Page 102 of Of Grief And Gratitude

Romeo chuckled. “You ate it pretty good in the yard.”

“Was it just the one fall?” the doctor asked, taking a pair of blunt-nose shears to my sweatshirt and cutting from the neck down the side seam so he could avoid it touching my injured arm. He slipped the destroyed fabric off my other arm and dropped it into a wastebasket across the room.

I closed my eyes, going over the past few hours in my head. “I fell one other time on the trail, I think. That might be where some of the mud came from.”

“Did you hit your head at all?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

Doc Adams carefully unwrapped the gauze bandage covering my arm, and I looked away, queasy just thinking about seeing my wound. I didn’t do well with blood. I wondered if I might have passed out from the sight of my injury more than the concussion. My skin went cold, and the edges of my vision darkened.

“Whoah, now.” Doc’s voice sounded far away as he caught the back of my head and lowered me down. He pressed a spot on my head, and I winced. “You’ve got a good knot there, but it won’t need sutures. Romeo, hand me that pillow.”

He slipped something soft under my head, and I tried to breathe evenly. How embarrassing.

“Riona, do you feel nauseous?” the doctor asked. I nodded, and he got something from the cabinet along the wall, handing the blue circle to Romeo. “Hold this for her in case she gets sick.”

They switched places, and I flinched when something cold pressed against my arm. The bitter tang of alcohol burned my nose, and my stomach rebelled. I turned my head, and Romeo held the little barf bag as I lost what little was in my stomach. He stroked my hair and whispered reassurances in Italian as I dry-heaved. Doc Adams offered me a tiny cup of water, and I rinsed my mouth. The blue bag was replaced with a new one, and I laid my head back on the pillow.

“Feel better?” The doctor’s voice was soothing.

“Kind of. Not really,” I admitted. “I’m awful with my own injuries. I sometimes pass out.”

He smiled at me and patted my shoulder. “Good to know. I’ll try to make this as quick and painless as possible. You’ll feel a pinch as I numb your arm. No worse than a bee sting.”

“I’ve never been stung.” I swallowed hard and clasped Romeo’s hand as the doctor began injecting the numbing medication. If possible, my arm hurt even more.

“There. All done with that part.” The doctor swabbed my arm with alcohol wipes again. “We’ll give it a minute to take effect.”

He bustled around the room, tossing the syringe in the sharps container and changing his gloves before throwing a couple of plastic packages on a tray. He set the tray by my hip and lifted my arm to put a blue sheet underneath. “Can you feel that?”

“Feel what?” I refused to look.

“Good.” The doctor chuckled. “I think we’re ready. I’m going to irrigate the wound before I suture it. You’ll feel some pressure and tugging, maybe a little cold from the saline. Tell me if you feel pain, though.”

“Got it.” I opened my eyes and stared at Romeo as the doctor got to work, trying to pretend it was just the two of us on a tropical island, far away from the woods and Chicago and all the other fucked up things in our lives. Maybe I could convince him to plan a vacation with me. That might be nice. “Do you want to go to a tropical island with me?”

Romeo smiled. “Is that the concussion talking?”

“I don’t know.” I stopped myself from shrugging so I wouldn’t mess up what the doctor was doing. “Seems like a great idea right now, don’t you think?”

“I’ll tell you what.” He leaned close, stroking his fingers over my forehead. “When you recover, I’ll go anywhere with you. Lady’s choice.”

I held my free hand up. “Shake on it.”

He took my hand and pumped it twice. “It’s a deal.”

“I want a beach, fruity drinks, and couple’s massages,” I elaborated, still holding his hand as he stroked my knuckles.

“Couples massages, hm?” His face softened. “Finally acknowledging we’re a couple, Riona?”

“I guess I am.”

“Thank fuck,” Romeo breathed.

Doc Adams chortled and patted my shoulder again. “All done. You did well. Didn’t pass out on me. I’m going to switch sides with your partner and have you turn your head so I can clean the wound there.”

I focused on Romeo when he moved to my left, cradling my head so I could relax as the doctor used a syringe to squirt saline over the stinging scrape.

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