Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 95273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
“Did you tell Brady that I fell?” Daisy asks me.
“Not yet.” I don’t know if I should. He rides in just a couple of hours, and I don’t want to take his focus away from that bull and doing what he needs to do. “I think we’ll wait until we know for sure what’s wrong, okay?”
Daisy nods. “I miss him.”
“I know, baby. He’ll be home tomorrow night.”
“Hello, I’m Dr. Blackwell.”
Yep. Hot with a capital H. Jesus, do they just breed hot men in Montana? Is it in the water?
“Hi, I’m Abbi Kastella,” I reply, shaking his hand. “And this is Daisy.”
“Abbi,” he says with a smile. “You help run the Iconic Women’s Collective.”
“Yes, I do. I know your sister, Billie.”
“Billie loves what you’re doing. She talks about it all the time. Now, let’s focus on Daisy, shall we? What happened?”
We tell him the story of Daisy falling off the horse, and he nods as he gently takes Daisy’s arm in his hands.
She winces but doesn’t cry out when he moves her hand side to side and up and down.
“Well, I suspect that it’s just sprained and bruised up, but I want to get an X-ray to make sure, okay? That means we’re going to take a picture of your bones.”
“Do you have to take them out of my body?” Daisy’s eyes are wide with horror, and Dr. Blackwell chuckles.
“Nope, the machine can see through your skin. You won’t feel a thing.”
“Okay,” my daughter replies, her shoulders sagging in relief. “Good.”
Less than thirty minutes later, he comes back with the film in his hand and puts it on the lit-up screen.
“Well, Daisy, I don’t see any sign of a broken wrist or arm. That’s excellent news.”
“Thank God,” I mutter in relief.
“Looks like it’s just banged up really good from that fall. I want you to wear a brace for a couple of weeks so you don’t move it around too much. This way, it’ll heal faster.” He turns to me. “You’ll want to give her the children’s dose of ibuprofen for a couple of days to help with swelling. Ice will be good for it, too.”
“Does that mean that I can’t ride again?”
“Just until the wrist heals,” he assures her. “I get it. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t ride my horse. But don’t worry, you’ll be back in the saddle in no time.”
“Thank you, Dr. Blackwell.”
“Call me Blake,” he says with a wink. “Are the rumors true that you and Brady Wild are an item?”
“Yes,” Daisy says with a big smile. “He’s our Brady.”
“Well, then,” Blake says with a laugh. “My loss. Have a good day, ladies.”
It’s always flattering when a sexy, successful man shows interest, but I definitely only have eyes for my man. And it seems that my daughter shares in that sentiment.
With Daisy’s injury only being a sprain, I decide to wait to tell Brady about it until after his ride. There’s no need to distract him with anything happening around here.
Besides, that pit is still sitting heavily in my stomach.
It takes another hour to get the brace and other things we need before we get home, and then we’re both exhausted.
Going back to the office tonight just isn’t going to happen, but I have so much laundry to do. So, I call Millie.
“Hey, is Daisy okay?” she asks when she answers.
“News travels fast in this town. Yes, it’s just a sprain, but it’ll take a couple of weeks to heal up. Hey, I need a favor. There’s a ton of laundry at my shop that I need to have brought to me so I can do it here at home. Do you mind grabbing it? Or come over and hang with Daisy while I go get it? Shit, I should have just called Merilee over.”
“Swear jar,” Daisy calls out, and I roll my eyes.
“We’ve got this,” Millie assures me. “Why don’t I come chill with Daisy, since I don’t have a key or know what you need from the shop, and you can do that piece of it?”
“Thank you. Yes, thank you, that would be awesome.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in fifteen.”
I hang up with her, relieved that I have a plan B for work, and then my phone rings again with a number I don’t recognize. With a frown, I accept the call.
“Hello?”
“Abbi Kastella?”
I can hear commotion in the background, and every hair on my body stands on end. “Yes?”
“This is Dr. Stephens calling from Cody, Wyoming. I have some bad news about Brady.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
BRADY
I’ve never been so fucking pissed off in my life.
I can hear the goddamn doctor talking to Abbi, and if I wasn’t seeing two of him, I’d punch him in the mouth.
“Give me the phone,” I growl.
“As his emergency contact,” he continues, as if I didn’t say anything at all, “I need to let you know that Brady’s suffered an injury. He has a concussion, and he separated his shoulder again.”