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ALICIA VARNER'S REACTION to her daughter's presence at work the next day, when the teenager was supposed to be at her own scheduled work, was one of fright. Most parents would be annoyed with their child for disrupting their busy schedule, but that wasn't the case for Alicia—not when she worked in an Emergency Room and had a troublemaker for a daughter.
Valentina tried to explain to her mom that it wasn't technically an emergency. She just knew this was where her mom was, and she'd rather be treated by her than some random doctor. Valentina hated hospitals as it was. But when the young blonde explained that she was in no rush to get her thumb fixed since it had already survived the night untaken care of, her mother shrieked in horror.
An x-ray and a stern talking-to later, Valentina's sprained thumb was numbed up and tightly secured in a splint. The young woman was already annoyed that day, having to miss out on a shift's worth of pay due to this urgent hospital visit that Heather was reluctant to cover, but now she had to figure out how she was going to serve coffee at the cafe later with an immobile wrist. It was on her dominant hand, too.
Alicia advised her daughter that she should ask Tina to cover her shift, saying that missing out on one day of pay would not be horrible. Especially since she was just a part-time teenager and didn't have to worry about bills like herself. But Valentina felt guilty. She knew her mom was still struggling despite their financial debt slowly diminishing.
Still, she gave Tina a call once she got home and felt her wrist burst in pain when she tried to twist the doorknob. Unfortunately, Tina was already working later. Valentina didn't really know any of the other waitresses well enough to get their numbers, so she couldn't ask someone else to cover her shift. She decided that working with Tina would at least make the upcoming and miserable shift later tolerable.
Steve showed up at her door a few minutes after the girls hung up, as if he'd been watching through their bedroom windows waiting for the opportunity. He knew the girl was supposed to work today, but he was the one who'd advised her to to go to the hospital instead. When she showed reluctance, he almost ran to the pool and begged her manager to let him take her shift just so she could have the morning free to get her hand checked out.
"Hey," Valentina grimaced when she opened the door. Not at him. Maybe a little at the beaming sun behind him, a sun which she was supposed to be soaking in right then at the pool, but mostly because of the pain it sprung in her hand when she opened the door. She needed to get used to using her left hand now.
Steve matched her expression. "Hey. Is it broken?"
The man let himself into the girl's house, looking down at her hand as she closed the door behind him. His eyes softened at the brace placed around her wrist. It was better than a cast, at least. That had to be good news.
"No," Valentina shook her head. "Sprained."
Steve nodded. His stomach felt heavier now that he was standing in front of the girl, her sprained thumb a red stain on his conscious. He opened his mouth to apologize again but Valentina beat him to ending the silence.
