"Great," he said. "Sit tight and someone will take you to get those images."
When the doctor left, Percy leaned into me. As I gathered him up and settled him on my lap, he reached out to Audrey. She stood, taking his hand as she wrapped an arm around me. I let my head fall to her shoulders as a breath rattled out. I'd needed that.
"Just remember," she said. "So many of the kids who discover they have magic or defeat monsters or will receive a prophecy to save the world have a very important scar. I think this might be the beginning of an epic adventure for you."
A small, quiet laugh shook his shoulders.
"Also, I think we should talk about what we're baking for the winter holidays. You already came up with the idea for those amazing tree cakes. What else should we do?"
He had to drop her hand and my shirt in order to sign and I quickly realized that was exactly what she had in mind. Distract him from his injuries, from the overwhelm of being in pain while people poked and prodded at him. As we talked about his ideas—snowman donuts topped the list—and I suggested she take another stab at those chai muffins from Semantic, I realized she'd succeeded in distracting me too.
I didn't know how it was possible to love this girl more than I did yesterday and the day before and the whole decade before that but I did. He even let her wash some of the dried blood from his face while he explained his vision for hot chocolate bread.It was a good thing we were in a hospital because I felt like my heart was about to burst out of my chest and into her hands.
All I knew was that this was it for me. This was everything I needed. The only thing left to do was figure out how to keep it.
chapter fifty-six
Jude
Today's vocabulary word: appropriate
The curtain pulled backa few hours later and Dr. Stremmel stepped inside, saying, "Sorry for the wait. Radiology was slammed but the good news is that there's no evidence of traumatic brain injury."
Percy dozed in my lap, his cheek pillowed on my chest and his thumb in his mouth. "That's fantastic," I said.
"I also had pediatric neuro look it over and they agreed with that assessment," the doctor went on. "Keep an eye out for any behavioral changes, anything that seems off with eating, sleeping, or movement, or sudden, severe headaches. Come in right away if that happens but I'm not expecting it will."
"Yeah, of course." I glanced over to find Audrey scribbling down some notes. "Is it okay for him to fly on Monday? We need to be in Michigan for a family thing but we could drive if needed."
Dr. Stremmel rummaged in a cabinet and pulled out some supplies. "No reason to worry about that."
I rubbed Percy's back as I absorbed this. "All right. Okay. Thank you," I said. "And the bruising on his face? How long will that take?"
"Probably a week or two," Dr. Stremmel replied. "Possibly less if he tolerates a cold compress but I doubt he's going to put up with that on his forehead for long." The curtain opened again and a doctor in a scrub cap poked her head in. "Dr. Shapiro, this is Percy and he has quite the gash on his forehead after going headfirst down some concrete steps. I suspect you'll have some strong opinions about the appropriate closure technique."
I watched as they exchanged a glance I didn't fully understand. It seemed like an inside joke. It hadn't occurred to me that doctors would have inside jokes about the best ways to fix up a cut.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Shapiro." She held out a hand to me and Audrey, correctly gauging Percy's thumb-sucking as a hard disinterest in any kind of formal greetings. "I'm going to examine the wound and then we'll make a plan. Is it all right if an intern and a med student observe?"
When I didn't respond right away, Audrey jumped in. "Yes, of course."
"The doctor needs to check you out, good sir," I said to Percy. "Do you think you can sit on the bed by yourself?"
He nodded but stretched his free hand out toward Audrey. She popped to her feet and went to the side of the gurney, taking his hand. "I had an idea," she said, her voice low like she was telling him a secret. "What if we tested some recipes for a dog cookie?"
His sleepy eyes went wide and he barely noticed me setting him down, his head coming to rest on the pillow. He signedYeswhich told me his head hurt and he didn't want to nod.
Audrey noticed too because she asked Dr. Stremmel, "I think Percy could use something for the pain."
"We can do that," Dr. Stremmel said, tapping at his tablet.
Dr. Shapiro returned with doctors who didn't look old enough to be out of high school. She smiled down at Percy when she approached the gurney. He gripped Audrey's hand tighter.
"I'm going to use this to help me get a good look," she said, holding up a palm-sized device, "but you won't feel anything because it won't even touch you."
She motioned for the child-doctors to come closer and started describing his injury in technical terms. They took turns studying the cut through the magnifying tool.
When they finished, Dr. Shapiro shifted to face us. "We can close this without sutures."
