“Oh, I just finished, so I’ll put it away into the maintenance closet.”
He stopped by one of the urinals. “No, no. I know where that is. I’ll do it. Go treat your face.”
I hovered, then nodded jerkily. “Okay. Thanks.” I quickly ducked out of the room before I stood there watching him take a leak.
Luckily it was afternoon, so there were no guests around when I walked briskly past the office. Charlie was working, but when I glanced through the window, he was concentrating on the computer.
I frowned—then winced because ouch—when I realized the kids weren’t there.
As I pushed through the door into the kitchen, Dana was doing some prep for tomorrow’s big New Year’s dinner. I had a feeling half of the town would come in and I’d be running my ass off all night.
I stopped right inside the doors. Even the kids knew you couldn’t just run into Dana’s domain.
“Hey, I need a cold pack.”
She turned around and frowned. “There’s actual ones in the big first aid kit in the office, but there’s peas in that freezer behind you.” She wiped her hands to her ever-present towel and came to find the peas. “What happened?”
“I ran into a wall,” I joked, gesturing at my nose. I could feel it swelling.
“Grab a clean towel from over there.”
I went to her pile of towels and took one, then watched as she wrapped it around an almost empty bag of peas.
“Thanks.” I took it and gingerly put it against my nose.
“What really happened?” she asked, hovering a little, which wasn’t her usual thing. Neither Dana or Nic were what I’d call particularly motherly, but she was clearly worried about me now.
“I happened,” Law stated from the doorway. He held out his hand. “Ibuprofen from the medicine cabinet. You have a few minutes before Charlie comes in, fussing.”
I smiled and winced, then took the pills he was offering. Dana went to get me a glass of water, and I popped the pills into mymouth, then awkwardly drank the water while holding onto the cold pack.
“Explain.” Dana frowned at Law.
“I needed to take a leak and rushed into the bathroom as Oak was coming out. I smacked straight into him.”
That gave me a pause. From my point of view, I’d been the one colliding with him. I concentrated on my nose while Dana, appeased, went back to work.
Then, just as Law has said, his brother pushed through the swinging doors.
“Oak, are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine. It’s just sore. I’m just hoping I don’t get much bruising because that’ll look fun tomorrow for the dinner service,” I spoke past the towel.
“I’m sure someone has some makeup you can use if that happens,” Dana piped up from her chopping station.
“By someone you mean Nic,” Charlie teased.
“Of course I mean Nic. Although I think she hasn’t used any in ages.”
“I haven’t used what?” Nic asked, frowning at all of us. “Why are you all—Oak, what happened?”
“Get out of my kitchen, all of you out. And someone return my stuff when you’re done,” Dana snapped, although much more kindly than she probably would’ve in a different kitchen.
We headed out, and I heard Nic ask Law where the kids were.
“Oh, Grams and Gramps wanted them for the day. There’s apparently a little hill near their house for sledding that’s safer than ours.”
Yeah, ours was just the road into the parking lot and that could get dangerous easily, no matter how watchful the adults were.
