Free Summer Swing by Delia Delaney Page B

for me to follow him. “I’m just parked right there. You need to sit and put some ice on that.” He knew I was going to make a comment about the ice, so he added, “In this case, ice is deemed necessary.”
    “Nice Porsche,” I said as he made me sit in the passenger’s seat.
    “Set this right on your thigh for about fifteen minutes.”
    “Fifteen minutes? I told Dawn I was going to the bathroom.”
    “Well, I guess you’ll have to tell her it took a while.”
    I groaned, but Harlan sat in the driver’s seat and began asking me question about what had happened. He was particularly relieved that the driver hadn’t hit me and ran off.
    After a while he said, “I want to see it.”
    “What?”
    “I want to see the injury .”
    “What, here ?”
    He shrugged. “Either here or in the ER. Makes no difference to me.”
    I gave him a look and he kind of laughed.
    “Oh, come on, Ellie. I’m being a doctor, here. I’ve seen many thighs.”
    I raised an eyebrow at him and he rolled his eyes.
    “It’s my job ,” he clarified. He took his jacket off and handed it to me. “Here, toss this over your waist and just let me see your leg. Hurry up or I’ll just drive you to the ER.”
    I growled at him and began unbuttoning my jeans. It was awkward not only because Harlan was sitting right next to me (even though he was looking the other way) , but because his car felt so small and I barely had room to maneuver. I did, however, get my pants down just far enough to see the injury .
    “Oh, gosh,” I breathed out. There was a slash across my leg that was about three inches long.
    “Just don’t look at it,” he said as he examined it closer. “This will sting a little…I’m just going to disinfect it so I can see what I’m looking at here…”
    Ooh, it did burn, but I didn’t say anything as I looked out my window.
    “When was your last tetanus shot?” he asked.
    “Uh…probably when I was a kid. Oh, please don’t tell me I need a tetanus shot.”
    “Y ou’ve most likely been cut with metal. But the good news is that yo u don’t need stitches .”
    “Oh, thank goodness.”
    “But you need the tetanus shot anyways if you’re not up to date.”
    I groaned.
    “All done. You can pull up your knickers now.”
    I gave him a look and we both started to laugh. But I glanced down at my leg to see that it looked much better, and he’d even put a couple of bandages over the scrape.
    “Thanks, Doc.”
    “Put the ice back on it; I’m going to go talk to your sister and let her know what’s going on.”
    “Oh, come on,” I moaned.
    “Ellie, you should probably have it x-rayed tonight.”
    “Then I’ll go get it x-rayed. Please don’t tell Dawn what happened. She is going to freak out .”
    “Then how do I explain that you’re sitting in my car, icing your leg?”
    “Just let me walk back in there, finish watching the game, and Gage can take me when he’s done.” He didn’t look convinced so I said, “It’s not broken, I promise.”
    With a laugh he said, “You have no idea how many times I’ve heard that very thing. And also the opposite. In this case you shouldn’t be self-diagnosing your injury. I’m sure you’ve just got some deep tissue bruising, but I can’t be certain unless it gets x-rayed. It’s better to be sure. ”
    In defiance, I opened the car door and got out. Just t rying to climb out of his tiny B oxster was ridiculous.
    Harlan got out of the car too. “Well you’re going to have to put up with me, as well,” he told me with a sigh . He watched me walk toward the stadium and shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m letting you talk me into this,” he quietly groaned.
    Somehow I managed to remember Dawn’s Snickers bar, and just using the excuse that there was a long line seemed to be good enough. She didn’t even question the fact that Harlan had returned with me, and for that I was especially grateful.
    However, the game just finished up when the last two batters