“This walking thing isn’t new,” he said. “Come in, we’ll share a beer while they forget that I’m here.”
I snorted. “Good luck with that, man. They know you’re over here.”
“They’re giving us time,” he said as he made his way inside, limping the entire way.
His leg was in a cast from his thigh down to his foot, and he likely should’ve been utilizing crutches. Yet, he wasn’t.
Not that I was surprised.
They’d wanted me to stay overnight, and there was no way in hell that I was going to do that.
Instead, I told them that my wife was a nurse and that if anything happened throughout the night, she was more than capable of handling it.
They’d agreed, and I’d gotten to go home.
I was also going to work tomorrow because my bosses weren’t privy to that conversation that suggested that I take a few days off.
Luckily, neither was Piper, otherwise, I wouldn’t have had a choice.
I was feeling fine, and I knew that if I stayed home, Piper would want to take off her first day at work. My mother would come over. Hell, even my brother and sister might come. And just sayin’, but I didn’t like that many people in my house at one time.
“Want a beer?” Sam asked, looking at me expectantly.
The nurse’s first order was ‘not to drink any alcohol with my pain pills still in my system.’
“Sure,” I said. “If I die, or go into sudden cardiac arrest, you might want to mention to the medics that I had a high dose of pain pills before I came over here.”
Sam chuckled and reached for a beer from the fridge that was underneath his desk.
After handing me mine, he said, “Same goes for me.”
I chuckled and twisted the top off the beer bottle, then took a long, deep swallow.
His eyes narrowed on my hand.
“You’re married?”
I froze, beer halfway to my face, and swallowed a large gulp of beer before saying, “Yes.”
“Since when?” Sam asked.
I went for another swallow of beer when the bottle was suddenly yanked from my hand. Sam’s wasn’t far behind, and a furious looking Piper glared at both of us.
“What part of ‘no alcohol with the pain meds’ did y’all not understand?” she snapped.
I felt myself smiling, but that smile quickly fell off my face when she said, “This is not funny.”
“I didn’t say it was, honey,” I tried.
She narrowed her eyes.
“And you,” she turned to her father. “This is why you’re in here, isn’t it?”
Sam didn’t say anything, but his eyes were sparkling.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he lied.
Piper’s eyes went to the desk where four empty beer bottles were lined up, along with what looked to be a week’s worth of wrappers from snack foods.
“And you know you’re not supposed to be eating this bullshit,” she said. “Your near heart attack a couple of months ago was a signal that you needed to start taking better care of yourself.”
“I take perfectly good care of myself,” he said. “And I’m fine now. They said that was just a fluke.”
“It might have been, but there’s no reason in the world that you can’t eat better,” she said stubbornly.
“I eat just fine,” he said. “I have gone a full week of eating the shittiest food on the planet. So sorry if I want to eat a goddamn Little Debbie times five.”
Piper rolled her eyes and then took a sip of my beer, making me want to pull her into my arms and lick the taste off of her lips.
I managed to control myself.
Barely.
“What’s that?”
Sam’s question had us both looking at him, but he wasn’t looking at us. He was looking at Piper’s finger.
“Ummmm,” she said, hedging.
Sam’s gaze turned to me.
“Just got married, huh?” he asked.
I felt my lips twitch.
“Yes, sir,” I answered, not sure whether I should stand up and protect myself from the punch that I knew he wanted to throw or not.
“When did this happen?” he asked stiffly.
“While we were in Vegas,” I answered.
Sam’s eyes turned to his daughter.
“You want this?”
Piper’s shoulders sagged.
“More than I want my next breath,” she answered softly.
I felt something inside of me release at her words.
Sam’s eyes once again turned to me as he said, “You hurt her in any way, and I don’t care if I’m dead and gone, I will find a way to kill you.”
I didn’t doubt for a second that he would.
“I won’t,” I promised.
“Daddy,” Piper said.
“Take this to the trash can and go wait outside,” Sam suggested. “Or even better, how about you go tell your mother that she doesn’t get to plan your wedding.”
Piper winced.
“Dad…”
“Now, honey,” I said softly. “I’ll be okay.”
Piper sighed and pressed a kiss to my cheek, but she didn’t leave with just the wrappers from his food. She also left with the beers in her hand, as well as the last two that were in the fridge.