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My eyes widened at his hold. “Circulation, Blake,” I said softly.
He glanced down at our hands and immediately eased up on his hold. “Sorry.”
“Why don’t you go get a shower and change of clothes? You look worse than I do.”
“Ever the charmer, Ms. Copeland.”
“Just…humor me?” I tugged him closer and he stood to loom over me.
His knuckles pressed into the pillow beside my head, and his other hand cupped my face. “This discussion isn’t over.”
“No.”
“Complete transparency.”
“Can you say the same?”
His eyes stayed trained on mine. There were shadows there. Not just the fatigue-soaked kind. “I’ll do my best.”
At least he didn’t lie. That would have to do.
Four
“So, it’s not broken?” I gripped my blanket and gasped as Dr. Perrault rotated my foot. My forehead and pits tingled with sweat.
“No.” He lowered it into the immobilizer, then flipped the sheet back down. “You bruised your ankle bone with the way it was pinned between the rocks, but mostly ended up with a mild sprain as you tried to free yourself.”
I tried to look at him, but there were spots floating in my vision. I almost preferred a break. I’d had one of those before. In fact, Dr. Perrault had set that when I was fourteen. I didn’t remember it hurting nearly as much as this.
He moved to the right of my bed to look over my IV. Various bags were converging together to pump whatever cocktail they’d deemed necessary to get me back on my feet.
I had a feeling there was something in there for pain as well.
Could be the needle the doctor flashed, because suddenly I was feeling a helluva lot more chill.
“You’ll have some discomfort for a few days, then a twinge or two as the bone heals. You were very lucky, Ms. Copeland.”
“I’ve been in that cove a hundred times since I was a kid.”
“Yes, but we’re far more nimble as a child. And the rocks on our beaches erode more and more every year.”
“I have a firsthand account, thanks.”
The doctor gave me a warm smile. “Maybe you’ll think better of crawling around in there during the winter. It’s been warm this winter so far, but you’re no stranger to the ocean in these parts.”
“No.” I sighed and flopped back on my nonexistent pillow. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in there.” How my grandmother moved around in there was beyond me.
In fact, that should have been a clue.
Annabelle was a fit older woman, but she wouldn’t have been climbing around in there. I’d been so excited to get a clue as to what could be behind the multiple break-ins that I’d jumped on the idea of the cove before thinking.
So stupid.
“You should be up on your feet in a week. If you hadn’t scared us with the hypothermia, I’d have let you go home today.”
“Great.”
