Page 74 of Between the Lines

Maude’s breath caught. “He’s hurt? What happened?”

“A laceration to his forearm,” Tess said, slipping into the gentle tone of someone who had delivered plenty of news like this before. “He was working with a table saw. The wood kicked back and cut him. It’s deep enough to need stitches, but it missed anything vital. No nerve damage that they can tell so far.”

Maude nodded automatically, even as her pulse started to race. A table saw, which meant it could have been a lot worse. She tried to hang onto that as she pictured Robbie in his work clothes, sleeves pushed up, focused on his project, completely caught off guard by the mishap.

“Where is he?” she asked.

“Triage put him in ER Three,” Tess said. “They’re cleaning it now. He’s embarrassed and upset that he has to deal with it, more than anything, from what I can tell. Go now. I’ll cover if anyone needs anything. Your shift is almost over anyway.”

Embarrassed sounded like Robbie all right. Maude was already moving. “Thank you! And thank you for telling me.”

“Of course,” Tess said with a quick nod.

Maude turned and headed down the hall, her shoes squeaking louder against the floor as she picked up speed. The familiar hospital smells suddenly seemed stronger and more intrusive. Every turn took longer than usual.

She pushed through the ER doors and scanned the rooms until she spotted him.

Robbie sat upright on the bed, his jaw tight, his left arm stretched out on a tray. A nurse was irrigating the wound, taking her time to do it right. Blood had soaked through Robbie’s shirt and was spattered across his jeans. He looked pale. Maybe he was in a little bit of shock.

She knew the feeling.

He looked up when he saw her. “Hey,” he said, like this was no big deal. Like she hadn’t just had her heart jump into her throat. But that was his way. He wasn’t one to freak about stuff like this.

“Hey, yourself,” Maude said, coming to his side. “You okay? What happened?”

He winced as the nurse adjusted the angle of his arm. “Board slipped,” he said. “I should’ve stopped and reset it. As you can see, I didn’t.”

Maude exhaled slowly and rested her hand on the edge of the bed. “Tess, my supervisor, just told me you were here,” she said. “You scared me.”

His mouth twisted. “I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t going to call you until they said it needed stitches. Then one of the nurses said you were here today and she’d have someone get you.”

“I’m glad she did.” Maude looked at the long cut. It had jagged edges and looked awful. He was definitely getting stitches. And he’d probably end up with a scar. Knowing him, he’d create a story around it. Like he was bitten by a shark.

“You’re lucky it wasn’t worse,” she said. What if it had hit him in the chest? Or the head?

“I know,” he replied quietly. “I did have safety goggles on.”

Like that made it better.

The nurse glanced up. “He is lucky,” she said. “Another inch over and this would’ve been a very different conversation.”

Maude met Robbie’s eyes. “You hear that?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said.

Maude waited until the nurse turned back to her work before she spoke again. “Do you want me to call Mom and Dad?” she asked quietly. “Just to let them know what happened and that you’re okay.”

Robbie’s answer was immediate. “No.”

She searched his face to be clear that was a real no and not a kneejerk reaction because his pride was talking. “You’re sure?”

“Yes,” he said, without hesitation. “Especially not today.”

She nodded once, accepting that. She wasn’t going to force the issue. “Because of last night?”

He let out a breath through his nose. “Yeah. Because of last night. I can’t add to that. Not now.”

Maude stayed quiet and let him talk. She’d made him call and explain everything, but after that conversation on the porch, she’d gone inside and logged onto Nightforge. With her headset on, she hadn’t actually heard anything he’d said to them. “I have no idea what you told them. I was running raids.”