Page 35 of Skid
“She’ll be in recovery for a bit, and then, the nurse said she’d come get me so I can be with her.”
“That’s good.”
“I need to call into work and let them know I won’t be able to come in.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“I need to see about my insurance, too. I’m not sure if it’s active yet.”
“I’ll talk to Sergei and see what I can find out.”
“Okay. Thanks.” She rested her palm on my chest. “Thanks for everything. Seems like you just keep saving the day.”
“Glad to do whatever I can.”
The nurse came out and told Laken it was time for her to go back. I stayed in the waiting room and made some calls. I startedwith Dad. I let him know that Baylor had made it out of surgery fine, and then, I moved on to Sergei.
It only rang once when he answered, “This better be good.”
“Nothing good about it.”
“What’s going on?”
“Laken’s daughter took a hard fall and ended up in the ER last night.”
“Ah, hell. Is she okay?”
“Got a few bumps and bruises, and a broken wrist. She just got out of surgery.”
“Okay, what do you need from me?”
“Laken’s gonna need a couple of days off.”
“Consider it done.”
“And I need to know about her insurance. Is the kid gonna be covered for all this?”
“Yeah, coverage starts on the first day, but there’s a deductible. And you know how those damn things can go.”
“You know money’s tight for her right now.”
“I do, and I’ll help out anyway I can.”
“I appreciate that, man. I really do.”
“I told you I owed you, and I meant it. You need anything else, just give me a call.”
“Will do.”
I ended the call and took a sigh of relief. I’d always thought of Sergei as a hard ass with no real heart. Still thought he was a hard ass. That hadn’t changed, but deep down, he was a good guy. He just needed Lina to help bring it out in him. Regardless, he was now aware of the situation with Laken, and I knew he’d do everything in his power to help.
I also called Prez to let him and the brothers know what was going on. While I was at it, I called Smitty, too. Gave him a list of things that I might need him to do. Told him to be waiting formy text. I’d just about wrapped things up when Laken came out to the waiting room to get me.
I nodded and followed her to Baylor’s room. When I walked in, she was propped up on the bed, with her new cast secured in a sling. Her eyes lit up when she spotted me coming through the doorway. “Hey, there, kiddo. How are ya doing?”
“Guess what I got...” She tried lifting her arm as she said, “A new cast.”
“You sure did.”
