Sasha winced at the pain in her wrist as she did what Dr. Renshaw asked.
“Great job, Sasha.” Nicole had driven Sasha to her appointment and stayed with her to offer moral support.
“Good.” Dr. Renshaw examined her stitches. “You’ll have swelling in your fingers for a while, but everything seems to be healing well. Come back on Wednesday, and Amy will remove those stitches and put you in a cast for the next four or five weeks. When that comes off, you can start aggressive PT. I assume you’re going with a physical therapist from out of town?”
“I’m going to the Mountain’s Edge clinic in Boulder. They work with a lot of climbers. They helped me before with a strained hamstring.”
Dr. Renshaw nodded. “I hear good things about them. How about your pain?”
“My ribs hurt a lot more than my wrist.”
Dr. Renshaw didn’t seem surprised. “Broken ribs are miserable.”
“How much longer before I don’t need oxycodone?”
“You can try some kind of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory if you want. Make sure to take it with food. That might get you through the day, but you’ll probably need oxycodone at night for another four weeks or so.”
Nicole met Sasha’s gaze. “Oh, she’s not happy about that.”
Dr. Renshaw gave Sasha a sympathetic look. “I know it’s hard, but this will pass.”
“Thanks, Doc.”
Amy, the RN, carefully rebandaged Sasha’s wrist, first washing her skin with a sterile wipe and applying a clean dressing. “Just hold it steady. There you go. I’ll print Dr. Renshaw’s instructions and have them waiting at the front desk.”
“Thanks.” Sasha accepted Nicole’s support climbing down from the exam table.
Nicole held up Sasha’s parka. “That went as well as it could have.”
“All good news.” Sasha tried to focus on the positive and not the fact that she still had five weeks of basic recovery ahead of her.
While Sasha paid and booked her next appointment, Nicole drove her vehicle to the front door so that Sasha wouldn’t have to cross the icy parking lot. She helped Sasha climb in and closed the door behind her.
“Thanks, Nic.”
“Are you kidding? What are best friends for?”
It was a cloudless day, the trees garlanded in white, the high peaks gleaming against the bright blue sky.
Nicole drove first to Food Mart to pick up a few things, including kibble for Mocha. “You just wait here. Can I grab anything for you?”
“More extra-strength Tylenol?”
“You’ve got it.”
Sasha let her mind drift, knowing where it would go.
Darius. The kiss.
She hadn’t heard from him yet today. She knew she shouldn’t read anything into that. He had a case to solve, and he couldn’t do that in her living room. But still…
A white crossover pulled into the empty space beside her.
Rose.
She climbed out, spotted Sasha, and motioned for her to roll down her window.
Not wanting to be rude, Sasha did as she asked.
