Page 25 of Wandering Souls

His face tightened. “Does it work?”

“Most of the time. It helps more if I think of them as souvenirs.”

“Interesting. How well do the muscles in your leg function?”

“They get stiff and sore, and sometimes it’s hard to walk. I’m good when I’m warmed up, though.”

He took a breath and made some more notes on her file. “I see in the X-ray there are some close to the surface. Don’t be surprised if your body expels them in the future.”

“Expels them?”

He looked up and smiled. “Sometimes, the body will push them out. They’ll begin to appear as lumps under the skin and gradually come to the surface. You have some small ones that might happen to. Did the doctors not explain?”

“Doctors only tell me they aren’t confident in removing them. They worry they’ll nick a nerve and cause more damage.”

He nodded. “Predictable, really. Now, what’s say we get to that X-ray?”

The room that housed the X-ray machine was cool and dark when Colt led her in. He motioned toward the small cubical where she left her keys, phone and purse, and swapped her clothes for the white paper robe. When she emerged, he stood wearing a heavy, protective apron and smiled.

“This won’t take long. Here,” he took her by the elbow and led her to the gurney, “you’ll need to lie down and hold still.”

Why did he sound nervous?

“You’re worried, Colt.” She sat and swung her legs up. “Why?”

He huffed and set a pillow behind her, before sliding a film tray under her thigh. He stared down at the limb. The scars beneath the paper cover tingled. “I told you everything would be fine, which is what I want for you, but maybe not what will be. You and I both know life isn’t all fairy tales and roses.”

She appreciated his honesty as she laid back. “I won’t hold it against you.”

“Between us, we might just have a stranglehold on the shittiness life can dish out but you’re still optimistic. I like that.”

“Yeah, well, my mother taught me to give trouble the bird.” And Abi had proved it a dozen times over.

He stopped, stared at her and then broke into laughter, lightening the mood. With a shake of his head, he told her again to hold still and stepped into the room where the controls were kept. She heard the machine whir before a series of clicks let her know it was doing what she couldn’t and seeing into her thigh.

Colt emerged to replace the film from under her. “Turn to your side. I want to see them from a different angle.”

She rolled to her left and laid her thigh over the film, holding her other leg out of the way. Colt went back into his booth for a few moments before returning, sans the apron, to take the film.

“These won’t take long to process.” His nerves were back. “Don’t worry, Abi, we’ll do our damnedest to make sure you’ll be okay. If it shows us a problem, we’ll find a surgeon who’ll take care of it.”

She wondered if such a surgeon existed because up until now, every specialist she’d consulted refused to operate, insisting any attempt to remove the pieces of metal closest to her femoral artery stood a higher chance of killing her than saving her.

~

Ray dialed Abi’s numberagain and listened as it rang out. Her voicemail message played one more time and he debated whether to leave another message.

“Hi Abi, it’s Ray. Again. Sorry, I know it must sound like I’m stalking you or something. I was just wondering what you were doing for dinner tonight?”

Ugh, he sounded so lame.

“Anyway, call me?”

He tapped the screen to end the call and winced at how he must’ve sounded.

“How many times have you called her today?”

The compact figure of Quinn appeared at his office door, making him regret ever leaving it open. Her dazzling smile matched the bright red streaks through her brown hair, and the mischievous glint in her eye told him she was up to no good.

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