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“Hey,” I answer, my voice sounding rung out.
“Finally! We’re all worried about you. I’m downstairs with Tabby and I was just about to use my emergency key,” she says without taking a breath.
“Tabby?” I croak out before I nearly levitate off my bed. If she’s back and here, then she has the results. “Come in, come in. I’ll be in the bathroom.”
I grab a sundress on the way to the bathroom and quickly freshen up. Or try to, I look like I feel.
“She has risen!” Jessa crows when I emerge. “We’ve been worried about you all day, and you were just sleeping?”
She indicates the bed I just vacated and I shrug, not ready to get into the whole phone debacle, even with her.
“I just needed a day,” I answer after a beat. “I didn’t have any special orders scheduled, so I hope the town has survived?”
“Just barely, we had to make our own coffee at the station. I alerted the Fire Department just in case Charlie attempted to make coffee at The Garage,” she replies, getting a laugh out of Tabby.
“I tried you when I headed back,” Tabby adds. “I know we didn’t talk about how I’d break the news, but I thought I’d start with you, and I ran into Jessa when I pulled up.”
“I’ll go downstairs, and you two can…”
“No,” I cut Jessa off and reach a hand over to her for support. “Can you stay?”
She nods and proceeds me to my small sofa, Tabby pulls one of the two chairs away from the small table so she can face us both.
“Oh, my God, this is hard!” I exclaim and the doctor smiles in understanding.
“You’re telling me!” Tabby says, pulling a file out of her purse. “Okay, so with the three samples…”
“Just rip the band aid off, Doc!” I say, holding one hand against my forehead as Jessa squeezes the blood out of the other one.
“Flint. Flint’s your father.”
“Oh.” I kind of deflate a little, if I’m being honest.
“Oh?” Jessa repeats as a question, that I completely understand.
“I think Mack wanted to be. Roy would have been okay with it. But Flint? I can’t really read him,” I relay my thoughts on the matter.
“Bree is the only one who’scapableof reading that particular book,” Tabby interjects. “Do you have any questions? I have a copy of the paperwork for you and can review it when you’re ready. I hope I’m not overstepping, because I can’t exactly join you, but I stopped along the way to pick this up.”
My eyes widen, especially when she produces a bottle of vodka from her bag. Jessa and I look at each other before we start giggling.
“I can’t join you, unfortunately. I’ll just take a raincheck for later this year, alright?” Tabby offers as Jessa reaches for her phone.
“I’m going to ask Ellie to watch Danny a while longer, and ask Shade to pick me up in a couple hours,” my friend informs us.
“Are you going to tell the men tonight?” I ask Tabby and she tilts her head trying to read the direction of my thoughts before she answers. “I just wasn’t sure if I should go with you?”
“No offense, hun, but you look like you’ve had a rough day already. So, unless you feel strongly about it,thisdoctor is prescribing vodka and time with your bestie.” And in that moment, I decide she’s the best doctor in the whole wide world.
We walk her out, bringing the bottle and a couple of glasses downstairs; I cross my fingers that my baking mojo is back as I start in on Tabby’s surprise birthday cake.
Chapter 14
Royce
All in all, my first contract hit goes as planned.
The days on the road sucked and I constantly wondered what Molly was up to in my absence and if she had gotten the test results yet. But the right guy ended up dead, and I take a page out of Shade’s book, and chart a course via the long way home.
