“Okay let’s—”
“Harper!” Aiden stops me. “There’s glass everywhere, go get some shoes on. I can get him up. One thing at a time. First, I’ll get him out of the glass.”
“Okay,” I say, nodding frantically.
I run to the living room where I left my converse and slip them on over my bare feet as quickly as possible. Then I rush back to find Dad on the edge of the bed. His hand is wrapped in a towel, as well as one foot.
“I think it’s just the gash on one hand and a cut on one foot. There are some scrapes on his legs but they’re minor. Do you think you can help me get him to the truck next door?” Aidenasks. I frown, distracted by the trail of blood from the bathroom to the bed and up my dad’s leg. “Harper? We should get him to the hospital.”
My dad starts to tremble at that word, and I shake my head, “I’ll call Betty, she can be here in one minute,” I say. But I don’t move.
“Harper,” Aiden says my name like he says Stu’s name. “Go upstairs and get your phone, okay?Right now.”
“Rip,” I reply, then I do as he says. I bound up the stairs, grab my phone, struggle to unlock it with my trembling fingers, and call Betty. She answers and is on her way out the door before we finish our thirty second call. She can start to stitch him up and will know if we truly need to get to a hospital.
It’s no small thing, going in to the ER. We don’t have one in town and if we’re in a hurry they have a to call for a helicopter. Dramatic, scary andreallyexpensive.
I rush back down and am shocked and sick to my stomach all over again at the sight of the blood. It’s jarring, how dark it is. And how much. Is he going to die?
“Dad?” I say, searching his features.
“I’m ok,” he rasps.
“You’d say that if you were dying!” I sound a little hysterical.
Aiden wraps his big, warm hand around my bicep and says, “He’s not dying, Harper. He just must’ve nicked a vein. Who did you say was coming? Betty?”
“His nurse. Shelly’s sister, you met her,” I say, still sounding weird.
Aiden squeezes my arm, “Yes, of course. Can you go wait for her out front?”
“Uh, yeah, yes, okay,” I mumble as I back out of the room. The further I get from the blood, the better I feel. In just a minuteor two, Betty is letting herself in the front door like she usually does during the day.
“Where?”
“His bedroom,” I say. “He had a glass in the bathroom and it shattered, then he fell. Aiden got him up.”
“Chip, you ol’ bastard, what’d I tell you about glass, huh?” She starts to examine his hand then his foot, “If you want to see me so badly you can just call,” Betty jokes. She looks back at me, “I got this, we don’t need to go in.”
I almost collapse with relief. I do actually fall into the door jamb.
Aiden watches me while I watch the nurse…who is currently grabbing a crop ton of equipment from her bag! He asks her, “Do you need us, Betty?”
“No, go on, get him set up to sleep in the recliner,” she says to me. “We can clean the mess tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I say, but as I turn to leave my knees give out.
“Hey,” Aiden says, grabbing hold of me before I hit the wall. “Easy, easy. Come on,” he puts his arm around my waist and throws my arm over his shoulder. He’s warm and firm andso very shirtlessaround me.
“I’m fine,” I try.
Aiden grunts, “The wall begs to differ, Sweetheart.”
Sweetheart?!
“I don’t need…” I try to pull away. But my stomach has different ideas. “I—”
I…
