Page 43 of The Christmas Extra

I vaguely recalled seeing him kick the rifle from Clint’s reach and then close the distance to me lying on the floor bleeding like a stuck pig. Clint was bellowing in pain while sobbing. This was not atallthe way I wanted to spend Christmas with Tony. I didn’t want to go out now, not when we’d just found each other again.

“Stillman! Baby, no! Don’t you dare leave—”

***

There were flashes.

Bright moments of coming back to reality then fogging out. Someone I knew but couldn’t place speaking to me about speedy ambulance arrival time. Ha, yeah, it was parked outside. Another person—a human in white scrubs—sometime later telling me that the poke from the IV would sting a little. I recalled two things from the poke moment. Telling the nurse—or so I assumed it to be—that being shot with a Nosler deer rifle at close range hurt more than her needle would so stop worrying about the sting. And asking for Tony.

Every time I swam through the haziness of blood loss and then anesthesia, I asked about Tony, or so the nurses who swam in and out of my consciousness informed me. When I came around in the wee hours of the morning, groggy and unable to get up to piss but trying nonetheless, the lovely lady working the night shift said that she was going to wake up Tony and tattle on me for trying to get up.

“Tony...” I whispered as she eased me back into the bed, my shoulder on fire, and my head packed with batting.

“He’s resting on a cot.”

“He okay?” I asked, wooziness playing havoc with my stomach. Ugh, fucking anesthesia always made me sick. “Gotta piss.”

“He’s fine now.” Her face appeared in the small round circle that was my line of sight. She was wearing reindeer antlers that flashed red whenever she moved her head. It was kind of psychedelic. I could not look away. “He refused to leave until you were wheeled into your room. Then he refused to leave at all. So we pulled in a cot from the maternity ward and there he was, snoring away. Your fiancé is quite stubborn.”

“You have no idea,” I mumbled as my gut roiled. “Gotta piss.”

“You have a catheter in so go ahead.”

Oh. Okay, that was nice. I wasn’t sure I could make it to the toilet right now. Which would have sucked as I then, with very little warning, had a gagging spell. Nurse Rudolph gave me some sort of something in my IV to combat the nausea. As she lowered the lights, I rolled my head to the left, which hurt like fuck, and saw Tony across the room, lying there facing me, his face resting as he rested. Rested as he rested with the rest of us who were resting.

“Get some rest,” someone said, not sure who, it could have been God. I closed my eyes and slept just in case. He’d spared me and my beloved tonight, so if he said to rest, I was going to rest.

***

When I clawed my wayout of a drug-induced slumber, my gaze roamed the ceiling for a moment as I tried to adjust my sluggish thoughts. The sound of machines beeping, the ache in my shoulder and back, and the intake of breath to my left were all the reminders I needed. Bullet hole. Marley. Lots of blood. Yep. Ho-ho-ho. Merry fuckin’ Christmas, Stillman.

“Stillman, are you awake?” Tony asked, his face slipping into view.

“Mostly,” I croaked, my throat sore from the breathing tube during my surgery. “You okay?”

He looked ragged, a look that one didn’t see on TV and on film star Tony Gigliotti often. Then again, ithadbeen a night.

“Me? I’m fine. How are you?” He sat on the edge of the bed and carefully took my hand between his two warm ones.

“Ready to...mango.”

A flimsy smile appeared on his face, beating back the exhaustion for just a second before it reappeared.

“Tango?”

“Sure, let me get...dancing shoes.”

He coughed/laughed, his grip tight. Someone walked past the door, the squeak of rubber-soled shoes on the tile floor soft but noticeable.

“Fool.” He sighed, lifting my hand to his whiskery face, his eyes drifting shut as he rubbed his cheek against my knuckles like Ellery liked to do. “Beautiful, brave fool.”

“Meh,” I groaned as I tried to sit up just an inch. My ass bone was killing me. Everything hurt. Fuck that asshole Clint. “Clint?”

“Mm, down the hall. Stable. Under state police guard. Teddy is taking over as temporary sheriff until you get back on your feet. The town is safe, and I’m safe, so stop worrying about everyone else and worry about you.”

“Louise and the kids?”

That made him sigh and smile, his dark lashes lifting. “They’re fine. Tucked safely into the shelter. She’s upset that her husband went after you because she left him.”

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