Broken Beautiful Hearts(43)

Owen tugs on one of his hand wraps with his teeth. He unwinds the cloth in a long strip, tosses it on the floor, and starts on the other hand. “I’m not even your intern anymore.”

Lazarus shakes his head, as if something bigger is happening here and it has nothing to do with me.

Cutter crosses her arms and studies Owen. “You might not be my intern, but unless you want to start paying me to train you, you’ll help out when I ask.” She points at the cloth strips. “And don’t leave your wraps on my floor.”

Owen picks them up and shoves them into the pocket of his hoodie.

Cutter spins the seat of her chair toward me. “And you have two choices. Option A: Do physical therapy with Owen, or Option B: Find someone else to help you. There is no Option C.” She motions between us. “For either of you. Decide what you want to do and let me know,” she says, shooing us out of her office.

Owen follows me and closes the door behind us. I lean against the wall outside Cutter’s office and he walks over and stands beside me.

“I guess that means we have to work together.” He doesn’t sound any happier about the situation than I am, but it makes me feel like I’m the one forcing this on him.

Tension coils in my stomach. I want to let us both off the hook, but Cutter has me backed into a corner. “We’ll meet up to satisfy Cutter,” I say. “But you’ll do your thing and I’ll do mine. Minimal interaction.”

Owen sighs. “Okay.”

I turn to leave and I look back at him. “Don’t look so depressed, Owen. I’m only here for a few months.”





CHAPTER 18

Nobody Left to Run with Anymore

HAWK’S BLACK SUBURBAN idles in front of the YMCA. I can’t wait to get out of here.

My uncle has his window rolled down, and a Southern rock song is playing. His arm is hanging out the window and he’s nodding in time to the music as he taps the rhythm against the side of the SUV.

I circle around the front of the Suburban.

Hawk sees me and pushes my door open from the inside. He turns down the radio, just as the lead singer complains that there’s “nobody left to run with anymore.”

“Where are the Twins? Is everything okay?” They were supposed to pick me up.

“Coach extended practice until seven to go over the playbook. Cam texted me to see if I could swing by and get you.”

“Sorry. I don’t want to be any trouble.”

“I don’t mind at all. But I was thinking. You probably don’t want your grease monkey uncle driving you around when the boys are tied up.”

“Restoring classic cars hardly makes you a grease monkey.”

“I’ve got an old Jeep in the garage that needs some bodywork, but it runs great. I’m planning to restore it and sell it when I have time. You could use it while you’re here.”

“That’s really nice of you, but I can’t take one of your cars.”

What am I saying?

Driving equals freedom. I wouldn’t be tied to the Twins every time I want to go somewhere.

“It was just a thought,” Hawk says gently.

“Actually, the doctor never said I couldn’t drive. At home I had nowhere to go, so I never thought about it. I’ll check with her tomorrow. If she says it’s okay, will you take a test drive with me?”

“It would be my pleasure. I survived teaching the boys to drive.”

The Suburban passes the Best Darn Diner in the Whole Darn State. Black Water students sit in the booths next to the window.

“Doesn’t Christian want to borrow it?” I ask.

Hawk laughs. “Your cousin already crashed one vehicle. I’m not letting him drive a car I’m planning to sell.”

“What makes you think I’m a good driver?” I do have a clean driving record. I’ve never even had a ticket. Did Mom tell him?

“Just a hunch. And you’d be doing me a favor. It’s better for the engine if someone drives it.”

I’ll have a car. Just thinking about it makes me smile. “Okay. Thanks.”

Hawk nods his approval. “It’s nice to see you smile. Don’t let anyone take that away.”

Somebody already did, but I’m finally ready to take it back.

“So how did physical therapy go?”

I twist wet strands of hair from my ponytail around my finger. “It went.”

He glances at me from under the bill of his University of Tennessee Volunteers cap. “I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”

“It was fine.”

“Some people have a hard time with Cutter. She’s … difficult.”

“Actually, she was cool.” Except for her terrible idea to have me work out with Owen. “How do you know her?”

“Cutter grew up in Nashville. I was working the door at a bar down there before I joined the Marine Corps. That’s where I met her. She was already in med school, impressing the hell out of everyone—and pissing them off. Cutter was always getting herself in trouble. She came home to visit one weekend and I got her out of some. That’s how we became friends.”

“Why did she stop performing surgery? She said something about liking sports more than surgery and martial arts more than medicine.”