“You are also cool, Nathaniel, and it was great meeting you.” Then I turn to my dour companion. “Ready to go find your uncle?”
“Yep,” he says, the word clipped and unfriendly.
Just a regular ray of sunshine.I resist saying the words out loud and wave to Nathaniel as we leave.
Chapter Eight
BEAU
Two hoursafter we meet up withNoncin the ER waiting room, he’s finally seen, x-rayed, and sent home with a temporary cast and an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. His elbow is broken, alright, and not cleanly.
But at least my uncle convinced Iris Adams and her entourage to go home when eight p.m. came and went.
Thank God.
Because I couldn’t stop staring.
Fans recognized her two more times while we waited, and each time she spent a good three minutes talking, signing autographs, and having her picture taken.
I didn’t have to do the honors for those. The guy, Ramon—I guess he’s an assistant or something—took them. And when she smiled for the camera, it looked…real.Just like it had when I took her picture with the big radiology tech.
Gone was the huffy celebrity princess who’d refused to ride with me. The Iris Adams I watched in the ER was friendly,funny—jeez, she hadNonclaughing so hard, he begged her to stop because it hurt his arm—and as vibrant as a fireworks show.
Gone, too, was the sullen girl I found when I walked up to the hospital entrance. The one who looked like she’d just lost her best friend. The one who’d had me worried about her. Just for a minute.
Damn, that girl can act.
Either that, or she’s bipolar or something.
“You’re awful quiet,”Noncsays from the passenger seat of my truck, scattering thoughts of the drama queen.
“I figured you were tired after all the excitement,” I lie. I’m not about to admit I was thinking of Iris Adams.
He chuckles. “Itwasquite an evening.”
I raise a brow but keep my eyes on the road. “You think it’s funny?”
He pats the edge of the bandaging near his wrist. “Seems a lot funnier now that I’ve had a little Oxy.”
I snort. “Don’t get attached.”
“Naw.” My uncle shakes his head. “They sent me home with one for the morning, but I’ll stick to over-the-counter meds.”
“Until your surgery,” I mutter.
He grumbles. “Don’t remind me.”
“So, how did it happen?” Maybe I shouldn’t ask, but I’m dying to know. “Were you trying to do a lift or something and it got away from you?”
Noncblows out a breath between his lips. “No, nothing like that. We were just going through an outside turn. One minute her feet were in front of mine, and then I went to move her through, and the next thing I know, her heel is behind my ankle, and I’m going down.”
I frown, trying to picture it, andNoncjust laughs. “Damndest thing,” he mutters. “Poor girl.”
I give him the side-eye.“Poor girl?!She’s just fine. What about poor you?”
He shakes his head. “She’d trade places with me in a heartbeat.”
I put my gaze back on the road. “Right.” The word drips with sarcasm.
