“Do you live alone?” I ask instead.
He nods.
“But… you’re going to need help,” I say, horrified at the thought of going through something like this alone.
“I’ll figure it out.”
“How? You can’t drive.” I nod to his injured right leg. “You can’t carry things with crutches.”
He opens his mouth and closes it.
“I’ll help,” I blurt. “Whatever you need. Rides, groceries, whatever.”
“My sister lives next door,” he says gruffly.
I recoil. “You have a sister next door, and you hopped in a car with a stranger instead of calling her?”
He closes his eyes and leans on the gurney. “She and her husband are out of town on a ‘sanity break,’ whatever that means.”
I cross my arms, trying to look more confident than I feel. “Well, I’m staying in town for a few days. I can check in on you. Be neighborly.”
He stares at me for a long moment. I can’t read what’s going through his head, but finally he says, “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Thank you,” he adds, saying it as if it were a huge concession on his part.
Mom left us to fend for ourselves more times than I can count. The Storm sisters learned early that we help our sisters because nobody else will. We step up because that’s what we do.
I can’t help but extend that to this grumpy woods-hermit. After all, I did take him to Climax today.
4
Asher
I wake up in pain.
Not the dull ache of sleeping wrong, or the stiffness from too many hours at my desk. This is sharp, burning, radiating from my ankle with every small shift of my body. For a confused moment I can’t remember why, and then it all comes flooding back.
The woods. The girl. The fall. Eva driving me home, and my pain-addled self almost asking her to stay. Thankfully, I caught myself in time. I think.
I squeeze my eyes shut and contemplate never leaving this bed.
My phone buzzes on the nightstand, and I reach for it, squinting at the screen.
Lia
Heard you got your foot amputated in a tractor accident??? Please tell me you’re not using Ethan’s machinery. Call me.
Despite everything, I almost laugh. The Fork Lick rumor mill works fast. I type back with one thumb.
Me
Ankle broken, not amputated. No tractor involved.
Her response is immediate.
Lia
