Free Why Lie? (Love Riddles #2) by Carey Heywood Page B

short period, will do that to a person.
    Thing is, because of that, I was not only as broken as you would expect a person who had been in ten car accidents in a row to be, my organs were also freaking the hell out.
    I may not enjoy paying for it, but at least I have health insurance. Otherwise, I’d have to sell all the organs they saved to pay for everything they did.
    Moving sucks and these delusional doctors are under the impression that it’s a good thing for my recovery. I’m nowhere near healed and I already have physical therapy.
    Considering the fact that I’m still mourning the loss of Lady, which is just cruel, what makes matters even worse is that my jaw is broken, so I can’t even comfort myself with food.
    Also, having a mouth wired shut makes it impossible to yell at people. A scream has been building deep inside of me ever since I regained consciousness. As soon as I can open my freaking mouth again, I’m going to yell until it is out. Until then, I’m broken and trapped in more ways than I can mentally handle.
    I am quietly shouting inside. I also want to kick every single person who tells me how lucky I am.
    Yes, I get that it is a freaking miracle I am alive but, if I were lucky, maybe I wouldn’t have multiple casts. If I were lucky maybe Heath fucking Mackey wouldn’t be sitting in the armchair next to my bed right now.
    The one and only pro so far to having my jaw wired shut is a reasonable excuse not to speak to him, that and milkshakes. There’s a gap, wide enough for me to fit a straw, smash bits of a banana or mashed potatoes through. Gigi has become a world expert on protein powders and every other powdered down nutrient.
    Now, I’m right-handedly sipping on a mango smoothie and simultaneously ignoring Heath. The first few times he camped out in my room, I pretended to be asleep. That gets old after a while, especially when he wouldn’t take the hint and leave.
    There’s a knock at my door before it’s pushed open and Officer Brendan Lowell, or Trip as he asked us to call him, walks in carrying a book. “How are you feeling today?”
    My lips tip up, at least, I hope they do. Smiling doesn’t feel right anymore. From the other side of my bed, Heath grumbles something under his breath.
    Setting my smoothie onto the table that crosses over my bed, I give Trip a thumbs up. It’s possibly a more positive response than what I actually feel.
    He moves to sit in the chair on the other side of my bed, opposite of Heath.
    “I brought you that book I told you about yesterday.”
    Yes, yesterday.
    Trip, all six foot three inches of him, has been a frequent visitor, much to Heath’s annoyance. Heath’s reaction is part of the reason I like Trip as much as I do, that and he helped save my life. He was the one who pulled me from the mudslide. Not that I was conscious at the time.
    I didn’t find that part out until he came to visit me. Another thing I learned about him was he used to live in Ferncliff, even went to high school there.
    I’m not sure how we never met, especially since Gigi remembered him, but Gigi remembers everything. He went to the police academy after college and has lived on the other side of the canyon my grandparents’ cabin was on ever since.
    The cabin suffered no damage from the mudslide, avoiding its path altogether. Officer Lowell and his partner, Officer Maxwell, were the ones who came by the cabin that day to evacuate me. Since the cabin is no worse for wear and I’m lying in a hospital bed, I think he feels guilty.
    Which makes no sense. There’s no way anyone could have predicted what path the mudslide was going to take and that my Lady would get stuck in the way. He has nothing to feel guilty over.
    It’s sweet that he comes to see me. A couple of times he’s even gone to my physical therapy with me. Heath has gone every other time.
    In fact, Heath has been here every single day since I was admitted. Part of me wants to ask Heath if he still has a job. That