Page 44 of With Spite

“Daddy…”

I looked over at Kaylee who was now cradling her arm against her chest.

I hadn’t even realized that we were done with the x-ray.

Shit.

“You can stand up.” I smiled apologetically. “Let’s go see what this shows us.”

I didn’t bother taking her back into the exam room.

I just took them back to my office and pulled up the x-ray, asking them both to have a seat in the chairs opposite my desk.

Putting the x-ray on the light across from the desk, I examined it.

I studied it for a couple of seconds before I found the hairline fracture.

“There it is.” I pointed. “It’s small but it’s there. I think with this kind of break, we won’t need to put you in a full-blown cast.” I stopped. “What sports do you play?”

“Soccer,” she answered quietly. “I’m not super physical, though, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“It was,” I said. “I’m going to recommend a brace.”

“What kind of brace?” the dad asked.

I pulled out my phone and pulled up an example of the cast I wanted her in.

“This.” I twisted my phone around for them to see. “You can pick it up at any Walmart in the area. Unless you actually want a cast. Then we can do one. It’ll only be about three weeks of wearing this.”

“I don’t want a cast.”

We went through the rest of the talk, and I released them.

It wasn’t until Sage came in saying the mother was still in the patient’s room that I realized that the dad hadn’t stopped to tell the mother that they were done.

A small smile on my face, I went into the room and said, “Ma’am?”

The woman didn’t look up.

Didn’t even acknowledge me.

“Ma’am?”

Again nothing.

I turned off the light and closed the door.

I didn’t bother trying to get her attention anymore.

“Just schedule around that room,” I said. “We’re at the end of the day anyway.”

“I heard what he said,” she mused.

“Awful, isn’t it?”

It took the woman another forty-five minutes to step out of the room in confusion.

By that time, we were shutting down for the day, cleaning up, and getting ready for the next day.