"But …" I look from her to Quinn, who sees my face and comes charging in.
"What’s the matter?" he asks, his tone going from low to loud.
"Nothing is the matter,” Shirley says before I do. “She’s fine. But the doctor ordered some tests, so I was telling her about them."
"What kind of tests?" he asks, his face full of worry. “He hasn’t been here this morning.”
My mouth is suddenly dry as I hear the galloping of my heart in my ears. “It is a routine test,” Shirley says. “Stop asking me questions; I’m taking care of her,” she huffs and walks past him. “Don’t make me hurt you,” she says to him, and he rolls his eyes as she walks out.
"Why do I feel like she’s lying to me?" He looks at me, his eyes never wavering from mine.
"I don’t know anything about you," I say. “So I have no idea why you would think that. But if I did, I would just say that you’re paranoid and have too much time on your hands." I shrug my shoulders, and I almost cry out in pain.
My lower lip trembles, and he sees the pain this time. I expect him to say something to me, but he doesn’t have the chance because Shirley comes back in. “Okay, let’s get you going,” she says, coming to me and unclipping things and then unlocking the wheels. “Let’s take you for a ride," she says with a smile. “We’ll be back in about thirty minutes."
He just nods at her as she wheels me out of the room. “Thank you,” I say softly when we are far enough from the room for him to hear.
"You don’t have to thank me for doing my job,” she says and pushes me through the blue doors. The lights shine in from the windows as we roll down the beige hallway.
My eyes go crazy as I look around at the people coming and going. My palms get sweaty from my nerves, and I fear that he could pop up at any time. "He’s dead." I hear Quinn’s voice in my head, but nothing can stop the fear in my body that he will show up.
My whole body starts to shake, and I look up at Shirley. “I’m going to be sick,” I say, and she springs into action, grabbing a steel basin from under my bed and putting it in front of me as I vomit.
The pain rips through me as I shake so much my teeth are clattering. A warm hand rubs my back, and when I look up, I’m expecting it to be Shirley, but it’s not. His blue eyes look straight into mine. I’m about to tell him I’m fine when Shirley comes back with a wet hand towel and puts it behind my neck.
I close my eyes, trying to catch my breath. “Take a sip of this,” Quinn says, and I open my eyes to see him holding a cup of water in his hand. "It should make you feel better."
"Thank you," I mumble as Shirley takes the bowl away from me.
I take a deep breath. “I’m good. It was just,” I say and then I stop talking. "Must be the motion of moving the bed."
“Must be,” Quinn says, and just from his tone, I know he doesn’t believe me. He looks at me, brushing the hair away from my forehead. “Drink a couple more sips of water,” he says, his eyes never leaving mine. The thumping in my chest is starting to calm down.
Shirley clears her throat, making Quinn look over at her as he steps away from me. "We’ll get you all cleaned up in a second,” Shirley says as she pushes me down the hallway. I close my eyes and just feel myself being wheeled down the hallway.
I open my eyes when the light becomes a little bit darker and see I’m in the X-ray room. "Okay,” Shirley says, locking the wheels on the bed. “Let’s get these covers off you."
I look at her and then look at Quinn, who stands there and watches everything. "I’m okay,” I say softly, and his eyes go just a touch lighter.
"Here we are,” Shirley says as she slowly takes the cover off my legs, making sure that my hospital gown is in place.
I look down, seeing it pulled up more on one side. The sounds of hisses fills the room, and I look up at Quinn, who turns around. “I’ll be outside,” he says, pushing through the doors.
I look back down at the side of my leg, seeing my whole upper thigh a deep purple, the insides of the bruise turning blue. My hand flies out as I pull the gown down and look up at Shirley, whose eyes are filled with tears as she blinks them away and pretends that everything is okay. "In a couple of days, the color will fade," I mumble to her.
"Let’s get you covered,” she says, and then I have clean sheets on me in record time. "We are going to lower the bed," she tells me everything as she’s doing it, making me relax just a touch more.
I close my eyes as the machine comes down, and she walks out of the room to take the X-ray. "All done."
"What next?" I ask as she unlocks the wheels and pushes me toward the doors.
"The doctor is going to get the images and then let us know,” Shirley says, quietly pushing through the doors, and I see Quinn standing there with his back to the wall.
I avoid looking in his eyes. Instead, I close my eyes as she wheels me toward my room. "Can she eat?" Quinn asks Shirley, and I open my eyes.
"It depends on what is in that bag today,” she says, shaking her head.
I watch Quinn look at her and smile shyly, and I look back at the brown bag. “She sent something for you, too,” he says, and I look over at Shirley, who raises her eyebrows.
"What are you talking about?" I ask them, looking back and forth.
"My grandmother," Quinn says, going over to the brown bag and bringing it to me. “She likes to cook and bake." He looks at me, and his blue eyes shine when he talks about her. “She especially cooks and bakes when she is nervous. She’s been on edge since everything went down." He puts the bag down, and I swear the bed dips. “So she sent a couple of things for you."
"For me?" I ask him, putting my hand to my chest. There has been no one in my whole life that has ever done anything for me.
"Well, yeah," he answers like it’s a normal fucking thing. "Obviously."
The tears sting my eyes, and I have to swallow down the lump forming in my throat. This whole thing is just too much for me. “Did she pack some apple pie?” Shirley asks. He reaches into the bag and takes out container after container.
I look down at my legs, seeing all of the containers spread out on my bed. So many containers, he has to leave some in the bag. “Is that blueberry?" I ask when my eyes spot the purple in one of the containers.
"Yes." He nods, grabbing it. “It’s my favorite,” he says and looks at Shirley. "Can she?"
"Maybe just a touch,” Shirley says. “You need to start with liquids first." She is about to say something else when the doctor comes into the room.
“Pie?” he asks, looking at the containers. “Pecan."
"She packed it especially for you,” Quinn says, handing him the container. “For taking care of Willow."
My head spins as I take in the words. Why would she do that? My heart starts to speed up. “What is the verdict?" Shirley looks at the doctor.
"Looks like you were right," he says, looking at Shirley. “Her clavicle is broken."
"Her clavicle,” Quinn says, shocked. “She’s had a broken clavicle for the past four days, and no one knew?" His voice rises a bit, and then he looks at me. "Fine, my ass,” he says and walks out of the room.