“You don’t have to go.” Eddy caught Boone’s wrist.
“Yes, yes he does,” Nettie grumbled.
“Antoinette,” Boone scoffed. “How unsurprising that you’re rude in front of a young girl that’s impressionable. You always were kind of trashy.”
Nettie inhaled swiftly.
Boston’s eyes couldn’t get any wider.
But it was Eddy’s voice, low and quiet, that had everyone stilling.
“For the love of all that’s holy, take it outside. Both of you.”
The two fighting children left, but never stopped bickering.
They stopped in the doorway as Eddy called out, “Also, just remember, you have the Olympics coming up, Antoinette Reilley Wheeler. Pregnancy might make that hard.”
The look that Nettie sent her sister would’ve quaked normal people in their boots.
It only made Eddy’s mouth kick up at the corner as she gave her sister an unrepentant smirk.
“What was that about?” Boston asked as the door closed behind them.
“That’s love that two people refuse to acknowledge because they’re too stinkin’ stubborn.” Eddy held out her free hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Boston. I’ve heard a lot about you from your father.”
Boston ignored the hand and hugged Eddy gently.
“I’ve heard very little about you,” she admitted. “But only because Dad and I don’t talk nearly enough. He did make sure to call me and tell me that he’d met a girl.”
Eddy’s eyes met mine over my daughter’s shoulder.
I shrugged. “You were important.”
Eddy’s eyes went so soft that I thought she might cry.
Luckily, Boston saved her from breaking down by asking, “I know this is completely inappropriate, and you can totally say no if you want to, but I’m dying to see what your side looks like. I want to be a surgeon when I grow up.”
Eddy snickered and turned slightly, then said, “Hey, Weaver? Can you come pull the back side of my gown out from under my back?”
She’d had clothes on earlier when I’d left, but now she was back into the gown I could tell she disliked.
“Why are you in that again?”
“A grumpy nurse,” she grumbled. “Apparently, I require too much work to be wearing clothes right now. I need to be in something that has easy access to the wounds.”
I helped her move the gown out from behind her back, then gently peeled it back so that her breasts were still covered but the rest of her was exposed.
“Whoa,” Boston gasped in awe. “That’s going to be one hell of a scar, lady.”
“Don’t I know it.” Eddy snickered.
“She did inform me that chicks dig scars, though.” I chuckled as I tucked the gown back down. “Do you think it was because you were wearing a fitted tee? What if I got you a button-up one of mine? Then you can take it on and off easily. I think even with the ribs, you might be able to do it on your own.”
Her eyes lit. “Do you have one on you?”
I gestured to the one I was wearing. “This one. Though, I don’t have anything to wear out of here if I give it to you.”
She scrunched up her nose in protest. “I think it’d be best not to shock anyone with that body of yours. We’re in a hospital and it would be the best place to deal with women having heart attacks, but it might still be slightly inappropriate.”
