Page 108 of Protecting What's Mine

“Your fee is to hear me out when I say I’m not dropping the charges. I hold no ill will toward your nephew.” That wasn’t exactly true. She still wished she’d had the chance to knock a tooth out of his mouth herself. “But he did this, and he needs to pay for his mistakes.”

“I disagree.”

“As long as we can agree to disagree, you can help me carry these bags inside, and I’ll take a look at your arm.”

She took two bags and let herself and Sunshine inside. She smirked when she heard the front door open again.

He stood silently in the doorway of the kitchen, holding the rest of her bags.

“You can put them on the counter and have a seat at the table,” she said. She turned on the overhead light and opened her med kit on the table. She unpacked alcohol swabs, gauze, saline, tape, a scalpel, and a syringe onto the table.

“Now hold on there,” he said, water blue eyes going wide at the scalpel and needle.

“Don’t worry,” she told him. “I’m a professional.”

“Never knew a lady doctor before,” he mused.

“What do you do for a living, Mr. Kersh?”

“I work at Shorty’s garage. The other side of town.”

There was pride in his voice.

“Really?” Mack asked. She pulled on gloves before opening an absorbent pad and placing it on the table under his arm.

“Shorty started me with tire rotations, oil changes. Easy stuff. Last week, I dropped a new engine in a Jeep, and I’m certified to do state inspections.”

“I need an oil change like 5,000 miles ago,” she said, gently prodding the swollen tender skin. It was red and hot to the touch.

“You really shouldn’t let it go that long,” Kersh chided her.

“If I bring my truck in, will you promise not to dump sugar in the gas tank?”

“Let’s see how this here boil goes first.”

She chuckled. “That’s fair. Okay. So what I’m going to do is swab the skin down with alcohol. I’ll give you a little shot of numbing stuff. Then I’m going to use the scalpel to make an incision. You won’t feel a thing.”

“I don’t need no sissy drugs.”

“That’s what all the big, manly guys say before they start swearing and crying,” she said cheerfully. She swiped an alcohol pad over the area and uncapped the syringe. “Little pinch.”

He looked away when she inserted the needle and made her think of a little kid trying to be brave. Wincing, he took in a breath through his teeth. Sunshine, sweet, innocent soul that she was, put her head on Kersh’s knee.

He glanced down at her. “That’s a pretty dog,” he said.

Sunshine’s tail thumped happily.

“She sure is,” Mack agreed. “There,” she said, withdrawing the needle and dumping it in a sharps box.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

“Have you had a fever?” she asked, tearing the packaging off the scalpel.

“Dunno.”

“An abscess is a bacterial infection. I have to open it up and drain it. Then I’ll wrap it up nice and clean and give you some antibiotics that you will promise to take exactly as prescribed. You don’t want to half-ass it and end up losing a chunk of your arm.”

“No, ma’am.”