Page 7 of Hearts on Fire

As soon as she got home, Scotti finally showered and felt real pleasure at finally feeling clean again. She lay down in bed. She texted in her work group that she had been discharged and was fine so that they wouldn’t worry and fell asleep almost instantly.

The next morning, she was woken early by her alarm, as usual. Scotti grimaced as she got out of bed. Her shoulder had stiffened up overnight and she could barely move it.

As much as she hated the idea, she wasn’t going to be able to work with it like this. She’d head over to the hospital to get something for it. Painkillers wouldn’t do—she couldn’t work with too many of those in her system either—but maybe they could give her an injection of something that would make it looser, at least enough for her to work.

Scotti hated being off work for injuries. She didn’t have many hobbies outside of work, which left her at home with nothing to do but dwell on the inconvenience of whatever was keeping her away from her job.

Dr. Hope was on again, and since today was a quiet day, she was able to see Scotti immediately.

“Hey, Scotti. The shoulder bothering you?” Scotti liked Cora Hope. She was always kind and always smiling.

“Yeah. Can you give me something that’ll allow me to work through it?”

She knew Dr. Hope wouldn’t be keen.

“Scotti, you know the drill. You rest until injuries are healed, not push through them.”

“It’s just bruised! It’s not like it’s broken or even strained. It’s not going to hurt to have it a little looser so that I can work, is it?”

“It’ll feel even worse tomorrow if you do.”

“But will it cause more harm?”

“No,” Dr. Hope admitted, “but you’ll feel like crap when the injection wears off. You’d have to come in every day for at least a week for repeats until the bruising has healed on its own.”

“Fine, I’ll do that, then.”

Dr. Hope sighed. “Alright, but you need to tell your captain everything before you go to work. He’ll make the call as to whether or not you can be on duty.”

“Dr. Hope!” Scotti whined, “you know what he’ll say.”

“That’s my condition, take it or leave it.”

“Fine,” Scotti grumbled, already fishing her phone out of her pocket. She dialed Max’s number.

“Scotti. How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. My shoulder is a bit stiff, but I’m ready to come back to work.”

“That’s great. Did you need anything in particular before you come in?”

Scotti grimaced. “I may… need an injection in my shoulder before I come in. Just to loosen it up a bit.”

“No.”

“Max! Dr. Hope says I’ll be fine. Just sore. I can handle the pain.”

“If your shoulder is bad enough that you need an injection for it, it’s bad enough that you can’t work. Take the injection, and if it’s feeling significantly better tomorrow, you can come in. Today, I’m booking you off.”

Scotti resisted the urge to argue. Arguing with Max would just get her booked off for even longer. “Fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Maybe. You’d better not lie about that shoulder.”

“I won’t,” Scotti sighed. She wasn’t always the best about declaring injuries, but she wouldn’t lie outright if asked, and Max was sure to ask.

She hung up and gave Dr. Hope a sour look. “He says I can’t work today. I can come in tomorrow if the injection has helped my shoulder a lot.”

“That sounds like a good decision. If we loosen it up today and you don’t work it, it should be significantly better by tomorrow.”

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