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“Allison—” I wasn’t sure exactly how to say what I wanted to say. “I’m sorry.”
“For getting hurt? Accidents happen.”
“No, not that. I mean, I’m sorry for any pain I might have caused you. I didn’t mean to come between things with you and Jon,” I found myself blurting out.
“Oh, honey.” Her smile was sad, but there was nothing vicious in it. “You didn’t. Jon Rayburn was never going to have anything more to offer me than a causal relationship. I always knew where I stood with him. I may not have liked it, but I knew. That man has pined for you from the day the two of you parted ways. If you hadn’t come back, I believe he’d have spent his days alone waiting until his last breath for you.”
“Still, none of that was ever fair to you.”
“Fair? If anyone was unfair to me, it was myself. I knew I had no chance and held on anyway. You turning up was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. It forced me to let go and move on. I could have spent a lifetime waiting on someone I knew wasn’t meant for me. Instead, now I’m free. The best thing to come of all of this is that I realized I never loved Jon. I was just comfortable with him, despite all the missing parts of that equation.”
“I guess that happens to all of us at one time or another.”
“It doesn’t happen to people who are meant to be. You and Jon belong together. Anyone in this town can see that,” she said, but I didn’t have time to respond.
“Hello there, Raintree. I’m Dr. Hampton. What’s going on with you?”
“I think I sprained my ankle, but it might be worse. It hurts quite a bit,” I told him.
Allison handed him the clipboard she had been filling out and stepped to the side of the room while he examined me. He nodded and made small remarks here and there that equated to “good” or “hmm” and then turned toward Allison.
“Allison, can you tell them to get the X-ray equipment ready while I finish my exam?”
Allison nodded and left the room while he continued, finishing up with my ankle and then running down whatever form she had completed on the clipboard.
“How long has it been since you had a physical, Raintree?”
“A while, a couple of years.”
“Well, I would recommend you get one soon. It’s my job to be the friendly reminder. See the dentist, too, wear your seatbelt, get a physical. Plus, I heard you’re working with farm animals now? I don’t need to tell you that you need to be up to date on immunizations. Tetanus, all that. If you don’t mind, I can go ahead and take some samples and send them off to the lab. Then, you can call the office and set up an appointment for an exam and to go over the results.”
“OK, sure.” This would seem unconventional in LA, but here in Muskrat Creek, this sort of thing was the norm.
He withdrew a few small vials of blood and labeled them for the lab and then left me with Allison to take me over to the room where they would take films of my ankle. When the X-ray tech was done, Allison rolled me back to the exam room in the wheelchair she had brought me down in and left me to wait. It was only a few more minutes before he appeared through the doors with the X-rays in his hand and plopped them up on a nearby board, turning a light on and examining them carefully.
“Good news. No signs of a break. I’m going to wrap it up for you and give you a pair of loaner crutches to get around on for the next few days. Keep it elevated as much as possible. Do you need anything for the pain?”
“I’ll just take some ibuprofen if it aches too much.”
“I’ll give you a prescription for the eight hundred milligram stuff.”
“Is that any different than what I can get over the counter?”
“Not really. It’s just fewer pills to take, and insurance will cover it. Take it as needed, but don’t overdo it. Follow the instructions on the label.”
“OK. Thanks.”
“All right. Here’s your prescription and my card. Don’t forget to call tomorrow for a follow-up appointment with my office. I’m only here a couple of nights a week, so you’ll need to go to the address on the card for our next visit.”
“Sounds good.”
“I’ll go get Allison. She’ll bring you some crutches. I assume you have someone who can come pick you up.”
“Yes. I can find someone.” I hoped Becky was still near her phone. She’d texted, asking where I was, if everything was OK. I told her I was fine and that she should worry about Jenx, not me.
