Page 4 of Sweet Home

“You say she was in an accident,” West said, crouching to observe the girl. Thankfully, he could see she was breathing normally.

“Car’s totaled,” Rob confirmed.

“I brought her back here, but she fainted getting out of the tow truck,” Joe said. “I carried her inside, and she woke up again after a minute, but she panicked when I said I would call an ambulance. Kept saying she was fine. She fell asleep right there while I was waiting for Rob to come in. She was shivering, so I put my coat over her.”

“If she was in an accident, it’s possible she has a concussion,” West said, keeping his speech calm and slow. “You did just right by bringing her inside and warming her up.”

“Thanks, West,” Joe said. “I mean, Doc.”

A lot of the old-timers called him by his first name. West was used to it. They all remembered him as a little boy, and probably still thought he was one.

“I’m going to check her pulse,” West told him.

Joe nodded and Rob came closer, the two of them making West feel like he was on a stage.

Putting that feeling aside, he slid Joe’s coat down from where it rested on the girl like a blanket, revealing her arm. Her own coat was big enough on her that it was easy to push up the sleeve to the elbow. Whatever else was going on with the girl, she was definitely too thin. Taking her wrist in his hand, he was relieved to feel that her skin was warm to the touch—not clammy or sweaty.

He took an official count of her heartbeats, as he had been trained to do. But he didn’t need the count to tell that her pulse was strong, but on the slow side.

“She going to be okay, Doc?” Joe asked when West carefully placed her arm back against her chest and pulled the coat up over her again. “Did she hit her head?”

“It could be a concussion,” West said.

Honestly he was more concerned that she had missed too many meals, but he didn’t want to share that theory with the others just yet. After all, this young woman’s medical history was private. He could share his thoughts with her directly when she was awake.

“Should we take her to the hospital?”Rob asked.

“No,” a weak voice murmured from beside West, and he turned to see that the girl was awake now.

She was too skinny by a lot, and her dark-blonde hair was unwashed and disheveled. But her blue eyes were startlingly beautiful, flashing with a feverish intensity.

She looks like a princess under a spell,he thought to himself stupidly.

“You can’t force me to go to the hospital,” she said, her voice a little rusty but her words perfectly clear. “That’s illegal.”

West blinked at her in surprise.

“This is the doctor, sweetheart,” Old Joe said to her gently. “You didn’t want to go to the hospital, so we brought him to you.”

“Thank you, Joe,” she said, her expression softening as she looked up at the older man.

“Why don’t I examine you here?” West offered. “Maybe we can at least rule out a concussion.”

“She fainted right after being in a car accident,” Rob pointed out. “What else could it be?”

West didn’t miss the guilty look on the girl’s face. She definitely hadn’t been eating.

“Rob, do you still have those snack machines in the shop?” West asked.

“Sure,” Rob said.

“Can you get us a can of juice?” West asked, pulling out his wallet. “Or a soda if there isn’t juice?”

“Sure,” Rob said, waving him off. “I’ve got it.”

“Thanks,” West said, turning back to the girl. “I’m West Lawrence. What’s your name?”

“Dulcie Bloom,” she replied, calmer now that it wasclear he wasn’t planning on dragging her to the hospital against her will.

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