Page 63 of Whisper of Love (Whisper Lake 1)

CHAPTER 23

Kade waited with Ricky as Ali spoke to the nurse about his discharge instructions. KJ was still in the waiting room. Ali had tried to persuade him to let Ethan take him home, but KJ refused to leave. Ethan also stayed. He kept apologizing and felt responsible for Ricky’s accident, but Ali assured him he wasn’t.

Ali had been a rock star. He’d worried about her being back here after Patrick. He’d been concerned that this would all be too much for her. But, if anything, she’d seemed calmer, more in control, and more herself in the past eight hours than he’d seen her since he’d returned to Whisper Lake.

She was cracking jokes, teasing Kade about his driving like he was in the Indy 500 to get here, and teasing Ricky that he’d crashed his bike on purpose to get out of working at the shop during spring break, and that now he knew when you play chicken with a tree, the tree always wins.

She was Ali again.

Ricky seemed to be showing signs of his old self again as well. There was a particularly attractive nurse assigned to him and it was clear he had a bit of a crush. Ali told him that the best part of breaking a bone was getting pretty girls to sign your cast and Ricky saw that as his opening.

The next time the nurse came to check on Ricky, Ali and Kade stepped out of the curtained off area. They’d stayed close enough that they could hear what was going on. Instead of just coming out and asking her to sign it, he mentioned her Harry Potter necklace. Then he asked her what house she was in and told her he was Gryffindor. They debated the merits of each house and then he said he’d be honored to have someone from House Hufflepuff be the first to sign his cast.

Ali looked up at Kade, her face beaming with pride as she mouthed, “Smooth.”

Kade had to agree. The kid had serious game for thirteen. Patrick would be proud, he knew he sure as hell was.

“Do you think it’s going to leave a scar?” Ricky asked as he ran his fingers over the bandage covering the injury.

“Probably.”

Kade was about to point out one of his dozen or so scars to Ricky to show him that they weren’t so bad, but before he got a chance the kid’s face lit up.

“Cool.”

“Okay, we’re ready.” Ali joined them with a stack of papers.

“Let’s go,” Kade said as he turned and walked down the hallway toward the waiting room.

On the way out both he and Ali thanked the doctor that had treated Ricky. Then pushed the silver touch bar and held the door open.

Ethan and KJ crossed the waiting room to them as soon as they stepped out.

“First broken bone?” Ethan asked.

Ricky nodded. “Yep.”

“It’s a rite of passage.” He ruffled Ricky’s hair.

“Someone signed it already?” KJ pointed at the lone signature on his brother’s cast. “I thought I was gonna sign it first.”

“She was House Hufflepuff,” Ricky stated plainly.

“What?”

“And she was hot,” Ali added quietly.

“Oh, okay.” KJ’s face relaxed.

“Alright, let’s get out of here.” They’d been in the ER for close to eight hours and Kade was ready to take his family home.

“Kade?”

All five of them looked over and saw Nancy Peterson approaching them.

“Hi, Nancy.” Ali smiled.

“Hi.” Nancy lifted her hand awkwardly before turning to Kade, her brows furrowed in confusion. “How did you beat me here?”

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