Page 42 of The Cowboy's Promise

“Uh…yeah…I’m not far from there. What’s your cabin number.”

“Five.”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

“Thank you, Doctor Prescott, thank you so much,” Joe exclaimed, shocked that the man had agreed.

“You mean he’s coming?” Courtney mumbled. “I can’t believe it.”

“Neither can I. Try not to worry. But now I have to come up with a plan for the morning. The sheriff will be banging on the door as soon as they find you gone.”

“Your hand…” she muttered, staring at it.

“Yeah. It’s not great. But right now all I can think about is how fucking lucky we are.”

“Lucky? You call this lucky?”

“Hell, yeah! You’re out of jail and there’s a doctor coming to help us in the middle of the night! The cup is half full, Courtney!”

“Oh, yeah, I see what you mean.”

“I’m going to get some cash so I have it ready.”

* * *

The doctor said they both needed X-rays and strongly recommended a visit to the hospital Emergency Room, but Courtney managed to placate him by promising to go in the morning.

Satisfied, he examined her, announcing her ankle was badly sprained but not broken, her elbow the same, and a couple of her ribs were bruised. After dressing all her injuries, he turned his attention to Joe’s battered left hand.

“This definitely needs an X-ray,” the doctor said solemnly. “I can wrap it, but you must visit a hospital and get it checked out. Are you right-handed?”

“I am.”

“Oh, dear. Don’t use it unless you have to. I’ll leave you some painkillers.”

“Courtney has codeine for her migraines and we’ve both had one.”

“Then I’ll just leave you the anti-inflammatories. You still haven’t told me how this happened.”

“We went to visit a friend and she lives up a flight of outside stairs. We were halfway up when Courtney slipped and fell into me. We both ended up falling down the steps to the bottom. Turns out our friend wasn’t even home. Anyway, thank you so much for coming. We’re very grateful,” Joe said earnestly as he walked the doctor to the door. “How much do we owe you?”

“Five hundred should cover it.”

“Here’s double that,” Joe declared, handing him an envelope. “Drive safely. That road might be just as slick as those steps.”

Waiting until the doctor left, Joe put the DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door before closing it, then returned to the bedroom, kicked off his shoes and laid down.

“Now what?” Courtney mumbled.

“Honestly, I can’t see us going anywhere just yet. You need a couple of days to recover a bit.”

“As much as I want to get the fuck out of here, I agree. But where can I hide?”

“Actually,” he murmured thoughtfully,“I have an idea.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

When Sheriff Cooper’s phone rang early the following morning, he glanced at the screen and sat bolt upright. The caller was Deputy Tagg.

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