to join me at the nurses’ station.
I set Adi’s chart down, propping my elbow up on the cool linoleum counter. “I think there’s something wrong with a nerve in her neck. She’s having trouble moving the arm.”
“Should I book an operating room?” he asked, expression pinched until I shook my head.
“No, I’m not cutting her open if it’s not absolutely necessary. Let’s wait for the swelling to go down and give it time to settle. Then we can re-evaluate.”
“It’s not dangerous to leave it?” he asked, not second-guessing but genuinely interested. That was one of the things that made Hunter so good at his job. If he didn’t understand something, he asked, and then he remembered.
Someday very soon, he would know everything I did and then some. “No, not under the circumstances. I think there’s definitely been some damage, but the swelling is hiding it and making it seem worse at the same time. I’m prescribing something that should help with the swelling and the pain. We’ll take another look tomorrow.”
“We’re keeping her?” He frowned, sighing.
I shrugged. “Yeah, I’m afraid we have to.”
“Okay, but you’re going to have to be the one who tells April. After what I saw, I’d only give her good news from a distance. I don’t want to be anywhere near her when you tell her all this.”
“Yeah, neither do I,” I agreed. “But someone’s got to do it. If you’re too afraid of the womenfolk, I guess that’s up to me.”
He shook his head but didn’t take the bait, calling out after me as I walked away. “I’ll buy you a beer later to make up for it. Sorry, dude.”
I smirked. “Don’t even worry about it. Some of us still have our balls attached to our bodies.”
“For now,” Hunter barked out with a shout of laughter. Then he flipped me off and went in the opposite direction.
I inhaled and exhaled a few times once I’d grabbed Adi’s soda. Pausing outside the door of her room, I pasted a smile back on my face and forced it to stay there. All righty then. Let’s go get these balls severed from my body.
Fuck, this wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience at all.
Chapter 4
APRIL
The last twenty-four hours had been some of the worst of my life, and that was saying something. While I didn’t like to complain too much about it, except for bitching about Craig from time to time, I hadn’t exactly had things easy.
But having my daughter in the hospital? It sucked giant-ass donkey balls.
I hadn’t left her side, but if that doctor decided to keep her for another night, I would have to. Katie had brought me a change of clothes, but I had to work tomorrow, which meant I’d need more. I’d also need a decent shower and then actually to go to work in the morning.
Sure, I’d still be in the same building, but I really didn’t want to have to leave Adi alone in this room. Too many scary things happened all the time, and I didn’t want her to have to face them without me.
The meds Chris had prescribed for Adi made her drowsy, so she’d been asleep more often than not, but that didn’t matter. I still wanted to be there for her.
At least some nurses on this floor were my friends. It helped calm my nerves to know the people looking after us. I knew they wouldn’t bullshit me, even if I wished they’d swoon a little less over the doctor and focus a little more on his patient.
I couldn’t really blame them for wanting to hang around every time Chris was supposed to make an appearance, though. The man looked like sex on a stick, and though I didn’t really know him, I’d heard a lot about him.
He was a definite favorite among the staff, female or not. I hadn’t realized who he was when I’d first gotten here, but as things had calmed down, it had all started coming back to me.
Doctor Chris Matthews with his shorter, dirty blonde hair and light green eyes the color of springtime grass with a layer of dew over