Page 48 of Last Chance Love

“Yes, don’t do that,” she said mildly. “We’ll have to keep you overnight, but I suspect you’ll be out in the morning. After that, you’ll need rest and maybe a few painkillers, depending on the severity of the pain.”

“Can I request something that makes it not hurt while not turning me into a drooling mess who doesn’t remember what they did? What time is it anyway?”

“Nearly ten. You’ve been here almost nine hours.”

It was strange and delayed, and I wasn’t sure if that was her intention, but I found the whole story encouraging. I had never considered why someone who wasn’t a felon would want to come to the ranch to work. Mona struck me as someone who firmly believed in its aims but also got a great deal of personal gratification out of the work on its own merits. And here was someone who had taken the job for that same sense of personal gratification but had found something higher in it to appreciate.

It was another example of how this place and its people weren’t just good or bad or mostly one or the other. They were all mixes of good and bad, swirled into one ball of humanity as complicated as it was messy. It was the same sort of thing I had seen snarled together in someone like Reno, but I had never really been able to put it into words until now.

“And before I leave, which will inevitably draw Reed back into the room, I do want to tell you something he’ll probably leave out,” she said, leaning in close again.

“Okay,” I said slowly, frowning. “What would he possibly be leaving out?”

“The fact that the battle about whether or not to send you to the hospital was not, in fact, won by your oh-so-compelling arguments while you were out of your mind with panic and pain, but by the fact that he argued for it.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Probably because he, like any doctor, is still a human being. Prone to human foibles and failings. And that means he saw your fear, and considering the strange bond the two of you share, I suspect he knows the meaning behind it, which means most of his professionalism drained out of his body when he saw someone he cared about having a moment of genuine fear and terror. So, he argued with me about sending you, and when Mona came to check how things were going, I told her you could stay the night, and if anything came up, we would waste no time sending you on.”

“And just how much is Reed paying for this?”

“For being human? The same as everyone else.”

“Which includes having a boss that’s cranky and disappointed with him.”

She laughed softly at that, patting my hand. “Cranky, yes. Disappointed? No. If I wanted someone who had divorced themselves from their humanity to the point that they saw patients as annoyances, I would have taken on someone on the path to being like…someone else around here.”

I grinned. “Professionalism keeping you from saying a certain name out loud?”

“And a begrudging respect for a coworker's abilities.”

“I see.”

“Well, I think that about takes care of things,” she said, stepping back. “I’ll be in periodically to check on you. Try to get some rest and don’t stay up all night, got it? You need rest.”

“Why do I have the sneaking feeling I will be hearing that phrase for a while?”

“Because you are. Get over it.”

I’d always liked Dr. Greenway. Something about her casual and genuine warmth and attentiveness made her a good doctor, but that sense of humor and edge of no-nonsense made her perfect for this place.

A thought occurred to me as she started to leave the room. “Hey, if it means he’s got human failings and foibles for arguing for me to stay here, what does that make you for listening to him?”

Her brow shot up, and a ghost of a smile crossed her face. “An even bigger sentimental fool than him.”

I chuckled as she finally disappeared, not closing the door behind her and letting in the light from the hallway. Thankfully, it wasn’t much brighter than the light in the room, but the pounding ache in my skull didn’t make me appreciate that fine detail. I wasn’t sure how I was expected to rest, but I thought it might be a good idea to try with Dr. Greenway on patrol.

After a few minutes, Reed walked in, closing the door behind him. He had something in his hand, and his other hand was pressed over his eye. I heard the crinkle of a bag and winced.

“Ice bag?” I wondered.

“Leftover steak that’s been freezer burned to the last circle of hell and back,” he said with a chuckle. “I got a dirty look from Alice, but she didn’t say anything, so that’s a start.”

“I’m sorry about your eye,” I told him with a wince.

“Yeah, you already said that. As a matter of fact, you’ve been muttering it off and on since we sedated you.”

“I don’t think it was because of that,” I admitted softly as he set the frozen steak aside and stood beside the bed.

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