“I love you for always trying to protect me, Hay-Hay, but I didn’t tell you about this for a reason. You don’t need anything else to worry about.”
Her hard eye roll right in front of my face spoke volumes. “Listen, the Darla thing is over.”
“No, it’s not,” I said, shaking my head. “Not by a long shot. You have plenty to deal with when it comes to her nonsense. You don’t need to add mine to the mix.”
She growled at me in the way only she can. “Out with it. Now.”
I tossed up my hand. “Fine. I started dating this guy after the new year. I didn’t mention it because it wasn’t serious. He was from St. Paul, and we’d been on a few dates in January. I invited him to my apartment for dinner, right before Valentine’s Day.” Her mouth opened, but I held up my hand to quiet her. “My parents were at home. I wasn’t reckless or stupid about it, but it felt like the next step. He was a great guy when we first started dating.”
“Until he wasn’t.”
I pointed at her and grimaced. “Until he wasn’t. That night after dinner, he decided he wanted a few stolen kisses in the dark. When he was kissing me, and I couldn’t stop thinking about what I had to do the next day, the answer was obvious. We weren’t a match. I politely told him it was time for the evening to end since I had an early morning, but he refused to get off me. I couldn’t get away from him, so I hit him in the balls with my knee, which was still in the brace.”
She sucked in air while she held my eyes. “Bet he didn’t like that.”
“Not even a little bit. I got away from him and demanded that he leave. That’s when he attacked me.”
“He attacked you,” she repeated, and I nodded. “He hurt your leg?”
“He knew my weakness and used it against me. He kicked me in the knee, and since I was wearing the brace, my knee just snapped—,” I stopped to swallow around the surge of pain and anxiety the memory gave me. “I fell to the ground screaming and writhing in pain. My dad heard me in the main house, but by the time he got to the apartment, Rex was gone.”
“Where is this asshole now? Brady and I are going to go have a chat with him.”
I snorted with laughter but grabbed her hand tightly. “I love you for always coming to my defense, but it was months ago. I haven’t seen Rex since.”
“You should have pressed charges,” she said, disapproval in her voice.
“He said, she said,” I insisted, holding out my palms.
“Except you have an injured leg that says otherwise.”
I rubbed my knee and swallowed back the bile that always rose in my throat when I thought about that night. “Honestly, I sent the cops to look for him, but he was gone. Good riddance.”
“But the leg keeps getting worse instead of better,” she said, her eyes taking in the mangled limb.
I shrugged casually as though what she said was wrong. “It’s been slow to heal, but the x-rays didn’t show any fracture of the bone. You know they can’t do an MRI with all the metal in there, so there’s little they can do with it anymore. The problem now seems to be more about sensation and pain. The doctors think I need a different kind of brace.”
“Why haven’t you gotten it yet?” she asked, one brow going down. “Show me the leg.”
I sighed heavily and shook my head. I love her, but she worries too much. “I can’t whip my pants down in the middle of the bakery, Hay-Hay. It just needs more time to heal.”
She stood up and closed the door to the office, then gave me a pointed stare. I sighed again and stood up, pulling my pants down and unstrapping the top half of the brace. Her eyes roved over it, and she inhaled, her hand to her lips.
“Honestly, Amber. How are you even walking on that?” she asked, falling to her knees to inspect the hip and knee. She ran her finger over the hot, red, mottled skin of my leg and glanced up at me. “I’ve seen this leg at its best and its worst, and this is worse than I’ve ever seen it. It looks like it might be infected.”
“It’s not,” I assured her. I yanked my pants up before she could freak out about it even more. “It just needs more time to heal. You know how that leg is.”
She nodded and leaned her butt against the desk. “I do know, and that’s why I’m worried. Does Phyllis know how bad it is?”
I made the so-so hand. “Mom can see I’ve been limping around, but let’s face it, that isn’t new. Also, you know—” I shrugged rather than finishing the thought.
“You know what?”
I folded my hands on my lap on a sigh. “I don’t bother them with my leg issues. I’m an adult now. They took care of me long enough. They deserve to enjoy their retirement without always worrying about the adult child they’re still forced to house.”
It was painful how accurate that statement was. I was injured when I was thirteen, and I’d been dealing with this ever since. When it came to my leg, nothing was unexpected because the damage to it was so unexpected. All the doctors could do was keep treating the problems as they arose. Granted, the setback in February didn’t help things, but regardless, I knew it was only going to get worse with age.
The face of Bishop Halla loomed in my vision for the thousandth time since last night. I held in a sigh as I thought about the way his strong arms wrapped around me and carried me to safety. The way he so lovingly cared for my hands when he
