Page 161 of Maple Mountain
He nodded and rolled up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal a scar about four inches in length on his forearm.“I broke my arm when I was seventeen.Motorcycle accident.I needed surgery.It was bad.”He pointed at Lenni.“No motorcycles.”
“No motorcycles,” she repeated.
“That means no getting on boys’ motorcycles either,” Archer stated.
“I don’t know any boys,” she said with an eye roll.“But what about a scooter?Can I get a scooter?”
“No.”
“Why not?You have a motorcycle.Why can’t I have a scooter?”
Archer looked at the ceiling as if praying to keep calm.“Because a scooter is the gateway to a motorcycle.So, no.”
Lenni’s sigh was deep.“Wyn?Have you broken any bones?”
“A bench fell on my foot when I was five.I was in a cast up to here.”I touched my thigh.
There was a knock on the exam room door and then it opened.Brooks stood in the doorway.
“There are easier ways of getting out of school, Half-Pint,” Brooks said.
“Yeah?”she asked.“How?”
Archer pointed at his brother.“Don’t you tell her a thing.”
“Why?Was he the one who cut school all the time?”I asked in amusement.
“No.That was Archer,” Brooks said.“He was always getting into trouble.And guess who had to bail him out?His big brother, that’s who.But I guess karma’s a bitch, huh?”
“Why is that?”I asked.
Brooks let out one of his rare smiles.“Archer made our parents worry nonstop.Now he’s got a kid doing the same thing to him.Karma.”
Lenni grinned.“Karma.”
I was smushed into the couch, my sock-clad feet on Archer’s lap.Lenni was upstairs asleep, and Mildred hadn’t left her side since we’d gotten home from the hospital.
“I don’t think we should go to Montana for our trip,” I said.
He let out a breath.“Thank God you said something.I didn’t want to back out, but—God, Wyn.My heart really did stop when you called me.”
“I know.Mine too.I’m so glad it wasn’t worse.”I frowned.“They gave me some grief at the hospital.”
“They did?”
I nodded.“The school called me because you put me down as her emergency contact.But I don’t have medical authority over Lenni.I thought for sure they wouldn’t see her until you got there.”
“How did you work around it?”
“I dropped Muddy’s name.”I smiled.“She’s a legend around here, you know.”
“So I’ve heard.We should talk about that stuff.”
“What stuff?”
He swallowed.“Medical emergency type stuff.There are forms to sign and notarize.I don’t ever want you to have to worry about red tape.This time it wasn’t a life-threatening situation.But what if it was?What if she’d needed surgery?”
Archer took my hand and brought it to his mouth.“I want you to have as much authority as I do when it comes to Lenni.”
