Rooker gently pulled her hands away from her leg before examining it. He touched the rapidly swelling skin over her ankle, which didn’t hurt too bad, but when he moved it, the pain spiked, and she could not help but cry out.
“Ow, owie, ouch!” she cried as she jerked her leg from his hold.
“Can you wiggle your toes for me?”
Carri wiggled them, but moaned with the increased pain the action caused.
“All right, little artist, looks like we’ll be taking our pizza to the urgent care. We need to get a picture of that ankle.”
Carri looked from her Daddy to her sister who stood nearby with tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Tilly.”
Tilly knelt on her other side and took her hand. “It’s okay. You do what your Daddy tells you and I’ll see you in the morning. There’s a restaurant right next door to the hotel we’re staying at. I’ll get something there.”
Carri wanted to argue, but knew the last thing Tilly wanted was to go to a doctor’s office with her. While none of the Smith sisters liked going to the doctor, Tilly had a true aversion.
Leaning up while trying not to put weight on her foot, Carri kissed Tilly’s cheek and squeezed her hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t tell Lottie, okay? She’ll go crazy.”
Tilly smiled as she wiped her cheeks to clear away her tears. “I won’t, but that will just make her madder when she finds out tomorrow.”
Carri shrugged. “Better tomorrow than right now.”
“All right. I’ll see you in the morning,” Tilly said before turning her attention to Rooker. “You’ll take care of her? Real good care?”
“Of course. I am a trained physician, after all.”
Tilly nodded and pushed to her feet. “All right, I’ll see both of you tomorrow.”
“Take the pizza with you,” Rooker ordered gently. “You need to eat dinner.”
Tilly nodded and collected the pizza before heading to the parking lot where her SUV was parked. Carri took a deep breath before turning to face Rooker. “I screwed up, didn’t I?”
“Accidents happen, little artist. But I think we should get an x-ray of your foot to see how badly you hurt yourself.”
With that, Rooker scooped her up before standing, once again impressing her with his strength. She wrapped her arms around neck and held on as he headed across the park to where his car waited.
Carri sniffed as tears tried to press forth once again. He was being so cold, and she didn’t understand why. Was this his doctor mode? Or was he having second thoughts about being her Daddy?
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I didn’t mean to hurt myself. It just looked so fun when Tilly jumped that I wanted to fly, too.”
Rooker did not respond as he set her down next to the passenger’s door. “Lean against the car and don’t put any weight on your boo-boo foot.”
“Yes, Daddy.” Carri positioned, bending her knee and resting her injured foot on her uninjured one.
Rooker tried not to allow his Little girl to see how much her injury had scared him. Seeing her on the ground had him immediately shifting from Daddy mindset to that of detached physician. Though the examination of her foot proved she wasn’t hurt too badly, he was having a hard time tearing down the wall that flew up to contain his emotions. After opening the truck he lifted Carri and carefully set her on the seat. Then he retrieved their things from the picnic table and set them in the backseat.
Sliding into the driver’s seat, he glanced at Carri. She looked pale and in pain with tears glistening in her eyes. Reachingacross her, he pulled the seatbelt over her lap and secured it before doing up his own belt.
Ten minutes later, he parked in front of the clinic he had connections with. He hoped they would be in and out quickly, and afterward they would hit a drive-through and head back to the house where he would take care of his sweet Little.
“Are you sure we need to go in there?” Carri asked as he released both their belts. “Can’t you just wrap it up and I’ll promise not to walk on it too much?”
“No, sweetheart. We need to make sure you didn’t break anything.” With that, Rooker climbed out and walked around the front of the vehicle. Opening her door, he lifted her out. “Close the door, little one.”
She huffed a sigh as she pushed the door closed. When he didn’t immediately start walking, she looked up at him. “Daddy?”
“Most Littles don’t like seeing the doctor, but we need to make sure you didn’t break anything. They’ll take pictures of your foot and ankle, and then I will decide what needs to be done to help you heal as fast as possible. Okay?”
Carri heaved another long sigh before slowly nodding. “Okay, Daddy. But after, I think we should get ice cream. Over there.” She pointed to the ice-cream parlor at the corner of the parking lot.
