Page 41 of Silver-Tongued Devil
When he came back out again, she was sitting sideways on the chaise, her feet planted neatly on the ground, still looking the opposite of relaxed. She’d fastened the straps of her overalls, too. He wanted to say something about that, but instead, he just handed her a plate, knife, and fork and said, “In case you wanted a little change from the turkey and Swiss.” He set down his own plate, tugged a chair over, and sat down at an angle to her. “And I wish you’d get comfortable again. You’re making me nervous.”
She was looking at the plate in her lap. “Oh. Thanks. That’s nice of you. This isn’t exactly what I imagined an NFL star would eat for lunch, though.”
“No? But then, I’m not an NFL star anymore. And this isn’t too far from what I’ve always eaten. Leftovers from last night, to tell you the truth. Which I didn’t cook, I feel I have to mention. Takeout from the Heart of the Lake.”
“Russ is going to be disappointed,” she said, a little sparkle showing in her eyes at last. “Chicken pieces, kale salad, and roasted Brussels sprouts? I’m sure he envisioned enormous slabs of filet mignon and maybe some manly potatoes. And I’m not even going totellEvan. He thinks kale is a cruel joke foisted on the men of America for their sins.”
“I’ve been known to eat a steak or two, but you’ve got to lower the calorie count when you’re not burning it anymore. We going to talk about nutrition or eat lunch?”
He got a little smile for that, and she started to eat, too. “So you had an idea?”
“I guess if I said I wanted to see you, that wouldn’t be a good thing.”
She lost the smile. “Probably not.”
“Right, then. I came to talk to you about Russell.”
Now, she lost the ease. “Russell what?”
“I can’t get any definitive answers on his accident. Sawyer’s employees aren’t talking, I can’t force them to, and there’s no way to reopen the investigation. I went all the way up the ladder, but you know—OSHA. Government agency.”
“Oh.” She shook her head. Shaking it off. “Well, I never thought you could.”
“Or that I would,” he guessed.
“That too. Like you said. It was investigated.”
“Yeah. It was. So that’s where we are with that. I can’t change the investigation, so I started looking into what Icoulddo. That’s where you come in. I called around and found the best guy to deal with a broken back. In orthopedics, now—there, Icanthrow my weight around a little, or if I can’t, an NFL trainer sure can. They practically have those docs on retainer. I got Russell an appointment to see this guy down at Cedars-Sinai next month. But I thought I’d tell you first, because I’m guessing Russ could raise a couple objections.”
“But…” She looked at her plate as if she’d forgotten it was there, then speared a tiny Brussels sprout. “They said they’d done everything they could.”
“And do you think that’s true?”
“No. I’ve always thought, maybe… workers’ comp won’t cover it, though. I know they won’t, because I’ve checked. I’ve called and called. It would have to be preapproved, and they won’t. As far as they’re concerned, he was treated, he’s fixed as well as he can be, and they’re done.”
“I know that, too. I had my head of HR checking into all this stuff. Big ol’ brick wall. I’m not talking about workers’ comp, or maybe I am. My version, because if it was wrong, and it happened on my watch, it’s my job to fix it.”
She looked at him, a frown drawing her winged brows together. “I can’t believe you’d do that. I can’t believe any HR person would let you, or your attorney, either. I know you must have one.”
“Ah.” He rubbed his nose. “Let’s say they aren’t happy about it. And would you please eat that lunch? If you don’t, I can’t, and I’m hungry.”
She did, finally, but after a minute, she said, “So your attorney said no.”
“Yep. Told me I’d be as much as admitting liability. I pointed out that it was workers’ comp, the investigation is over, and that’s that, no liability possible, but she still didn’t like it.”
“And you said…” She cut a piece of chicken and studied him like she was a human lie-detector test.
“And I said the same thing I told my HR director. Thanks for her advice, and I was doing it anyway. I’m the boss, you see. I get to do that.”
“Oh.” He thought she might be breathing a little faster. “So… what?”
“So in about a month here, you and Russ go down to LA and talk to Dr. Fischer, see what he can do. And then, assuming that’s ‘anything at all,’ Russ goes down there again and gets it done.”
“And you’re going topayfor it? How could you do that?”
“I sure am. With a check, probably. And before you ask—yeah, that means your time off and a place to stay and all that. If it’s my fault, it’s on me to fix, and that’s it.”
She was definitely having difficulty with her breathing now, and she’d stopped eating again, too. “You make it so hard to hate you,” she said, sounding truly sad about it.
