Page 23 of The Jackpot Screwer
Over the next couple of minutes, Jessica and I did what we needed to be done while Bronte and Jim watched on in shocked silence. When I was finally happy with my examination, I gave Roderick a sedative and asked Jessica to take him for an x-ray.
“Okay,” I said as Jessica left the room. “I’m confident nothing is broken, but we’ll soon find out for sure. Even so, he’s real lucky. You see who hit him?” I asked. “It wasn’t Ellie was it, you know trying to get us to talk?”
I laughed loudly at my own joke but was faced with two blank faces.
“Okay, too soon,” I muttered, remembering when my sister had given the damn cat laxatives to try and get me and Bronte together—even though secretly we already were. “So, I’ll get him x-rayed and then let you know what the situation is. If he hasn’t got any broken bones, I’m still going to keep him in.”
“Why?” Bronte asked, her bottom lip quivering.
Running a hand down her arm, I gave her what I hoped was a comforting smile. “I just want to observe him, check his bladder and bowels are working okay and that the impact hasn’t damaged them.”
When Bronte whimpered, Jim pulled her into his side. “Hey come on now. Like Carter said, he’s in the best place.”
“You sure you think he’ll be okay?”
“Lollipop, I wouldn’t lie to you.”
As my eyes met hers, I felt the usual electricity between us. How her existence in the same air space as me, made my heart thud and the blood rush in my ears. She was so damn beautiful with her blue hair in little buns either side of her head adding cute to the sexiness. It was difficult to believe I used to hate the sight of her until one night in Stars & Stripes we’d had a drunken kiss.
We must have been looking at each other pretty intensely because when Jim cleared his throat, we both jumped.
“I’ll go and erm…” He pointed to the door. “I’ll wait outside for you, sweetheart.”
Neither of us spoke until we heard the door click shut behind him.
“I’m sorry,” I burst out. “I was a drunken idiot and I’ll never forgive myself.”
Bronte shook her head. “It’s fine. At least they know now. Well, them and the rest of the damn town.” She gave me a small smile and I was happy that she appeared to have forgiven me a little bit. “Just next time you drink whisky, maybe eat food too.”
“Yeah, I will.”
Inhaling deeply, I felt unusually lost for words. Not lost as such but scared. I was damn petrified in case I said the wrong thing and pissed her off again— that was how tentative I knew our truce to be.
“You’re feeling okay?” I asked, thinking it was a pretty neutral question.
“I’m fine. Tired like you wouldn’t believe, but I read that’s natural for the first trimester.”
“You take as much rest as you can.” I was desperate to take her into my arms and kiss her but was pretty sure we weren’t at that point. I settled for holding her hand instead. “You need anything?”
Bronte shook her head and looked down at our linked hands. At first, I thought she was going to pull hers free so was surprised when she placed her other hand over the top.
“I have a doctor’s appointment on Friday, if you want to come with?”
This was good. I’d obviously done and said the right things if she wanted me with her. Maybe going to the appointment would be my opportunity to turn things around and prove I was serious and committed.
“I’d love to,” I replied feeling confident I had everything under control. “Although you know I could grease up my arm and check everything out for you myself. I do it with Hunter’s cows all the damned time.”
Driving along with my windows down and Lizzo’s ‘Juice’ playing on the radio my shoulders felt a little lighter. Knowing that Mom and Dad weren’t madder than a pair of wet hens about becoming grandparents was a big relief. The talk we’d had after the incident had shown me that they were the best parents ever and all was good in the hood.
As for Carter, well he was a different story entirely. My anger at what he did at the party had subsided, he was taking good care of my cat after all, but I was still unsure what to do about him—about us.
Which was why I was going to see Ellie. While she was his sister, she was also my best friend and I knew where her loyalties lay—with me. I needed my best friend’s advice and maybe a hug along with it.
Pulling onto the driveway, I was relieved to see only Ellie’s shit colored car there. I loved Melinda and Henry, but I didn’t think I was ready to face them just yet. They’d be bound to want me to sort things with Carter, and that would be by us getting back together. Problem was, I had all sorts of worries about that.
“Hey,” Ellie said as she opened the door to me. “What’re you doing here? I thought you’d be working today.”
“Decided to take a few days and leave Lilah in charge.”
