Slightly Off Balance

by Kaylie Hunter

  “Take the bear back for a refund and buy me a Klondike.”

  “Gladly.”

  “You really should work your way up to normal food before eating chocolate and ice cream,” Aunt Carol said.

  “Why?” Tansey and I asked at the same time.

  Aunt Carol rolled her eyes and went back to freshening up the flowers.

  Tansey snuck over to the corner store to buy some Klondike bars, and the news spread fast through Pine Valley that I was awake. My hospital room was crammed with friends, family, neighbors, customers, and even my mailman, which was a bit odd. And everyone brought Klondike bars. I doubted there was a single box of Klondikes for sale in the county.

  Little Bradley stepped up beside the bed and started to cry when he saw my cast. But the tears quickly disappeared when Reel found a marker so he could sign it. Bradley proudly printed his name in big letters. His mother, Sarah, stepped over and kissed my cheek. She was too emotional to say anything, and I just nodded, looking back at the sweet little boy. I was glad I was able to get to him fast enough too.

  “Alright, everyone,” Aunt Carol spoke up. “I’m afraid visiting time is over. Our girl needs some rest. And please take the Klondike bars with you. We don’t have a freezer here, and she hasn’t eaten solid food in days.”

  Everyone quickly signed my cast, said their good wishes, and departed. Only Tansey, Rod, Reel, Aunt Carol, and Uncle Mike remained.

  “The rest of you need to go home too,” I said. “I’m just going to be sleeping. There’s no point in staying.”

  “Your accident might have been only an accident, but we still don’t know who was trying to hurt you before that,” Uncle Mike said.

  “He’s right. We’ll need to set up shifts,” Reel nodded.

  “I’ve got the first shift then,” Wayne said, stepping into the room.

  “And just who the hell are you?” Uncle Mike demanded, standing to block Wayne’s path.

  “You must be the protective uncle,” Wayne nodded. “Nice to officially meet you. I work with Ryan doing security. We also served together.”

  “I called Wayne because we need help keeping the girls safe while we figure out who’s been trying to hurt Deanna.”

  “Smart. Be sure to tell me how much the bill is,” Uncle Mike nodded.

  “No bill, sir,” Wayne said. “Most of us are on personal leave, taking a break after a big case. We’re volunteering on this one. We owe Ryan a favor or two.”

  “It’s weird to hear people call you Ryan,” I said to Reel.

  “Think how hard it would be for me to keep my professional image if they knew about the nickname.”

  “Holy shit. Ryan knows how to smile!” Wayne said. “Is it the pretty lady, or is it the nickname?”

  “Shut the hell up,” Reel laughed.

  “I’ll let it go for now,” Wayne smirked. “I heard when I entered that it’s time for this little lady to get some rest. Everyone can go home and sleep in their own beds. I’ll keep her safe and stand guard outside the room.”

  “I appreciate it, but I don’t know you,” Uncle Mike said honestly.

  “I do. I trust him with her life. That said, I’d rather sleep here on the couch while Wayne stands guard,” Reel said.

  Uncle Mike wanted to argue, but one scolding look from Aunt Carol kept him from saying anything.

  “I’ll take Tansey home,” Rod offered.

  “But I drove,” Tansey argued as Rod steered her toward the door.

  “I don’t care,” Rod said.

  “I’m not leaving Tweedle’s car here. What if someone steals it?”

  “No one in their right mind would steal Tweedle’s car. Everyone in town knows it’s hers.”

  “Someone who didn’t have a car might,” she argued, as they disappeared into the hall.

  “Call us if you need anything,” Uncle Mike said, kissing my forehead.

  “He means it, and so do I,” Aunt Carol said, kissing my cheek.

  Aunt Carol weaved her arm through Uncle Mike’s as they left.

  “I’ll be right outside the door. I’ll warn you if any of the medical staff need to come in,” Wayne said, stepping out and closing the door after him.

  “Hey,” Reel said, leaning over me. “You really okay? Do you need any pain pills? Anything?”

  “I’m good. I’m just tired.”

  “Then go to sleep,” he said, kissing my forehead.

  My eyes drifted shut as he stroked my hair away from my face.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “I want out of here,” I snapped. “I’ll sign whatever it takes, but I’m leaving. Even if I have to shoot my way out.”

  “Now there’s a woman I can respect,” Bridget giggled as she skipped into the room.

  “Bridget, you’re not helping,” Reel grumbled.

  Bridget winked at me.

  “Miss Sullivan, you really need to stay at the hospital and rest for a few more days,” the doctor explained.

  Bridget and I both snorted.

  “Let me guess,” Bridget said, turning to me. “Nurses checking on you every two hours, doctors doing their rounds at 5:00, monitor alarms constantly going off.”

  “I’m exhausted. I want out.”

  “Doctor, does she need anything other than rest?” Bridget asked.

  “No,” he sighed. “She’s healing well, and her lungs sound good.”

  “Then get the release papers. I’m kidnapping her in twenty minutes,” Bridget giggled, skipping over to grab the suitcase that Aunt Carol had left in the corner and setting it on the end of the bed.

  “Don’t tell anyone she’s checking out,” Reel ordered the doctor.

  The doctor nodded and rushed out while Bridget made a phone call.

  “Hey Bones. Tweedle is being wheeled out in twenty,” she said.

  There was a pause before she spoke again.

  “I don’t know. Just figure it out!” she snapped before hanging up. She rolled her eyes at the phone and stuffed it in her back pocket. “Do you want me or Ryan to help you get dressed?”

  I blushed, unable to answer. Reel chuckled before walking out of the room.

  “Ah,” she laughed, opening the suitcase. “He hasn’t seen your naked booty yet.”

  “Not since all of us went skinny-dipping when I was eight.”

  She helped me untie the back of the gown, then turned away while I put on a bra. Aunt Carol had packed a comfortable oversized flannel button-up shirt instead of a T-shirt, so I didn’t have to raise my arms up over my head. My muscles were still sore.

  A nurse came to remove the catheter and helped me get my underwear and shorts over my cast. The shorts were soft stretchy cotton and felt like pajama shorts. I glanced at the inside label and smiled. They were pajama shorts.

  “That’s an interesting outfit,” Bridget said with one eyebrow cocked.

  “I don’t care what I look like. I just want to go home.”

  “Oh, I didn’t say you could go home,” Bridget laughed as the nurse left and Reel returned to the room.

  “Thank God. I thought you’d finally lost it, Bridget,” he said.

  “I’m not stupid,” she giggled. “But she’s not going to get any rest here. Where can we take her? Do we need to move her out of town?”

  “Wait, what?” I asked.

  “She can stay at her Uncle’s house or my house. But if she stays at her uncle’s, I’d be concerned with putting her aunt in danger.”

  “Why can’t I go home?” I asked.

  “To the house where someone broke in and left you a rattlesnake? The house where someone broke a gas line, hoping you would die in an explosion? Don’t be silly,” Bridget said, patting my arm.

  “It was only the two times,” I muttered.

  Reel walked to the other side of the bed, leaned over and whispered, “No.”

  “Fine. I’ll stay with Tansey,” I glared, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “Fine,” Reel nodded, crossing his arms over his ches
t. “If you can make it up her two-story exterior staircase with that cast and crutches, then I’ll tell the security team that they have to stand outside, in the open, for days on end, protecting your ass.”

  “That’s just mean.”

  “And you’re being difficult for no reason,” Reel chuckled.

  “Wayne warned me that Ryan smiles around here, but I didn’t believe it,” Bridget said with wide eyes.

  “It’s a new thing he started doing. I think it’s still in a trial phase for him. And around here, like it or not, he goes by Reel, not Ryan.”

  “Good to know,” she nodded. “Wait—Isn’t your brother’s name Rod?”

  “It has to do with fishing,” Reel said, shaking his head. “Don’t ask.”

  “Like one of the locals isn’t going to offer up the story?”

  “Do we have a location?” Wayne asked, strolling into the room.

  Bridget and Reel both turned to look at me.

  “Yes,” I said, a smile breaking out on my face. “4235 Birch Street.”

  Reel shook his head. “You’re impossible.”

  “And, whose house is that?” Bridget asked, seeing Reel’s reaction.

  “Her grandpa’s house. Vince has Alzheimer’s.”

  “Dementia, not Alzheimer’s,” I said. “Two birds, one stone. I can help keep an eye on Grandpa while everyone else keeps an eye on me. And the house is private with six bedrooms.”

  “Sold,” Wayne said.

  “Is there a pool?” Bridget asked, hopping up and down.

  “Nope, sorry.”

  “Fine. We’ll stay at your grandpa’s. It’d be good to see the old coot again, even if he doesn’t remember who I am.”

  “Let’s roll,” Wayne said, moving a wheelchair over to the bed.

  Reel helped me off the bed and into the chair, carefully placing my leg into the leg-rest.

  “I need my purse,” I said, looking across the room to the stand.

  “I can carry it,” Bridget offered, retrieving the purse.

  “No, thank you,” I said, taking the purse.

  I opened it up to confirm Aunt Carol had slid the revolver inside.

  “You’ve got a gun?” Bridget asked.

  “I borrowed it. Just in case.”

  “But she won’t shoot anyone except in the foot, so she’ll have time to run away,” Reel said, rolling his eyes.

  Bridget and I looked down at my broken leg.

  “Maybe aim for the kneecap,” Bridget said.

  “Do you think that would give me enough time?”

  We looked to Wayne and Reel for an answer, but they just shook their heads.

  As they wheeled me down the hall, I heard loud clomping ahead. I leaned over to look around Wayne’s large frame. I sighed loudly at the same time as Reel.

  “You know her?” Wayne asked.

  “Unfortunately,” I muttered.

  “Want me to get rid of her?” Bridget giggled.

  “Yes, but she’s my mother, so that’s not very nice of me to say.”

  Wayne looked back at me surprised. Reel snorted.

  “Mother, I was just leaving.”

  “No one told me you were being released today,” she said, acting insulted to be kept out of the loop.

  “I was unconscious for days, and you didn’t care, so why would you care to know when I’m leaving?”

  “Honestly, Deanna, you must learn to be a bit less self-involved. I have obligations. They don’t change just because you got into a fender-bender.”

  “I was run over by a Buick.”

  “Whatever. I bought you flowers.”

  She tried to pass me the flowers, but Wayne intercepted. He inspected the miniature gift shop bouquet before passing them to me. I pulled the card but didn’t take the flowers. The card was a standard get-well card, unsigned. How thoughtful.

  “I don’t want them,” I said, tossing the card at my mother. “I’m done. I’ve been disappointed by you for the last time. Stay out of my life.”

  Wayne handed her back the small vase, and Reel steered the wheelchair around her. No one spoke until the elevator door closed.

  “You okay?” Reel asked, with a firm hand on my shoulder.

  “I’m a bit disappointed. I thought there would be a lot of fireworks when I finally ended it with her.”

  “Like how you ended it with your sister?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Whenever she comes into town, people start loudly asking each other whether they can smell lemons. She runs off in the opposite direction.”

  Bridget and Wayne turned with raised eyebrows, but the elevator doors opened. They stepped in front of me again as they led us down a side hall. Wayne directed us through the kitchen cafeteria and out an employee-only exit where a black SUV was sitting with the engine running.

  “Wayne, can you drive my truck? It’s in the east lot,” Reel asked, passing him the keys.

  “As soon as you guys are safely off,” Wayne nodded, taking the keys and turning his back to the SUV to survey the area.

  Bridget opened the back door, and Reel lifted me up and into the SUV, shutting the door behind me. He opened the back latch of the SUV and tossed the wheelchair in before jogging to the other side of the SUV and sliding inside. Bridget was already in the front passenger seat, seatbelt on, and fidgeting with the radio stations.

  “Let’s move,” Reel said, grabbing my hand.

  Bones was behind the wheel and quickly maneuvered around the parking lot and down a deserted side street. He turned the radio off for the second time as he turned right, then down two blocks he turned left. At the next right, he shut the radio off for the third time, and Bridget looked around the seat at me and winked.

  “It’s clear,” Bones said, reaching over to slap Bridget’s hand as she reached for the radio. “Bridget, stop. We’re on a job.”

  “Oh, and I suppose there’s some rule about not listening to the radio?”

  “Yes,” Reel and Bones both answered.

  “Oh,” she pouted. She peeked back at me again. “I’m only a trainee.”

  “Barely even a trainee,” Bones snorted. “Grady and Donovan haven’t agreed to hire you yet.”

  “I’m sure Tweedle will give me a good reference,” Bridget grinned.

  I gave her a thumbs-up and laughed.

  “Head four blocks south and then six blocks east,” Reel said. “And thanks for staying in town, Bones.”

  “I owe you,” Bones nodded in the rearview mirror. “And I find Tweedle entertaining.” He winked in the mirror.

  “Sorry for causing all this trouble.”

  “Not a problem,” Bones shrugged, looking over at Bridget. “I’m used to hanging out with women who get themselves in trouble.”

  Bridget whopped him in the arm. He laughed but rested an arm on the center console to fend her off if needed.

  “You better call Tansey and your aunt,” Reel whispered. “If they go to the hospital and find you gone, they’ll worry.”

  “Not to mention Uncle Mike will be pissed.”

  “That too. I don’t need another fight with him right now. Your aunt and uncle practically raised all of us on some level. But with you girls, he needs to cut the umbilical cord already.”

  “Should I tell him you said that?”

  “Are you trying to get me killed?”

  “You’re afraid of my uncle?”

  “Not afraid,” Reel shrugged. “More like respectful.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Call. Your. Aunt.”

  Bridget and Bones chuckled from the front seat, obviously listening to us. Reel sighed and leaned his head back into the headrest.

  I called Aunt Carol, and she agreed to get ahold of Tansey and Uncle Mike. She would make sure Tansey had an escort over to my house to pick up some more clothes for me. She also offered to go grocery shopping to stock-up on food for Grandpa’s house.

  “That would be great, but take the m
oney out of my checking account. I don’t want you or Uncle Mike paying for it,” I said.

  “But you’re saving for that couch. I’d rather not spend that money.”

  “It’s fine. Someone already bought the couch,” I fake-glared at Reel. “Spend whatever’s in there. I already paid my rent for the month.”

  “If you’re sure,” she said.

  “Positive. Thanks, Aunt Carol.”

  We ended the call, and Bridget turned around in the seat to face me.

  “I don’t want to offend you or anything, but you don’t have to empty your bank account.”

  “It’s fine, really. Aunt Carol’s a bargain shopper, and I get paid in two days.”

  “What she’s trying to say is that she knows that Reel and I can afford to buy a grocery store’s worth of groceries, and we wouldn’t even miss the money,” Bones said. “Bridget’s already learned that it’s not worth the energy trying to keep a scorecard of expenses going, especially with Reel.”

  “Why especially with you?” I asked Reel.

  Reel grinned but didn’t say anything.

  “Because he hasn’t taken much time off since he started. I doubt he’s spent more than food or rent since he got out of the service.”

  “Well, he spent a ton of money on Friday. Almost three grand.”

  They all laughed.

  “That’s a new suit for Bones,” Bridget rolled her eyes.

  Reel looked over at me. “Until I bought the house, I saved almost everything I made. I paid cash for the house, and it didn’t even dent my account. So don’t drive yourself into bankruptcy worrying about us.”

  I pouted, thinking that I was the epic underdog. I hadn’t traveled like they had. I didn’t make much money. And now I was the one putting everyone in danger and couldn’t even afford to cover the extra expenses.

  “I’m looking forward to eating baked goods for the next few days,” Reel said, nudging me with his shoulder. “We’re going to be eating like royalty. My mouth is watering just thinking about biscuits for breakfast, followed by the cream puffs for midmorning, homemade pies for lunch, cookies for an afternoon snack, garlic cheese bread or French bread with dinner, and chocolate eclairs for desert.”