Page 96 of A Light in the Dark
“Considering their owner got hit in the head with a baseball bat, it’s safe to say his employees are anxious and are doing a ridiculous amount of work to keep busy rather than fret over him. He’s going to go back to work ahead of schedule, upset he’s ahead of schedule, and unable to express being upset he’s ahead of schedule on everything because everyone’s going to be fawning all over him. On our side, Madeline’s organizing everything into various penalty boxes, so you won’t be behind when you go back to work. It’ll be fine.”
I could only hope he was right.
A rather crabbyJoel bickered with Calden, and it took me a moment to realize the two men postured over the upcoming gaming tournament. Coraline shoved past them both, rolled her eyes at their dispute, and said, “I’m supposed to be on my husband’s side, but at this point, you’d be doing me a favor if you shot him on the first day of the game.”
“If I catch him alone in an alley, I’m shooting him in the game,” I promised. Then my eyes widened. “Are there alleys?”
“There are alleys, yes, and they make excellent places to ambush people. I’ve watched him play a few times before he decided I’d be his uneducated gaming partner. Unfortunately, the first two days of the tournament will be spent building our outposts, towns, and preparing our ships. They’ve decided we’re locking the game at the start to player versus environment so everyone can have a good chance to build their empire.” The woman heaved a sigh, grabbed her husband by the arm, and dragged him away from Joel. “See, Joel? She’s fine. The hospital is making her stay in bed due to bruising and the requirement for blood. You should be happy you were deemed a tolerable donor and they were willing to wait for your arrival. Honestly, I think that’s only because they want you filling the other bed and containing her. Donotlet her shift. She will eat us out of every fruit in the city-state, and then we’ll have to rob other city-states. She’s a fruit fiend.”
My boss laughed, got up from the seat he’d been warming, and shooed Joel my way. “I’ll go let the nurses know you’re here and then head home. Thank you for bringing him, Coraline.”
“Glad to help. Valerie, we’re going out to dinner before you leave. The men wish to battle in a gaming format, andJoel’s upset because you don’t have a huge stash of silk to play with. We limited him to a bag of silk, clothes for you, and clothes for himself. He brought your project folder. He doesn’t understand your cross-stitching will take hundreds of hours to complete.”
“You can have a date night with Calden, Joel. I’ll go out to dinner with Coraline. If I’m lucky, she’ll let me pet her when she’s a wolf.”
Joel came over with a bulging bag, sat down, and sighed. Once settled, he pulled out my project keeper and handed it over. “I didn’t quite understand the ban on driving until two hours into the trip here. Apparently, dizziness is an issue, as is motion sickness. That should go away within a week. They’ve told me I can’t play computer games until then. Calden agrees with the doctors. He should be my ally in this.”
That explained a lot. While I hadn’t seen Joel’s gamer side in earnest yet, I bet he couldn’t play with his camera, either. As I’d done most of the work in my garden, he couldn’t drive to take himself to the garden store, and I was willing to bet his flutter refused to take him to the store, he likely suffered from boredom on top of being in pain. “Calden is probably right. And with the level of headache you’re likely suffering from, would you really want to deal with flashing lights or movement?”
“I don’t, but they’ve also taken away my sewing projects. I’m irritable enough they don’t want me handling scissors. How are you doing?”
With a contented smile, I accessed my project, pulled out the silk cloth, and replied, “Better than you are, apparently. However, Humphrey wouldn’t let me fly.”
Outside in the hallway, my boss laughed before pokinghis head into the room and replying, “Your wings were barely unfurled, and you need to get your transfusion first. You’ll be flying soon enough.”
“How bad were her wings?”
“She had a lot of bruising damage, but a few oranges and some time with a bouquet of roses did a good job of containing her. If left to her devices, she would fly off, likely to never be seen again. She was down to slow beats of her wings when I made her shift, and I hadn’t seen any brisk flutters for at least twenty minutes.”
“Good. How did she handle the roses?”
“She’s a napper. She stuck her nose in a bloom and went right to sleep. She only woke long enough to find a new rose to sniff before passing out again. She won’t be getting into trouble anywhere. You’ll find her still on the roses napping, so that’s something.”
“I can no longer judge luna moths for passing out on my counter, and I question how they made it to my counter to have a snack before passing out.”
“We’re used to sniffing roses, and while we enjoy the relaxation portion of our sniffing, we also tend to get the munchies. You provide excellent snacks, so we go to your counter to enjoy them,” Joel informed me in a solemn tone. “Humphrey, drive safe, and please try to convince the flutter I can handle a single trip to Moonriver without all of them hovering. Make sure they stay home!”
“I’ll try, but I’m not responsible if they remember they have wings and are willing to use them,” my boss replied before leaving again.
“They could at least try to stay in Stonecreek,” Joel complained.
Calden and Coraline laughed at the beleaguered luna moth, who sulked. As I had everything needed to stitch, I opened the app to track my pattern, marked off everything I’d already completed, and resumed work, taking care to keep the precious silk from tangling or my fabric from shattering while I created art using thread. “At least you get decent accommodations and company. But seriously, how are you doing?”
“The headache is no joke, but I’ll recover. I’m off work for two weeks at a minimum. My company rebelled.”
I could understand why. Everything I’d seen of the man indicated he was a compassionate person, liked by those blessed enough to know him. After a moment of thought, I realized the reason for Joel’s distress.
He needed to feel like he accomplished something.
“If you’re in need of work, you can start with keeping me company. I’ve been told I’ll be in here for a while for monitoring. You could also use some monitoring. I can stitch while you use a notebook and pen to plan your latest conquests. Nobody said you couldn’t plot and plan against them. I’m sure someone can get you a notebook.”
Coraline giggled, waved her hand, and headed for the door. “I’ll go get the poor moth some office supplies so he can do something productive. But you really can’t use computers for a while, Joel. And we’re even going to delay the tournament until you and your partner are cleared. It’s no fun if we can’t all participate, and you earned your spot in the tournament.”
“I appreciate that. I’ve been really looking forward to it.”
“Are there any other problems I need to solve?” I asked.
“Hospital food is terrible,” he grumbled.
