8. CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER EIGHT
Warmth seeped back into my bones. I lay just downriver from the bridge, soaking in the rays, my towel spread over the flat bed of stone next to the burbling water. The new day had dawned overcast and chilly at first, but now the late morning sun had banished the clouds. With it went the quiet of a sleepy town on the brink of waking up.
Shops opened for tourists, and cafés clattered with the sound of breakfast service. Across the river from me, a man climbed a diving platform erected atop the rocky bank. Its height was modest compared to the towering Stari Most. For a while I’d watched him practice, admiring his form in every way one could construe that statement.
But eventually he left, and the mellow sunlight had turned me lazy. I’d kicked off my shoes and removed my cover-up from my bikini in hopes of getting a little tan. The bridge arched to my left, and it appeared much higher from down here. A few people had joined me on the shore, but most remained lined up above at the bridge’s pinnacle.
There, the first crowd of the day gathered. I recognized the same long-haired, twentysomething-year-old man I’d noticed fleetingly from the tower in the Stari Most museum yesterday. His bright-red swim trunks reminded me of a flashy insect crawling along the lip of the bridge. I still couldn’t guess what it was he was selling up there, but his animated body language drew the visitors in like bait. His companion today was young, probably in his mid-teens, with short-cropped hair and beautifully browned skin.
I smiled as the crowd’s laugh trickled down. Whatever the elder boy was saying now, he seemed to have refined the art of charm. He was a born entertainer, earning hefty cheers and claps as his voice grew louder.
“Is he going to jump?” came a woman’s hushed question from behind me.
My eyelids flew open, and I sat up, leaning on my elbows as I looked to the crest of the bridge. His red trunks made it obvious he was on the wrong side of the railing. His hands held on behind him as his arms stretched straight, his body hovering over the void as his long hair swept past the barrier of his wide shoulders.
What the hell?
He pulled himself back straight, and his audience responded audibly.
His arms waved as he egged them on more, and I could just make out the younger boy moving through the people, collecting tips or bets, I wasn’t sure. More cheering, more teasing, but then finally he let go.
My throat constricted as he plunged toward the depths. He shot like an arrow, entering the water gracefully with barely a splash.
My mouth was hanging open.
What an idiot!
Clapping from the crowd greeted him as he broke the surface, a huge smile on his face as he turned toward them, raising a fist in triumph.The people behind me joined the applause, too.
I shook my head, lying back and closing my eyes again.
The sound of splashing alerted me that the insane diver was climbing the rocks on my side of the shore. I stayed where I was and ignored it when his feet spattered icy droplets onto my legs as he approached.
His shadow fell across me as he said something in Bosnian.
I pretended to be asleep .
He sat down next to me anyway, his tone flirty as he spoke once more in Bosnian.
I whipped off my sunglasses, propping up on one arm. “I don’t understand you.”
“Ah, American!” His eyes brightened.
I sighed. “How do you know? What if I’m Canadian?”
He cupped a hand around his ear playfully. “Eh?”
His mocking accent was pretty good, I had to admit. “You got me.”
“Do I get to keep you?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
I put my sunglasses back on and returned to tanning.
“Did you like my dive?”
“On a rating of what? Sane to suicidal?”
He laughed. “It is Luka’s first jump today.”
I peeked to see him pointing up at the bridge and his young colleague. Luka, I assumed, was now in the same position, his body hanging over the drop.
“Why?”
“It’s a sign of manhood. If you don’t, you will never have a girlfriend.”
“You’re kidding?” I scoffed.
“It is no laughing matter,” he said solemnly, holding back a smile. “Do you want Luka to be alone forever?”
“Better alone than dead from falling off a bridge.”
“Is it?”
I didn’t respond, turning instead to watch Luka just as he let go.
Immediately, I knew something was wrong. A shiver ran up my spine as his arms struggled wildly through the air, growing ever closer to the pavement of water at an awkward angle.
The diver beside me uttered what sounded like a curse. He was moving before his friend even hit, jumping into the pristine water and fighting against the current.
A splash towered high as the smack of Luka’s body reached my ears. My hands flew to my mouth as I stood, wading into the water up to my knees. I breathed a sigh of relief as Luka returned to the surface. But even at a distance, I could see the grimace of pain on his boyish face. I hoped it was simply from the sting of impact, but when he struggled to swim, my nursing instincts kicked in, certain it was something more.
The other boy swam Luka to shore where I waited.
“Don’t touch his right arm,” I said, noting its unnatural slant as I helped pull him up the slippery slope. His shoulder was obviously dislocated. We sat him down on the rocks as he wobbled, and I scanned the rest of him. Even with his dark tan, his skin was flushed along the right side of his body. There were no apparent broken bones or abrasions as far as I could tell, so I moved instead to his face. The vacancy in his eyes set off alarm bells.
“Luka?” I said, trying to get him to focus. His gaze grabbed on to me, but he blinked rapidly. “Luka, I need you to follow my finger with just your eyes, okay?”
“?ta?”
I turned to his companion, who looked alarmed at Luka’s confusion. He spoke in Bosnian again, and Luka straightened. I moved my finger from one side of his face to the other and wasn’t surprised at what I saw.
“He seems to have a concussion,” I said to no one in particular. “Dislocated shoulder, too.”
“Can you help him?”
I blew out a breath. Luckily, it wasn’t the first dislocation I’d seen.
“Okay, you,” I said, pointing at the other boy. I shook my head. “What’s your name?”
“Dani.” He watched me curiously. “Are you a doctor?”
“Nurse,” I said. Technically . My hand was lightly supporting Luka’s arm by the elbow, but at my slightest movement, he hissed.
“Sorry,” I muttered. I looked back at Dani. “Okay, this is going to suck for him for a moment, but we need to get this arm supported so we can move him.” I warned him with a look, and he nodded.
“Luka,” I said, forcing his eyes to meet mine. “Deep breath.” I pulled one in, waving my hand in front of my chest to encourage him to mimic me. His face paled, but he did as I asked.
As gently as I could, I shifted his arm so it spread across his chest. Luka moaned, but his teeth ground to hold anything else back as his hand splayed against his opposite shoulder.
“Good job,” I soothed him, and Dani gave me a grateful smile. We weren’t finished.
“Dani, can you grab my top over there? I don’t want to let his arm go.”
He fetched it. “What do you want me to do with it?”
“We’re going to tie his arm to his chest. Use the sleeves to go around his neck. Yes, like that.” I searched the crowd as I yanked my bag overhead and slipped on my sandals. “Which way is the nearest doctor?”
He finished the double knot. “There’s a clinic not too far. I’ll show you.”
He slung Luka’s left arm over his shoulder, and we ascended toward the street. Luka was still moving sluggishly, and my concern grew. Our slow pace made the trip last an eternity.
“So, where are you from in America? Is it California?”
I shot Dani a look of pure disbelief. “Really? Now?”
He shrugged, but remained silent until, “It’s here, on the left.”
The building looked identical to the houses around us. I threw open the door, a small sitting room waiting just inside the entrance. The familiar smell of antiseptic stung my nose, snapping me to attention. The woman behind the counter stared open-mouthed as Dani and Luka struggled in through the doorway ahead of me.
“Zdravo, Amina,” Dani said to her, followed by his lazy smile.
I cut in, all business. “He jumped off the bridge,” I said to Amina. My words tripped over one another. My heart hammered as the realization finally set in—I’d just treated my first official, out-of-school, real-life patient. And I hoped to any god above that I hadn’t done something wrong, minimal though it had been. “Is there a doctor available?”
She spun in her swivel chair and disappeared through the interior door. In moments, she was back, followed by a bristly-mustached man. His gray hair had thinned to a wide stripe traveling around the back of his head from one ear to the other.
“Hello,” he said as he entered the waiting room. His kind eyes locked with mine. “I’m Dr. Tanovi?.”
And that was the end of English for the tourist. Dani and the doctor launched quick words between them as we walked down the hall into a narrow room. Dani and I helped Luka onto the examination table, and they grew silent. The doctor checked Luka’s eyes and his shoulder before straightening.
“You’re a nurse?” he asked, once more including me.
“Yes. Well, barely.”
He smiled. “Your assessment was correct.”
I released a shaky breath.
“He does have a concussion,” the doctor continued, “and you handled the arm well. I’ll set it and you can have your clothes back.” As he said this, he kept his eyes on his clipboard.
And that was when I realized I was still only in my bikini.
Wonderful .
“You can wait outside while I finish,” he dismissed us.
Dani and I sat in silence for a while before voices wafted down the hall. We stood expectantly as the doctor, Luka, and a man helping to support him entered the room.
Our eyes met, and I nearly laughed out loud. “Hi.”
“Mallory?” Emil’s accent caressed my name in a way that made it sound exotic. For a second, his eyes danced across my exposed skin. His cheeks flushed, and his gaze fixed back on my face, but not quite meeting my eye.
“What?” Dani said, stretching out the word in disbelief. “ This is Mallory?”
Of course they know each other. I sighed. Whatever Dani said next to Emil in Bosnian didn’t leave much to the imagination. The words were unintelligible to me, but the teasing, lewd tone translated perfectly.
“?uti,” Emil snapped.
Dr. Tanovi? cut through their banter. “Thank you for helping.” He stepped forward and handed me my cover-up. I slid it on, blushing furiously.
“Of course,” I said once securely clothed. I grabbed my purse from the chair. “I’ll go, then.”
“No, wait,” said Emil.
“Yes, please stay,” Dani flirted.
I rolled my eyes at him, but my attention quickly reverted back to Emil. Things had ended so abruptly last night. Maybe he didn’t want to see me again, but his intense look now, even uncomfortable with our audience, made me hope I was wrong.
“I’ll help with Luka,” I offered. It came out like a question, but he gave me a slight nod.
“We’ve got it, Dani,” Emil ordered. Dani groaned but smelled defeat.
“All right.” Dani offered soft words of encouragement to Luka as he escorted him forward, along with one last obvious dig at Emil. Then Dani spoke to me. “Thanks, Ljepotice.” He made a phone with his fingers and mouthed, Call me . Emil merely rolled his eyes, then turned his attention back to helping Luka.
I laughed as I held open the door for Emil and Luka with my foot, folding my arms across my chest as they struggled through. “Don’t hold your breath.”
Dani sucked in one anyway, his chest puffed out like a rooster, and stuck two thumbs-up as I let the door swing shut.
“How did you end up involved in this?” Emil asked as he led the way.
“I was at the river when he jumped.”
“He’s lucky, then.”
“I barely did anything,” I said with a shrug. “He’ll be okay, so long as he gives it proper time to heal.”
Emil nodded.
“So how did you end up involved in this?” I countered.
“I was already at the clinic.”
“Are you hurt?” I scanned him, but couldn’t find anything out of place.
“No.” He shifted Luka for a better grip before he answered. “I brought Omar lunch. He’s family.”
“Who?”
“Dr. Tanovi?.”
A prick of wonder sparked inside me. “That’s a coincidence.”
“That’s one way to think about it.”
My heart skipped. “How do you think about it?”
His head turned, looking across Luka at me. “Too many coincidences mean something else.”
My lips twitched as I hid my smile of pleasure. “I suppose you could say that.”
Poor Luka. He was playing puppet between us, being dragged every which way through the streets, suffering the ping-pong of flirting going on around him. Thankfully, as it turned out, he didn’t live far away.
His mother answered the door, her eyes wide at the scene waiting for her. It was a rush of quick questions and worriedly flapping hands as she tried to help Emil with her son. With Luka tucked safely into a plush chair, she kissed Emil on each cheek. Whatever he said to her had her planting kisses on either side of mine, too.
“You’re welcome,” I smiled. “Did you tell her what the doctor said? He needs to be checked tonight to make sure he wakes up.”
Emil relayed the instructions, and she nodded fiercely.
“Thank you,” she repeated again and again.
As we left, I waved to Luka. He returned it grumpily as his mother began to rather aggressively tend to him. I snorted as Emil closed the door.
“What?” he asked.
“I think Luka might’ve preferred if I’d left him by the river. ”
Emil grinned. “Mothers and sons around here have a complicated relationship. What do you call it? Mother hens, I think?”
I chuckled. “I get it.”
“Of course, for us, we would do anything to protect them,” he admitted. “Nothing is like a mother’s love, even after we’re grown.”
“That’s beautiful.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re teasing me?”
“I’m really not. I think it’s nice that’s the norm here instead of the exception.”
We were walking again aimlessly, simply following one another nowhere.
“Are you and your mom close?” I asked.
“Yes.” It was a simple answer, but the quiet hitch in his voice spoke volumes.
“Why did you leave so quickly last night?” my words burst out without segue.
He stopped. “I thought you wanted me to.”
“I didn’t.” I crossed my arms, staring at the ground. “Not like that.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “You were acting like you did.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I had a great time.” The one exception had nothing to do with him.
“Me, too.” He took a step forward. “Did you know that Luka is also a relative?”
“Really?”
“He’s my mother’s sister’s…honestly, I don’t know, but he is.”
“Big family?” I guessed.
He shrugged from one side to the other. “A bit.”
“Have I met anyone in this town you don’t know or aren’t related to?”
“Probably not.”
“And Dani?” I prompted.
“Is a friend I’ve had for forever,” he dismissed lightly. He took another step toward me. “But with Luka…that means you saved a member of my fa mily.”
“I hardly saved him,” I protested. Dani had done most of the work by getting him out of the river.
“Still, that’s a debt that needs to be paid.” His gaze was pointed, even as his mouth twitched with a smile. “I now owe you a debt, Mallory Roth. What can I do to repay it?”
I fought to remain business-like. “Depends. You broke our bargain last night. How do I know I can trust your word?”
He bowed his head in mock-shame. “I promise I’ll follow through completely this time.”
It was my turn taking a step forward, putting less than a foot between us. “Then make a believer out of me.”
“Name it.”
Memories from our evening’s conversations swirled, and I latched on to the first winning thought. “You said you enjoy nature, right?”
He nodded.
“Show me the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen.”
He pulled his hand from his pocket and held it out. “Deal.”
I took it, giving it one decisive shake.