There wasn’t much else to say. Even if I wasn’t bound to Joe by the inexplicable cord between us, the farm couldn’t manage without Emma right now. We said goodbye and I started to drift back inside, but my phone rang before I got to the doors. I expected to hear Emma’s voice again and didn’t even look at the screen. “What is it?”
“Nice to speak to you too,” Rhys said dryly. “Didn’t wake you up, did I? It’s only eight o’clock.”
“No—fuck. I can’t talk right now.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“I’m at Trelisk hospital with the bloke I’m renting my room from. He got kicked by a horse.”
“Shit. How bad?”
“I don’t know. They took him for an ultrasound.”
“An ultrasound of what?”
“His abdomen.”
“Probably liver or spleen then.”
He sounded so matter-of-fact that I wanted to reach through the phone and punch him. “How bad is that?”
“Trauma to any organ is serious, bro. Even if it’s non-penetrative.”
“Non-penetrative? You mean like bruising?”
“Yes. Bruising is still bleeding. It’s worse for older people—”
“Joe’s not old. He’s twenty-eight.”
“Then he’s got a good chance of recovery if they can figure out what the injury is. They can do all sorts surgically these days.
I shuddered, unable to face the prospect of Joe going under the knife. “Hopefully it won’t come to that.”
Rhys hummed his agreement, and I was glad he couldn’t see me. While we’d talked, I’d leaned on a damp wall, so my clothes were now as soaked as my shoes. My legs were splattered with mud, and I didn’t want to contemplate what my face looked like. “Anyway,” I said, “I’d better see if he’s back from the ultrasound.”
“Fair enough. Areyouokay?”
“Why are you asking me that? I’m not the one who got booted by a horse.”
“No, but you’re my brother, and I can tell you’re stressing the fuck out. You’re a healer—you don’t do blood and guts like me.”
It was true. Rhys and I had both fallen into the world of caregiving by accident, but our fields were vastly different. He didn’t have the patience for my work, and I didn’t have the stomach for his. “I’m okay, I’m just... fuck, I’m just worried about Joe, man. We’re—uh—friends.”
“Friends with benefits?”
“Don’t start that shit,” I snapped. “I’m not you.”
“Whoa.” Rhys chuckled, though any humour he may have been trying for washed over me. “There goes my attempt to cheer you up. Go back in and get things squared away. I’m working tonight, so I’ll be up. Call if you need me, yeah?”
I agreed and hung up, already feeling guilty for growling at him, and went back inside to find a flurry of activity at Joe’s bedside. “You’re moving him? Where to?”
“AAU,” the young doctor said. “The scan didn’t show any ruptures, but there’s some significant bruising around the spleen that we’d like to keep an eye on.”
Bruising is still bleeding.I nodded slowly. “How long do you need to monitor him?”
“Overnight on the AAU. They’ll give him fluids and pain relief. Then he’ll likely be admitted to a ward for a few days.”
“What about recovery time?”
