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“Would you like some ice to put on your hand?”
Of course he’d noticed her weakness. He hadn’t spared more than a passing glance at her hand, but he knew what had happened. “I’m fine. The changes in air pressure made it a bit uncomfortable but nothing I can’t handle.”
“I have the feeling you can handle pretty much anything. You were facing down an angry gunman and barking orders at me rather than flopping to the floor to hide.”
A small laugh burst out of her. “I wonder how Larry is doing in his new placement.”
Joe shot her a quick glance. “He get fired?”
“Oh no. But the story of how he squealed and dropped to the floor when everyone else kept doing their jobs got around. He applied for a position out of state. Small town somewhere in Texas I believe. He was sure he wouldn’t have to deal with anything traumatic there.”
“Dumbass.”
She laughed again and it felt strange. When was the last time she’d laughed? Smiled? She’d been too deep in her funk to do either of those very often. Time to change that.
“I couldn’t find out anything on either Sneaks or Gogo. Everywhere I enquired, I was told there was no information or that it was classified. Do you know how the boys are doing?”
Joe shot her an unreadable glance before turning back to the road. They were nearing the mountains and the roads twisted a lot. “They’re okay. Gogo is doing physical therapy still and improving daily. He’s getting to spend more time on a basketball court, so that makes them happy.”
“How’s Sneaks? The courts didn’t let me have any information.”
“What did you want to know? Why did you ask?”
Joe’s voice was harder than she’d heard so far. Not good news for Sneaks. “I wanted to see him. I wrote a letter and gave it to the courts, recommending leniency due to circumstances. They took the letter but refused to give me information because he’s a minor. I’m so grateful he was still a minor.”
Another unreadable look. “You didn’t press charges.”
It wasn’t a question, but she answered it anyway. “Of course not. He was a scared kid who was trying to save his brother’s life. His actions did save his life. It might not have been his finest hour, but his heart was in the right place. You heard him. He wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. He just wanted Gogo to be okay.”
“Which he is, thanks to you.”
She and Casilda had begged the hospital board not to proceed with charges. No one would tell them anything. “Thanks to Sneaks getting him there in time. And in being lucky enough to find the trauma OR and not maternity. I wasn’t sure I could save him. I’m glad he’s back on the court. Can you tell me about Sneaks?”
Joe tapped his fingers on the wheel for a few seconds. “I will, but you can’t share the information with anyone.”
Nerves bounced in her belly. “Okay.”
“We got a sympathetic judge on the case. Apparently there were a couple of letters supporting Sneaks that swayed the judge.”
“Casilda and Tabora wrote letters, too.”
Joe nodded and he appeared to relax. “Okay. We weren’t allowed to see the letters, but now it makes sense why the judge was agreeable to lesser charges and to moving the kids out of state once Gogo was ready to travel. Sneaks is on a tight leash and has a shit-ton of community service hours to put in, but the judge didn’t have him do jail time.”
Tears flooded Lia’s eyes and she tilted her head back to keep them from flowing. “I’m so glad. He was just a scared kid.”
“They’re together in a new foster home now. A really good one. I think they’re going to be more than okay. They’re really grateful for this second chance.”
This time, the tears flowed. She wiped them away with a smile. “Sorry. I’m just so damn happy. That’s the best news I’ve heard in a hell of a long time.”
Chapter 5
Steel Tether
Joe kept his hands firmly on the wheel. No patting Lia’s hand in comfort. No pulling over to yank the sexy doc into his arms and letting her cry her happy tears.
Because of the kid, she’d been shot and her hand had been ruined right along with her career. And here she was crying happy tears because Sneaks hadn’t had to serve jail time and he was in a good place.
As if Joe needed the attraction that tugged at him to have any more fuel. It was already like a steel wire that tethered him to this woman.
