A child screamed from inside the room across the hall.
Georgie winced and handed Kennedy Leah’s medical chart. “That’s Billy. He’s six and hates needles. He’s here for his immunization shots. I should…”
“Go ahead. No worries here,” Kennedy said. “I’ve got this.” (Kennedy loved that Doc still used handwritten charts, given most everything had moved to electronic software.) Eyes on the medical chart and the notes written there, she stepped inside Leah’s room, clicking the door shut behind her before raising her head. “Hi, Leah. I’m Doctor…” To her surprise, Leah wasn’t alone. Maverick sat in the visitor chair beside the exam table. “Martin. It’s nice to meet you.” She didn’t have time to address the cowboy in the room because Leah held a blood-soaked towel to the top of her head. Hello, head injury.
Kennedy quickly dropped the chart on the small work counter and donned gloves. “What happened?”
“Hi, Dr. Martin,” Leah said. “I was delivering flowers to the inn and was in a hurry. The trunk of my car closed on my head.”
“Ouch.” She stood in front of Leah and nodded at the towel. “May I?”
“Of course.”
The head bled a lot, so it could be anything from a small cut to a larger gash. Kennedy lifted the towel to take a look. Leah’s blond hair, matted with blood, made it more difficult to see clearly, but thankfully the bleeding had stopped.
“I feel so foolish,” Leah said.
“I’ve seen and heard a lot worse,” Kennedy told her, separating the strands of hair so she could view her scalp. “This may hurt. I’ll do my best to be gentle.”
Leah flinched when Kennedy found the laceration just above her hairline but said, “It’s okay.”
“The cut is deep enough that I think we should suture it. Did you at any time pass out or feel nauseous?”
“No.”
“Feel dizzy or experience blurred vision?”
“No.”
“I was there when it happened,” Maverick said, reminding her he was in the room. “The back of the SUV closed right on her head and then she took an unsteady step back.”
“I also cried like a baby. Thanks for leaving that part out, Mav.”
Mav? Kennedy darted a quick glance at him before focusing back on her patient. Just how well did these two know each other?
“She started bleeding right away,” he said, his tone neutral. “But otherwise seemed fine. I put her in my truck and drove straight here.”
“It hurt worse than anything I’d ever felt before, and it’s throbbing now.”
“That’s normal.” She looked Leah right in the eyes as she spoke, conveying warmth and self-assurance. “Give me a minute to find what I need, and we’ll have you fixed up in no time.”
She removed her gloves and searched the cupboards above the sink. Finding everything for the minor procedure, she placed each item on a stainless steel surgical tray and then put on a new pair of gloves.
“Let’s lie you down,” she said, pressing the button to lower the back of the exam table. Once Leah was comfortable, Kennedy got to work. “You’re going to feel a sting as I numb the area.” As gently as she could, she injected local anesthetic around the injury. Leah fisted her hands in response.
“Take a slow breath in and then slowly let it out,” Kennedy instructed. “Good. One more time. Great. The hard part is over. We’ll wait a minute or two for the lidocaine to take full effect and then get started.”
She replaced the safety on the needle in case she needed to add more local.
“So you were delivering flowers. Are you a florist?” Kennedy asked.
“I am. My sister and I own a shop just down the street.”
“How long have you been in business?”
“Going on five years now. We inherited the store from our grandmother.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“She’s still with us, just retired. Although she likes to show up on a daily basis to make our lives more interesting.”
Kennedy smiled. “I’m guessing that’s a nice way of putting it.”
“Uh-huh. It doesn’t matter that I’ve worked at the shop since I was sixteen; she still likes to tell me how to do things.” Leah’s eyes wandered over to Maverick. “Remember when she told me I’d made my own corsage wrong?”
He nodded.
Did they go to a dance together? Date in high school? A twinge of jealousy pricked her stomach.
Kennedy got back to work, touching around the wound with the needle holder to check for numbness. “Do you feel anything?”
“No.”
“How about here?”
“No.”
“Great. Let’s stitch you up.”
“How many do I need?” Leah blinked up at her.
“I’m guessing three or four. Do you arrange flowers for the inn often?” Kennedy asked, purely to keep Leah’s mind off the suturing, not because she was fishing for more info on how often Leah saw Maverick.
“We do all the big events at the inn. Weddings and other large parties. Nova keeps the property looking gorgeous on all the other days. There’s a wedding this weekend and I was meeting with the bride. I’d brought a couple of samples with me to be sure we were on the same page. Elle, the bride, loved our designs online, but it’s often different when you see them in person.”
The wedding. The entire reason for Kennedy’s visit to Windsong.
“Did she like them?”
“She did. And I’ve never met a nicer bride.”
“That’s good to hear.” She hadn’t doubted Elle was a kind person. She’d captured Reed’s attention, after all. But a good marriage required more than that. Kennedy tied off another stitch. Two more to go. “Have you always lived in Windsong?”
“Yes. Maverick and I both.” She glanced at him again, affection clear in her regard. “In fact, I think the only other time I’ve been hurt, you were there, too.”
“When Red Star threw you,” he said.
“Red Star?” Kennedy said.
“My horse,” Leah clarified. “He got spooked and caught me off guard. Mav saved me then, too. Luckily, I only sprained my wrist and scraped up my legs and arms.”
“When you landed in poison oak.”