“I’m smart enough to make an educated guess.” Jasper gives me his best bitchy look. And honestly, it’s pretty good.
I hold my right hand out with an irritated sigh, pinky and ring finger already looking totally swollen.
“Oh, yeah. It’s broken,” Rhett announces.
“And you’re a retired bull rider. What the fuck do you know?”
He shrugs. “Well, I know what broken bones look like. And you’ve got them.”
“I agree,” Jasper tosses in, folding the brim of his cap over his forehead.
“This is like a stupid joke. A hockey player and a bull rider walk into a doctor’s office . . .”
“Cade. You need to get X-rays.”
I slump against the metal fencing behind me and groan. “It was the last batch. I just wanted a beer and a hot tub.”
“No problem, bro.” Rhett slaps me on the shoulder hard enough that my fingers ache. “I’ll grab you one for the road. Also, Summer told me to never go in that hot tub again. The fuck you been doing in there?”
“Get fucked, Rhett. I use chlorine tabs in there and test the water regularly.”
“Is the water pregnant yet?” he tosses over his shoulder while jogging away.
“Dick,” I mutter, gingerly holding my hand and feeling my arms shake.
“What can I do?” Jasper asks gently.
“Get Willa,” is what I say. Because she’s the only person I want right now.
He stares at me with his soulful eyes and nods. He’s walking back with her within minutes.
She looks pale, her eyes pinched, but she doesn’t fuss over me. That’s not her personality, and I think I love her even more for it.
“Fancy meeting you here, Eaton. You try to be a hero and break some fingers?” She’s doing the thing where she defuses her anxiety with humor, but I let her. Her sarcasm is a good distraction right now.
Rhett is back and hands me an already cracked beer. “No. He was trying to be a hero and get that calf’s leg out by himself.”
I hold the beer up in Willa’s direction. “Cheers, baby. You get to play nurse today.”
“Oh, yeah?” She draws closer, running a hand over my shoulder and down my arm to hold my hand. As she assesses the quickly darkening digits, she adds, “I think I dressed up as that for Halloween one year.”
Jesus. What didn’t this woman dress as for Halloween?
I groan and let my eyes flutter shut to the sound of my brothers having a good chuckle around me. The last thing I need is a rock-hard dick to go along with my broken fingers.
“Okay, champ. Off to the hospital we go.” Willa slides her hand around my back. “I got him from here, boys. The girls have Luke. I think he’s in heaven with two blondes paying attention to him.”
“Talk about mommy issues,” Rhett jokes to a chorus of groans. Leave it to him to say something inappropriate right now.
“Fucking clown,” I mutter as I absently press a kiss to Willa’s head.
It’s eerily quiet for a moment because I realize I just kissed my nanny in front of these two jokers and didn’t even think twice about it.
Willa clears her throat to break the silence.
“We’ll finish the cows and then come to the hospital,” Jasper says.
Rhett scoffs. “It’s fucking broken fingers. I think he’ll make it through.”
I laugh because this sucks and Rhett is certifiable. “Thanks, guys.”
Then we’re off, silently walking back to the barn where I parked. When I meet Willa’s eyes, they’re wide and concerned, so I whisper, “Don’t worry, baby. I’m going to be fine.”
She sniffles and rolls her shoulders back. “I know,” she replies, always putting on that tough facade.
“Were you worried?” I ask as I settle into the passenger seat of my parked truck.
“Of course,” she replies, voice even as she hops into the driver’s seat. “I don’t know how well you’ll be able to finger bang me with your left hand.”
I chuckle and smile the rest of the way to the hospital because there is only one person in the world who could make me laugh in a moment like this.
It hits me hard as we drive in a companionable silence that Willa is that person.
My person.
The hospital in Chestnut Springs is small. Staffing is a constant issue. Wait times are brutal.
I guess having to wait several hours shouldn’t surprise me. First, in the general waiting area. Second, X-rays. Last, back to a private room where we wait some more.