Page 82 of My Cowboy Freedom
“His name is Skyler. He’s on parole.”
Declan blinked at me, blue eyes wide. “Really? Do you know what he served time for?”
“You should ask him.”
“I will. Oh, yes indeed. I will.” When I didn’t say anything, he glanced at his tablet. “So... you had a tonic-clonic seizure last night.”
Wait. Really?“A new hand—an ex-con—comes to the ranch and you’re not even a little bit curious about anything but my seizure?”
His smile was wry. “He’s not my patient. It’s you I’m concerned about.”
Irritably, I said, “I don’t remember anything about the seizure.”
“Did Maisy alert?”
“Pastor said she did.” I got off the exam table and sat on the floor beside her. “She was a champ. Weren’t you, girl? She warned me and I must have listened. They said I got to the ground on my own. Of course, I was singing in front of the whole church at the time.”
The doc’s face fell. “I’m so sorry, Rock.? You want to talk about that?”
“You changin’ specialties to head-shrinking now?’
“No, I’m still just a humble country doctor. I have a bona fide shingle outside to prove it.”
“So I should save my answer for group.”
“You could.” His gaze was more probing than usual. “But I’d really like you to tell me how you felt about the incident at church.”
Just thinking about it—high school kids laughing at me while I was helpless. While I pissed myself.
It was a god-awful pain in the ass. “How do you think I felt? I hated it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Then Elena shows up with the new guy tohelp. How’d you feel if Ryder saw you puke-sick and helpless? Or worse—combative and delirious.”
The doc’s jaw tightened. “So he saw you right after?”
I nodded.
“How’d he react?”
“He did what he needed to do without being a dick about it. But at the same time—” I took a deep breath. “It’s hard to describe how much I hated him. Just for that moment, I wished I’d never met him.”
Doc nodded, very slowly. And he never acted like there was anyone waiting to see him after me. I was learning to appreciate that more with each visit.
His gaze lifted from his notes. “I’ve known doctors who’ve worked in prisons—not just here but in parts of the world where conditions are truly appalling. Incarceration is responsible for many, many significant physical and psychological problems.”
“Dad’s church has an active prison outreach, Doc. I know all this stuff.”
“Then you know the system works pretty badly but in a prison, it totally breaks down. Prisoners have all the time in the world to dream up new ways to manipulate people.”
“I’m keeping my options open.”
He nodded again. “Good. Since I’m about to meet this paragon I’ll keep an open mind. In the meantime, I’ll need blood and urine.”
“But Doc, this is all so sudden.”
“Shut up.” He threw his stylus at me.
