Page 72 of Sweet Harmony

Connorgrimaced. “Please tell me I’m not your patient.”

“You bet yoursweet dentist ass, you are,” Jack replied with another grin. Heheld his hand out to Kira. “We haven’t formally met. JackReed.”

“Kira Walker.I’m Connor’s girlfriend.” She probably didn’t need to say that, butshelikedsaying it. If she hadn’t been so freaked out aboutConnor’s knee, she might have stopped to wonder why she liked it somuch.

“Nice to meetyou, Kira.” Jack gave her hand a firm shake before grabbing thechart from the end of Connor’s bed. “We’ll do an X-ray first tomake sure there isn’t a fracture or dislocation and then we’ll gofrom there.”

He eyedConnor’s swollen knee. “Talk to me about your knee history.”

Connor glancedat Kira and for a moment, she was certain he was going to ask herto leave. To her relief, he reached for her hand instead.

“Just before Igraduated high school, I was out on a quad with friends. I had anaccident and I tore my ACL, MCL and meniscus.”

Connor’s voicewas flat, but she could see how tense his body was, feel thattension leaking out from his hand into hers.

“What gradewere the tears?” Jack’s voice had lost all of its previous goodhumour.

“Grade threetears on both the MCL and the meniscus.”

“Okay.” Jackbent over the bed and studied Connor’s knee. “Arthroscopic?”

Connor nodded.“Yeah, all in one shot. They repaired the MCL and meniscus andreconstructed the ACL.”

“I’m assumingit was an autograft?” Jack said.

“Yes. Thesurgeon said it would significantly decrease the risk ofre-rupture.” Connor’s hand squeezed down on hers briefly and heswallowed hard. “But I know the risk of re-rupture can increase inyour thirties.”

“Usually closerto thirty-five.” Jack was studying his chart again. “Did they usehamstring or patella for the reconstruction?”

“Patella,”Connor said.

Kira listenedquietly. They could have been talking Greek for all sheunderstood.

“Okay. X-raytoday and we’ll book you in for an MRI for tomorrow or Tuesday.That will tell us if you’ve re-ruptured the ACL or torn the MCL orPCL.”

“Do you thinkthat’s what I’ve done?” Connor’s voice was like broken glass ongravel.

“We reallywon’t know without the MRI,” Jack said. “Sorry, Connor. In themeantime, you know the drill… keep your knee elevated, ice it, andno weight on it.”

“I’ve got anextraction tomorrow, a root canal and -”

Jack shook hishead. “You need to take the week off from work.”

“Jack -”

“Nope,” Jacksaid. “No arguing. If you have re-torn or re-ruptured something,you don’t want to make it worse. Right?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. How’syour pain level? On a scale of one to ten?”

“Seven,” Connorsaid.

Jack turned toKira. “You know him better than me. What’s his actual painlevel?”

“Nine, closerto ten,” Kira said.

“Kira.” Connorgave her a pointed look.

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