I was surprised Dr. Clark wasn’t going to be the one to take me home. The home nurse this woman was talking about must be Dr. Clark.
“So, before she gets here, I thought we would get you cleaned up so you’re not a smelly mess for your new nurse.”
“I’m paying the new nurse a pretty fucking penny. She can handle me smelling.”
Then pulled the blanket back from my legs.
I was a fucking cripple. I knew it had been just a blanket, but at least it concealed the casts on the bottom half of my legs.
“Come on, you’re the only one I’ve got for the day so we might as well as make the most of the rest of our time together,” she laughed.
By the time I was sponge bathed and sitting back in the bed with just my underwear on, I was fucking exhausted. I used to be able to go for sixteen hours plus at the fucking track, and now, a shower was too much for me.
“I’m fucking weak,” I grumbled.
The nurse chuckled and helped me to lie in the bed. “For every day you’re in a hospital bed, it takes a good four to five days to recover.”
“I’ve been here five days,” I complained.
“So, it’s gonna be a good month ‘til you start feeling like yourself.”
“Bullshit.”
“Oh, there’s that sunny personality I’ve missed at work the past week.” Harlyn breezed into the door and tossed her purse on the chair by my bed. “It’s only ten o’clock and you’re already calling bullshit?”
I laid my head back on the pillow. “I need a new fucking body. This one doesn't work anymore.”
Harlyn laughed. “I think it’s just a little banged up right now, but I’m pretty sure you’re going to make a full recovery. Your nurse waiting for you at home is going to make sure of that.”
“Any reason why you’re here and she’s not?”
“I’m gonna go grab the discharge paperwork since your daughter is here. I’ll be right back.” She walked out of the room, and Harlyn smacked me on the shoulder.
“Would you shut up. Mave doesn’t want anyone here to know she’s staying with you.”
“Why the hell not?” I was paying her some good money.
“Because this hospital is where she works, and she doesn’t want it getting around that she does house calls for grumpy old patients.”
“I am not old,” I growled.
“Right, right.” Harlyn slid the duffle bag off her shoulder and dropped it on the floor. She crouched down and ruffled through it. “You seriously have no shorts. What the hell do you wear in the summer?”
“Pants. I’m at the track or in the shop all of the time.”
Harlyn popped back up and held up a pair of blue shorts. They were the type people wore to the gym or to play basketball. Neither of which I did so it didn’t make sense for me to own a pair.
“I’m not wearing those.”
She rolled her eyes. “Uh, yeah you are, unless you want to live in a hospital gown for the next couple of months.”
“Why didn’t you bring me some fucking pants?”
She looked down at my legs. “Because I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t fit your calf in your jeans, let alone your whole leg.”
Dammit. I hadn’t even thought about that. “They didn’t have black?”
A smile spread across her lips. “They did.”
I looked at the bright ass blue shorts. “But you got those.”
She nodded. “Sure did. I figured you needed a little color in your life since you’re such a crab-ass.”
“I am not crab-ass. Have you not heard about my motivational pep talks before races? I’m a regular Sammy Sunshine when I’m not laid up in this bed.”
She dropped the shorts on the bed and ducked back down to rummage through the bag. “Your last motivational pep talk, if we’re really going to call them that, was from Wikipedia. Remy said you read it word for word off of your phone.”
“And we fucking won, didn’t we?” I didn’t know what the hell she was getting at. At least I had taken the time to look for some words to get their asses in gear.
She looked up at me. “Roc. You told them, ‘Never let anyone treat you like a yellow Starburst. You are a pink Starburst.’”
“I would like you to tell me how that isn’t motivational?” I was a regular fucking poet as far as those asshats were concerned.
Harlyn huffed and shook her head. “Remy is right. You really are a lost cause.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Tell Remy to stop talking about me and get his ass moving on getting the car ready.”
She stood and held up a bright yellow t-shirt. “The car is ready. They tested it yesterday and they’re all on the way to the Laketon Nationals. I talked to Remy on the way over here.”
My brain couldn't register what she had said because I was fucking blinded by the shirt she held up. I shielded my eyes with my hand. “How in the fuck did you get a shirt the exact same color as the sun?”
“You don’t like it?”
I peeked at her from behind my hand. “I’m pretty sure the astronauts in space can see that shirt right now.”
She balled it up and tossed it at me. “Ha, ha.” She stood up, kept one arm behind her back, and rested her other hand on her hip. “Though I’m going to be the one with the last laugh.”
“Why’s that?”
A smile spread across her lips. “Because those are the only clothes you have to go home in.”
“You’re fucking kidding me. What happened to the clothes I came in with?”
I had been wearing a pair of jeans and a King Racing shirt. What I wore all of the time.
“They cut your pants off of you, Roc, and I think I took your shirt home.” She tapped her finger on her chin. “Or was it Remy who took it home?”
“Why the hell would Remy take it home?”
She laughed and patted my arm. “I think he brought it to my house so I could get it washed up so you had something to wear home.”
“So why the hell isn’t the shirt here instead of this neon yellow thing?”
“Because I washed it and then I forgot to bring it along.”
“Of course you forgot,” I grumbled.
“Chin up, Roc. You should be bouncing off the walls being thankful you’re going home.” She lowered her voice and leaned in close. “Mave is one of the best doctors in this place. You somehow sweet-talked her into nursing you back to health.”
I rolled my eyes and spread the shirt out in front of me. I didn’t like the damn shirt, but there wasn’t a thing in this world that would keep me from going home today. I tugged it over my head and stuck my arms in the holes.
“I made her an offer she couldn’t refuse.”
“Okay, Vito,” she laughed. “You may have offered her a crap-ton of money to come stay with you, but I’ve been your daughter for a long time. There isn’t enough money in the world that could persuade me to spend a whole month with you. I’d go absolutely batty.”
I tugged the shirt over my body and sat back in the bed. “Well, then it’s a good thing she’s staying with me and not you.”