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I look at my mom, who is still crouched before me, her fingers gently kneading mine. Her eyes are pleading for me to make her understand, and it hurts that I have to disappoint her again. Stacy is also staring pointedly at me, and I can feel the heat of her gaze on my face.
“Penny?” My mother says softly. “What happened? Why did you leave Andrew at the altar? You can talk to me.”
The expression on her face tears at my heart. How do I explain to her what happened, when I’m not ready to say it out loud yet? I know she deserves an explanation, but I don’t have one that I can give her yet.
“I know.” I nod my head a few times. “I know, Mom, and I’m so sorry. But I’m not ready to talk about it. I know it’s a lot to ask, but please give me some time?”
“Penny, we are—”
“Stacy, it’s okay.” My mother stands and pats my sister’s shoulders softly. “Let it go.”
“Stacy, please.” I look at her, my eyes imploring. “Please.”
We stare at each other, only breaking eye contact when we hear a cough.
“Hello.”
“Doctor Thompson,” My mother hurries to him and shakes his hands. “Thank you for taking the time to check her out.”
“Just doing my job.” He says with an easy smile, and steps away from the door into the exam room. Mom and Stacy sit in the chairs against the wall while Dr. Thompson approaches me.
“What happened?”
“I fell from a cliff, but someone saved me.” I’m tired of repeating the same thing; I want to go home and sleep. I’m so tired. Surprisingly, Dr. Thompson doesn’t exclaim or show shock; he just nods and grabs a stethoscope.
“I feel fine. I was forced to come here to make sure everything is okay,” I add.
“Whoever made you come here was very smart,” Doctor Thompson says as he puts the stethoscope on my chest and listens. “You did the right thing coming. Just because there aren’t any obvious injuries doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. Your heart rate is a bit accelerated, but that’s to be expected.”
He then moves on to examine my pupils. “Your pupils are responding well to the tests. So I think we are good there. However, you have a bunch of cuts that we should get cleaned up.”
Dr. Thompson walks over to the counter and grabs some disinfectant. Then comes up to me and begins to clean all my cuts. I close my eyes against the stings. He inspects my feet and cleans the cuts there as well.
“Do you feel dizzy?” He asks casually as he wraps the cuts on my ankle with some gauze.
“No.”
“Headaches?”
“No.” I shake my head.
“You didn’t hit your head, did you?”
“No.”
“Okay.” He gently pats my core muscles and sighs in relief when I don’t flinch. “Describe your pain on a scale of one to ten.”
I ponder his question for a moment. To be honest, the pain I feel right now is more emotional than physical. My arms are sore from holding on to the branch for so long, and my feet hurt, but that’s about it.
“I think three,” I tell the doctor. “My arms hurt because I was holding on and then had to pull myself up. My feet also hurt, for obvious reasons,” I force a laugh.
“You’ll be fine,” he laughs with me. “I’ll prescribe some pain medication. You’ll probably be a bit sore for the next few days. Your feet will be sore but will heal in due time. You can apply some petroleum jelly or gel-based creams and keep the cuts cleaned and wrapped. Okay?”
I nod appreciatively. “Thank you so much, Doctor.”
“My pleasure. I am glad that your injuries are minimal. This could have been a much worse experience.”
A few minutes later, my mom and Stacy walk me out of the hospital. I see that my truck is gone. Liam probably drove it to my mom’s house and walked home.
