Chapter 15 Brady
Brady
I gently palpated the top of Collins’s head with the tips of my fingers.
It was tender, and there was a hell of a bump.
We made it back to the house okay, even though Collins was a little stumbly, and the stairs were kind of a struggle.
Now I had her safely on the couch, where I could survey the damage to her noggin.
“Ow.” Collins flinched.
“I bet,” I said. “You’re growing a second head up here.”
“Seems kind of unfair that I get two heads and Larry has none,” Collins said, and my mouth dropped open as I gave her a look. “Too soon?” she asked.
“Not for me,” I said. “Maybe for Larry, though.”
“I think Larry would be grateful to not have a head if he saw the size of this goose egg on mine. I can feel it getting bigger, I swear.”
“Might want to wear a hat for the next couple of days.” I nodded.
“Jackass.” Collins fought a smile. “So what’s the prognosis? Am I going to live?”
“Unsure,” I said as I walked over to the freezer to grab a bag of frozen corn that I had bought over a year ago and never used. I brought it back to Collins and watched her wince as she placed it on top of her head.
I quickly typed concussion test and symptoms into the browser on my phone. “Do you feel nauseated or lightheaded?”
“Nope,” she answered.
“Are your ears ringing?” She shook her head. “Double or blurry vision?”
“At first maybe, but not anymore,” she said. “And no dizziness or sensitivity to light and noise.”
“Have you had a concussion before?”
“No,” she said. “I can see your phone screen, though, Dr. Cooper.”
“Oh,” I said. It was probably a good sign that she could read the tiny text when I was next to her on the couch. “Right. Well, I’m still not convinced you don’t have one based on the sheer volume of the sound your head produced when it connected with the ceiling.”
“Good thing I’ve got this thick skull, huh?”
“No comment,” I said. “Let me look at your pupils.” Collins turned her body to face me dead-on and widened her eyes.
“You look like a tarsier,” I said, and put a finger under her chin.
We were almost the same distance away right now as we were in the darkroom—when I was about to lean down farther and do something I’ve wanted to do since the moment this woman blew into my life.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a tiny, wide-eyed, kind of creepy but also weirdly cute animal.” I looked from one of her eyes to the other, trying to discern any visible differences in the size of her pupils.
“Hmm,” Collins sighed. “I’ll take it, I guess.”
“Your pupils look okay,” I said. “But I’m going to monitor you for the next couple of hours.”
“Do I have to keep the corn on my head?”
“Yes,” I said. Collins gave me a pout, and it was fucking adorable.
“And when those thaw out, I’ve got frozen peas to replace them.
” I don’t know what possessed me—maybe one of the apparently many apartment ghosts I had—but I reached out to fiddle with the ends of her hair at her shoulder.
She sucked in a breath. “I’m happy you’re okay. ”
Collins closed her eyes for a second. “Thank you—for going with me,” she said as she opened them. “And for the corn, of course.”
“Anytime, trouble,” I said. “The goose egg doesn’t stand a chance against the corn.”