“Cutler, you need to be careful of Uncle Rafe’s sore hand,” Emerson said as she chuckled.
I knew Nash was working this morning, but he’d meet us at the game in a few hours.
“Oh, man. I totally forgot because I was so excited to see you,” he said, looking at me with concern as he slid down to the ground.
“It’s fine. I’ll have your mama check it out.”
“My mama is the best doctor in the whole wide world, and that’s a big ole world,” he said.
Emerson rumpled the top of his hair and hugged me. When she pulled back, she held her hand out to inspect my wrist. Her eyes widened as she took it in. “We’re not going to even unwrap that here. Let’s stop by the office. It’s closed today, but I can use the portable X-ray machine to see how bad it is.”
“We’ll look at the pictures and see how bad it is, Uncle Rafe,” Cutler mimicked his mother.
“Thanks, Dr. Beefcake.”
“Dr. Beefcake!” He fell back in a fit of laughter as we drove the short distance to Emerson’s office. She was the local pediatrician in Magnolia Falls, and my sister was one of the most brilliant people I’d ever known.
I sat down on the chair in one of her patient rooms, and Emerson sat on the little rolling chair and moved in front of me. Cutler stood beside her, acting like he was the chief of surgery, looking all concerned.
“Let’s get it unwrapped first and see how bad it is,” she said as she unwound the cloth carefully.
Her eyes widened, and Cutler gasped once the bandage was removed. It was a deep purple color and twice the size of my other wrist.
“Can we get a priest up in here? This is not good,” Cutler said, as he rubbed his temples and sucked in a breath. I barked out a laugh and then winced when my sister pressed slightly on my hand.
“He’s going to be just fine, my love.” She winked at her son. “I’m hoping it’s a bad sprain and not broken because surgery is no fun.”
She carefully turned it over to inspect both sides.
“How will we know?” Cutler asked.
“I’m going to get the portable X-ray machine and take some photos. You stay here and keep Uncle Rafe company, and I’ll be right back.”
He reached for my good hand, his eyes filled with empathy. “How bad is it? You can tell me.”
“Scale of one to ten, I’d say it’s a six.” If I was being honest, it wasn’t what was bothering me the most right now. I had other things on my mind.
“A six isn’t too bad. Did someone call Lulu and tell her that you’re hurt?”
“Nah. She’s living in Paris now. I don’t want to bother her with something silly.”
He narrowed his gaze. “Something silly? If Lulu was hurt, wouldn’t you want to know?”
Fair enough. “Of course.”
“Man, all my uncles are not very good with the ladies.” He chuckled and shook his head. “I feel like I always have to tell everyone what to do.”
“Lulu’s not really my girl. We don’t even live in the same country,” I said. But I kept hearing Bridger’s words in my head. Maybe I was afraid. I didn’t want to pull her away from her life and her plans, so where could this go?
“Do you love her, Uncle Rafe?”
Damn. Beefcake was such a straight shooter.
“I do.” He was the first person, outside of myself, that I’d admitted it to.
“So why don’t you just live in the same country?”
“It’s not that simple, buddy.” I shrugged. “She really needs to be in Paris right now. It’s a big opportunity for her. I can’t ask her to give that up.”
