After the Fall

basket case.
    The nurse left. I rolled my stiffening shoulders and tilted my head from one side to the other while I waited for the doctor to come back in. This wasn’t my first rodeo, as it were, so I knew what was coming. I could already hear the orders: Ice, not heat. Don’t lift anything heavier than twenty pounds. Take two of these and don’t operate heavy machinery. Ice, not heat. I’m serious, Nathan. Ice.
    Yeah, yeah. Fuck you. Heat feels better. Bite me.
    Out in the hall, a female voice said, “He’s right in here.”
    “Thank you.” Cody. The door opened, and he stepped in, holding his dusty baseball cap in his hands. “How you feeling?”
    “Like I tried to catch a twelve-hundred-pound animal with my leg,” I grumbled.
    He laughed. “Least your sense of humor’s intact.”
    “Eh, more or less.”
    “Keep your chin up, kid. Could’ve been a lot worse.”
    I shuddered, which hurt. Of course. “Believe me, I know.”
    “By the way, there’s, um.” He paused, glancing at the door as he cleared his throat. “That kid with the motorcycle. He’s out in the waiting room. He’d, uh, like to see you.”
    I rubbed my eyes. He wasn’t all that high on my list of favorite people right now, but . . . oh, what the hell. “Sure. Not like I have anything else to concentrate on at the moment.”
    Cody left the room. A moment later, he returned with the biker, and then excused himself to go find some coffee. Bastard.
    The biker and I stared at each other in uncomfortable silence. Though the air between us was tense, this was the first time I’d had a chance to really look at him, and looking at him beat the hell out of dwelling on the fact that this was nauseatingly awkward.
    His nose was a little swollen, as was the corner of his mouth, but the blood was gone from his immaculately trimmed goatee. His pants were the same armored style as the blue and white jacket he had draped over his arm. The extra padding in the thighs only emphasized his slim waist and incredibly fit torso, especially since all he was wearing above the belt was a skintight, black Under Armour shirt.
    Clearing his throat, he moved the jacket in front of him and folded both arms under it. “So. Um.” He gulped. “Listen, I wanted to apologize. I didn’t realize that was a bridle trail. It’s—” He shook his head. “I don’t know the trails that well yet.”
    “Neither do I.” I sighed. “Probably won’t get to know them this summer.”
    He winced. “Sorry.”
    Guilt formed a ball of lead in my gut. “It’s all right. Like you said, you . . . you didn’t know the trails.” I shrugged with one shoulder. “It happens, I guess. One of the hazards of a multiuse trail.”
    “Still, I’m sorry. And, uh, by the way, my name is Ryan.” He extended his hand.
    “I’ll have to skip the handshake.” I held up my tightly wrapped hand.
    “Oh. Right.” His cheeks colored, and he withdrew the offer.
    “My name’s Nathan, though.” I paused. “So, are you, um, going to . . .” I held up the injured hand again. “Press charges?”
    “Press—” He blinked. “What? No. No, of course not.”
    I exhaled. “ Thank you.”
    He laughed. “I was a little worried you might press them against me, to be honest.”
    “If you’d asked me while I was still sitting in the dirt, I might’ve.” I laughed too. “But, I guess we’re kind of even.”
    “Even?” He ran a glance over me, and damn it, my skin tingled like that glance had been an actual touch, a hand grazing me through the thin white blanket. The things anxiety did to me, apparently. Unaware that I was an inch closer to losing my mind, Ryan met my eyes. “You’re going to be in a world of hurt for a while. I’m”—he touched his lip gingerly—“just going to be telling bar brawl stories for a few days.”
    I laughed again. “For what it’s worth, I really didn’t mean to coldcock you like that. I thought my horse was gone, and you were the closest thing, and . . .”
    “It’s okay.” He smiled, though the bruised corner of his mouth didn’t rise as high as the other. “Really.” He held my gaze, then lowered his eyes and cleared his throat. “Anyway, I wanted to stop in and make sure you were all right. See if there was anything I could do.”
    “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
    Awkward silence fell, punctuated by the steadily accelerating beep coming from my heart monitor.
    You’re not helping, you stupid piece of machinery.
    “She’s a