He kicked his left foot to the ground and picked up speed.
When he tried to mimic the move the kid had done, the skateboard flipped into the air… and so did Liam.
I gasped and started to run toward him.
He hit the ground with a hard thud and grabbed for his left wrist.
He looked at me and mouthed the word fuck.
Jokingly, I called out, “Hospital time?”
I didn’t expect Liam to nod back…
Chapter Seventeen
Liam
I sat on the edge of the hospital bed in the triage room and stared down at the bright floor. I cradled my left arm, afraid to move any part of it as I waited for the doctor to come see me.
You got on a skateboard for the first time in how long? What the hell were you thinking?
“Hello there,” a cheery voice said.
I looked up and saw one of the nurses standing there.
“How are you feeling?”
“Sore,” I said with a grin.
“We’re going to get something for that very soon, okay? I promise.” She pointed to the empty chair next to the bed. “Is your wife okay?”
I looked at the empty chair.
I smiled.
Wife…
“Oh, Emily? She’s…” I looked at the nurse. I nodded. “She’s fine. She just stepped out for a second.”
“Doctor should be in shortly,” the nurse said.
The nurse left and I settled back into listening to the business of the hospital.
Emily and I should have been doing something much better than this. We could have been having a drink. Some coffee. We could have found some little hole in the wall place to look around at antiques or something to kill time. Or we could have gone into that club… the one with the music I saw when I was-
I heard a snorting sound and watched as Emily came back into the triage room.
Shaking her head.
Fighting back the urge to laugh.
At me.
“You know, I’m in pain here,” I said.
“And that’s my fault?”
“Actually, it is,” I said.
“How?” she asked as she sat down in the chair next to the bed.
“You… being near you…” I cleared my throat.
“I thought you were good with words, Liam,” she said.
I laughed. “You’re just going to keep kicking me while I’m down, aren’t you?”
“For a little while,” she said. “Until the doctor shows up and says what’s going on. What if it’s fractured? What if you need surgery? What if you need emergency surgery? They might just throw you back on the bed and wheel you right out of here.”
I gritted my teeth for a few seconds. “Thanks, Em. Like I don’t have enough to think about right now.”
She clapped her hands and laughed. “Sorry. I had to. You’re fine, Liam. You’re not going to need surgery or anything.”
“I know that,” I said. “Just don’t put it out there.”
“You’re getting touchy now,” she said.
“This was not how the night was supposed to go for us,” I said.
“No? I’m having a great time.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Of course I am, Liam. It’s almost like old times.”
“Meaning?”
“You acting crazy and doing something crazier. Hurt. In a hospital.”
“So you’re taking all of this in, huh?” I asked. “Are you going to write a book about it too?”
“I might,” Emily teased. “Are you going to be able to top tonight?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. I shook my head. “What the hell was I thinking?”
“You won’t like what I have to say to that.”
“Try me,” I said.
Emily stood up. “You were thinking you wanted to grab a piece of your youth and prove that nothing has changed. But everything has changed. That’s the reality we live in, Liam. And your left wrist is going to be a reminder of that for a while.”
We stared at each other.
I wondered if she was trying to hint at something else.
Dr. Amati clicked his pen and smiled at both Emily and I.
His eyes looked tired. I wondered what hour of his shift he was on.
“Liam,” he said. “The skateboarding genius, huh?”
“How did…”
Emily snorted again.
I glared at her.
“Your wife stopped me in the hall,” Dr. Amati said. “I told her I’d tell her what was wrong with you if she told me what really happened.”
“You sold me out?” I asked Emily.
“Sorry,” she said.
Wife…
That word hit me again.
I looked at Dr. Amati and opened my mouth to correct him.
But why did it matter?
It wasn’t like…
Shit. Miranda.
Miranda had no idea I was in the hospital.
“Maybe you should get a new hobby,” Dr. Amati said. “This time you got lucky.”
“Lucky?” I asked. I slowly lifted my left wrist. “This is lucky?”
“It’s a sprain,” Dr. Amati said. “You messed it up but not as bad as it could have been. You’re cut, bruised, and sprained. That’s it. You’re going to need to keep it rested the best you can. But there’s no break.”
“This hurts like a…”
“Yeah, it does,” Dr. Amati said. “It’s a little of everything. Plus a sprinkle of embarrassment. Trying to impress the wife, right?”
I looked at Emily.
Her cheeks were red.
“I told him not to do it,” she said. “I think he was trying to impress someone else.”
“You’re on a roll tonight, Em,” I said in a growling whisper.
Dr. Amati laughed. “Let me get you two out of here. You can still salvage your date night. Just be careful with that wrist.” He looked at Emily. “Take good care of him.”
“Oh, I will,” Emily said.
“I can give you something for the pain,” Dr. Amati offered. “Just to take home for tonight. Not the really powerful stuff. Just something extra strength to help with the inflammation.”
“I’m fine,” I said. “As long as it’s not broken. Or fractured. Or that I need emergency surgery.”
“Trust me, Liam, you’d know if that were the case,” Dr. Amati said.
I thanked him and he winked at Emily and just like that, he was gone.
I jumped off the hospital bed and moved my arm a little more.
It hurt, but at least it wasn’t broken.
My wrist looked swollen and bruised. I had a cut on my forearm and my elbow was roughed up too.
“Ready to head home?” Emily asked.
I blocked her path. “You talked to the doctor without me knowing?”
“I was worried,” she said. “I knew you were worried too. I could see your eyes spinning. Wondering what would happen if you had to get surgery. With your job. Walking around with a cast as a lawyer. Explaining what happened. You don’t like failing, Liam. But this isn’t failing. This is having fun. And then I knew you were thinking about how to explain this to Miranda. So I found out the diagnosis.”