Page 28 of Savage Heart

He nods.

“I didn’t know that.”

I didn’t know everything wasn’t perfect at the ranch.

“You really think she didn’t break anything?” I ask Maverick.

“I’m positive,” he says.

“Thank you,” I tell them. “I didn’t know what to do.”

“Are you okay? Should I tell my mom to come sit with her until she wakes up?” Maverick asks.

“No, no. I’ll get Otis when he comes home. I don’t want . . . Please don’t tell your mom.”

He looks at me for a long time, and I’m afraid he’s not going to agree.

“Okay,” he finally says.

We look at Lincoln.

“Okay. I won’t tell either,” he says. “We better go.”

A few hours later, Mom walks out of her room, rubbing her shoulder. She’s still wearing the gown.

“Why am I so fucking sore?” she mutters.

“You fell.”

She takes a shower while I color in my coloring book.

The house phone rings, and I pick it up.

“Hey,” Maverick says. “How’s it going?”

“Good,” I say quietly. “She just got up. She wondered why she was so sore.”

He’s quiet.

“Thanks for coming today. I—”

“I’ll always come, no matter what. Day or night. Okay, Iris?”

“Okay,” I whisper.

Chapter 7: Familiar Strangers

Iris

“Mom, I haven’t seen my Grandma Jennifer at all,” Linc says the night before camp starts.

I turn the kitchen faucet off and look at him. “You haven’t?”

Sometimes he wants to talk about Lincoln and his family, but most of the time, he doesn’t, so I wait for him to bring it up.

He shakes his head. “No. Remind me, when was the last time I saw her?”

“You were seven when we ran into her at the grocery store.”