Page 14 of Embattled Ever After

“Oh, yes. Of course. But the hospital is within walking distance of my condo, just a couple of blocks. I don’t drive much. If it’s really bad, I just stay at the hospital.”

Duncan winced, the smell of antiseptic suddenly filling his nostrils. It seemed so real, but after so many years he knew it was his version of a flashback. He’d heard that smells triggered the strongest memories and he totally believed it. Only with him the reverse was true. He could have a memory and immediately smell the hospital as if he were standing by yet another bedside. It didn’t matter which one, they all smelled the same. Cold, antiseptic, and haunted by pain. “I don’t know how you do what you do. I’ve had my fill of hospitals.”

“Well, we come at it from completely different perspectives. I look forward to going to work to solve mysteries and help people. While you have obviously had a different experience. I assume you’ve been in a few times?”

Duncan nodded. “Too many to count. Total accumulated length of time? Probably the better part of a year. Not included the time spent visiting my guys for their own issues.”

“Oh, shit,” she breathed, leaning forward a little on the arm of the settee. “No wonder you got that look on your face. What was your initial injury?”

Duncan hesitated. Yes, they were just talking, but did he want to rehash it all?

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “That was the doctor kicking in. Forget I asked. Sometimes I’m too nosy for my own good. That’s personal, I know.”

Now he felt like a heel. It had happened long ago. “Our rescue helicopter crashed on top of us. I had burns over most of my back and a busted pelvis. I had spinal trauma and a couple of cracked vertebrae. Couldn’t walk for several months. I had skin grafts done on a couple spots on my back. Pins put into my pelvis.”

Duncan had a feeling Alex Hartfield wasn’t speechless very often, but she was right now. She shook her head slowly and he could see the sympathy in her eyes. Not pity, though. The difference was small but very visible if you knew what you were looking for.

“Sounds like you made an incredible recovery,” she said finally.

He snorted, bitterness biting him in the ass. “If you call walking like a cripple recovery.”

She frowned. “I don’t think you walk like a cripple. You walk like a man who needs a hip replacement.”

Duncan winced, not surprised she’d hit the nail on the head. “Yeah. Then there’s that.”

Her legs dropped to the floor and she leaned toward him. “Are you supposed to be going in for a replacement?”

He should have kept his fucking mouth shut. If she said something to his family or even Shannon, his ass was fried. Nobody knew he was refusing his doctor’s current recommendation. But he found that as he looked into her concerned face, he couldn’t lie to her. So, he changed the subject and avoided the question altogether.

“Would you like to go to Christmas dinner with me later? Mom always makes way more than we can eat and I’m sure she’d love to have you.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed, but she let the topic change go. “I would love to join you for dinner. As long as it’s not an imposition.”

He shook his head. “Not at all.”

Duncan knew he’d blundered the conversation, but he didn’t expect her to be so insightful. She would just have to go without answers.

***

Shannon fought a yawnas she walked out to the living room. It was early morning and she was curious where John had landed last night. They had two other bedrooms, but he almost invariably ended up on the couch in front of the fireplace.

And that’s where he was now, curled around the snoring puppy.

Shannon fought her laughter down and tiptoed back to the bedroom to retrieve her cell phone. Big, badass, John Palmer was sleeping with a lonely puppy. Padding back out to the living room she snapped a quick picture.

“If that goes anywhere other than your phone, there will be hell to pay,” he growled, sending her into fits of giggles. The puppy’s eyes snapped open and she lifted her head wobbily. When she saw Shannon standing a few feet away, she tumbled to the floor and jogged over to pee at her feet.

John laughed out loud as he sat up on the couch. “That’s what you get for trying to be sneaky. You can get this one.”

Shannon groaned and snatched some paper towels from the kitchen. She wiped up the mess, laughing as the pup tried to take the dirty towels from her. “Don’t do that, you crazy thing. What are we going to do with her, John? There’s almost two feet of snow outside. And is this really the right time to be dealing with a puppy? With a baby on the way?”

“Maybe we can get Shawn across the street to clear a path for us when he does the sidewalks.”

Shannon nodded, knowing that the teenager would do anything for spare cash. He planned on getting a car when he turned sixteen next spring. “I’ll send him a text message.”

“And I didn’t know we had a baby on the way when I picked her out. Otherwise I would have waited.”

Shannon moved to stoke the fire, shooing the puppy away when it got too close to the flames. It seemed to sense the heat though, and pulled back on her own.

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