I dropped Duffy off at the emergency room entrance, then pulled my car around to the parking garage. I was grabbing a ticket from the machine when Brian called.
“What’s up?” I answered, dropping the ticket on the dashboard as the arm raised and I headed in search of an available spot.
“Just checking in,” my agent’s voice sounded through the car’s speakers. “Any new buzz from the locker room?”
“Nope,” I said, wondering if I could squeeze my car into compact parking. “Not a word.”
“What are you doing right now? Want to meet for a beer?”
“Can’t,” I said. “Duffy’s dad is having a medical issue and we just got to the hospital.”
“Oh shit. Is he going to be okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, probably,” I said, even though I didn’t know the details. I turned down another row.
“And you’re sticking around? At the hospital?”
“Of course,” I said, a little surprised he’d even ask. “Like I’d leave her alone to go get a beer.”
“Yeah, no, I get it,” Brian said. “I wouldn’t want you to. Anything I can do to help?”
“Nah, but I need to go,” I said, anxious to get inside and find her.
“Okay, we’ll talk later,” he said, and as he hung up the phone, I found a spot.
When I got to Duffy and her brothers in the ER waiting room, she already looked a lot better. The bad news was that Tony had a collapsed lung, but the good news was that the repair was easy. They were going to keep him in the hospital for a day or two for observation, but the doctor seemed completely composed about the situation.
“No offense, but I can’t look at you like that, Cunningham,” Ty said, shaking his head as he eyeballed my lederhosen in disgust. “Way too much fucking leg showing.”
“I think it looks great,” Matty said with a smirk. “Like you’re the Ricola guy.”
“The who?” Joey asked.
“The shepherd dude with the big horn from the lozenge commercial.”
“Ah,” Joey replied, nodding. “I can see that.”
“Leave him alone…” Duffy said, narrowing her eyes.
We all looked at her, surprised.
“…I mean, he probably misses his sheep and that leatherhasto be chafing him somewhere. Give the mountain man a break.”
“There she is,” Ty laughed.
Her eyes met mine and even though she shot me a genuine smile, the small crinkle of worry in her eyes made me want to wrap her in my arms and protect her from all the bad shit.
We went to see Tony a few minutes later, who was of course being very Tony.
“Why the hell are you dressed like that?” he asked me from his bed.
“We were going to New Ulm,” Duffy answered for me.
“For Oktoberfest? Then why the hell are you here?” he asked.
“Oh, I don’t know, they brought you here in an ambulance so it seemed like the place I should be,” she deadpanned.
“What are you going to do for me here?” he snapped. “Are you the doctor? You gonna fix me?”