Page 51 of Doctor Grump

Her mother seemed taken aback by Piper’s fervor, and she turned indignant. Her face was red as she stiffly got up and walked away. Her other daughter threw us a final glare before following her.

“Are you okay?” I asked Piper again.

“I’m fine,” she said again, but this time, she swallowed like the words were choking her.

“You're not,” I responded. “Come here.”

I gathered her into my arms once again, holding her and rubbing my hand against her back. She remained stiff in my arms for a few more seconds, but I started feeling her relax in increments.

“It’s okay,” I murmured. “You can let go now.”

Only then did Piper finally relax and cry.

21

PIPER

“Go,” I told Ian after his phone rang for the tenth time. “I’ll be fine.”

But he simply shook his head and stayed put right where he was. He was sitting beside me as he had been for the past two hours, waiting for news on my father. His hand rested on my thigh, and whenever my anxiety started spiking, he would run his hands up and down in firm, comforting strokes. His other hand was around my shoulder, and being surrounded by his scent helped soothe some of my worries.

He eventually had to leave to pick up Kendy from school, and he wanted me to come with him. I declined.

“I need to be here,” I told him. “But you can go get Kendy.”

He leaned down and dropped a kiss on my lips. “I’ll be back as fast as possible.”

Ten minutes after Ian left, the doctor finally came up to us to announce that they had managed to stabilize my father, and shockingly, he apparently had some poison in his system at the time of the accident.

“Poison?” My mother looked horrified. “Where on earth would he get poison from?”

“I’m not sure,” the doctor said. “It’s fairly common to often have traces of toxic substances in your bloodstream from accidentally ingesting household items or plants. It could be something you unknowingly introduced into your diet. We can’t know for sure until we have more tests.”

“Oh God, this can’t be happening.” My mother put her hand over her face in despair. “But he seemed completely fine this morning.”

“Some poisons take a long time to act. And others act much quicker. We’ll run the tests to make sure which type it is.”

“So could that be why he had the accident?” I asked.

“Possibly. The dizziness and nausea caused by the substance may have caused him to lose control of the wheel. But the good news is that he is stable after surgery, and once we’ve flushed the poison out of his system, he should be waking up soon.”

“Thank God.” We all breathed a sigh of relief, and my mother walked forward to clutch the doctor’s hand. “Thank you. Thanks so much.”

After he left, I went back to sit at my spot. Alone.

A few moments later, my mother finally approached me tentatively. I immediately stiffened, expecting some more of her tantrums and barbs. However, her next words floored me.

“I’m sorry.”

I blinked at her, sure I had heard wrong. “Come again?”

She sighed and crossed her arms. “Must I repeat myself?”

“I think so. I think I might be hearing things because it sounded like you just apologized for something.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t suit you, Piper.” My mother rolled her eyes. “But I am sorry. I shouldn’t have gone off on you like that just then. It’s just that with everything that has happened to us lately, this has just been the latest thing in a string of bad luck. We’d nearly been robbed recently.”

“That’s horrible,” I said, alarmed.

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