Free They Never Die Quietly (2010) by D M Annechino

sat on the floor cross-legged, using the corner of the cocktail table to support her bowl of Cheerios.
    "Want some coffee, Ma?"
    "Gotta get moving." Josephine lifted her rotund body off the chair with a grunt. She looked around the messy room and shook her head. "Don't know how you live like this."
    "Do we have to go through this every time you come over?"
    "I don't have to come over, Sami." Josephine glared at her daughter. "Men like a clean house. You're never going to--"
    "Thanks for watching Angelina, Ma." The last thing Sami needed from her mother was advice on how to find the perfect man.
    Josephine struggled to bend over. "Give Grandma a kiss."
    Angelina sprang up and kissed her grandmother's cheek, leaving a tattoo of milk on her face.
    "Coming over for lasagna tomorrow?" Josephine asked.
    "I'll call you."
    After her mother left, Sami, feeling a moment of courage, decided to call Simon. She'd been thinking about it but hadn't quite mustered the nerve. Not expecting him to be working on a Saturday, she could leave him a message and avoid talking to him. By doing this, she hoped he would return her call, and in an abstract way he'd be taking the initiative. A little twisted, but it worked for her.
    She picked up the business card and dialed the direct number to physical therapy. It rang twice before Sami heard a young woman's voice.
    "Bayview Hospital Physical Therapy, how may I direct your call?"
    Unlikely that two Simons worked for the hospital, she didn't want to struggle with his last name. "May I speak to Simon, please?"
    "One moment, I'll page him."
    Page him? Sami expected to hear his voicemail. Unprepared to speak with him, she panicked.
    "This is Simon."
    She could see those ice-blue eyes. "You probably don't remember me--"
    "Is this Sami?"
    Her palms were moist. "You remember me?"
    "How could I forget?"
    A long silence.
    "Is your back still giving you trouble?"
    "It's slightly improved, but I thought maybe--"
    "Your timing couldn't be better. I just finished with my last patient and...how quickly can you get here?"
    This caught her completely off guard. How could she squirm her way out of this predicament? "I appreciate the offer, Simon, but I have a two-year-old daughter and my babysitter--"
    "Bring her along. We've got a play area that'll keep her out of trouble for hours. Do you know how to get here?"
    She felt trapped. "How about Tuesday or Wednesday?"
    "Booked up solid, Sami. Besides, you don't want those back muscles tightening up even more, do you?"
    He certainly was tenacious. "I really can't, Simon."
    "Look, Sami, I know a little bit about backs and they don't get better on their own."
    Her cowardly plan had just been upended. "Um, I guess I can be there in about...an hour."
    "Great. See you in a little while."
    Her hair needed to be cut, her hips carried a few extra pounds, and the stressful investigation added new wrinkles to her face. But if her visit to the hospital was only therapy, why did she care how she looked?

    When Simon hung up the telephone, he thought he would surely pass out. Only through a divine miracle had he endured the racking pain. He bent forward, squatting slightly, and gripped the front of his thighs. His fingernails almost pierced his skin through the cotton fabric of the surgical scrubs. He closed his eyes and sucked in heavy breaths of air.
    Carol, Simon's assistant, casually strolled past him and noticed him bending over. "You okay?"
    He almost lost consciousness after amputating the baby toe. Suturing the wound without anesthesia had been even more excruciating. "Got up in the middle of the night and like a fool I jammed my baby toe into the bedpost. I think it's broken."
    "Why don't you ask Doctor Martin for some Vicodin?"
    Simon wanted no part of pain medication. How did he expect to atone for his sin without pain? "Already took some."
    Carol flipped through the pages of her clipboard. "There aren't any more patients scheduled today. Maybe you should get an X-ray."
    "Got