"One more, you're doing very good Caroline." Dr. Young said as he pulled a stitch through my chin. "How are you feeling?" Dr. Young asked.
"Numb." I said, and then let out a small giggle. He had injected my chin with lidocaine, making everywhere from my bottom lip down to my chin completely numb.
"Well we're almost done." he said. He had also given me an IV of fluids for my dehydration. About five minutes later he finished the stitches and because the IV bag was finished he removed the needle from my arm, and taped a cotton ball over the spot.
"Finished already?" I asked and he smiled.
"Come on Caroline," he said taking my arm.
"Oh, Dr. Young, there you are." a nurse said as we walked out. "Are you Caroline Quint?" she asked and I nodded.
"That's me."
"There's a young man looking for you." she said, then gestured to someone. Matt came running over from the nurse's station, but stopped when he got to me, he touched my face lightly before he leaned in and kissed me.
"God, Caroline, I was so worried." he said, wrapping his arms around me.
"Matt, I want to go home." I whined. The lidocaine was making me a little loopy.
"Of course." he said and looked at Dr. Young. "Thank you so much."
"Are you going to be keeping an eye on her?"
"Yes sir."
"Make sure she takes two of these a day, once in the morning, once at night and with food, and these when needed for the pain." the doctor said handing him two pill bottles, and Matt nodded.
"Alright, alright, seriously, I hate this place, can we go now?" I asked. "No offense doc." I said and he nodded.
"I understand." Dr. Young said. "Schedule an appointment sometime soon for a few weeks and we'll get those stitches taken out." he said and I nodded before Matt wrapped his arm around my shoulders and lead me out.
"I freaked out I was when Josh said you were going to the hospital." Matt said softly and I looked up at him. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head, then rested his chin on top of my head. "I'm just glad you're okay." I wrapped my arms around his middle and lightly kissed his neck.
"Hello?" Matt answered the ringing phone groggily. "Hey Martin. Yeah, she's fine. No, she's asleep. Yeah I was sleeping." he sighed. "No, no, what's going on?" I moved a little when I heard Matt talking, and sighed looking down at myself. I had been so tired after getting home I had fallen into bed in my shorts and tank top. I rolled out of the bed and slipped my denim shorts off. Matt watched as I stretched, and then made my way to my mirror. I flicked on a lamp and looked at the clock on my desk. It was a little after ten in the evening. I sighed, and then looked at myself in the mirror. The four stitches across my chin stung like hell, probably because when I woke up I was sleeping face down in my pillow. I groaned lightly as Matt hung up the phone and looked at him.
"What's going on?"
"The mayor has given permission to hire your father to kill the shark."
"Good. If anyone can do it, it's Quint."
"How are your stitches?" Matt walked over and looked at them. "They hurt?"
"Like a bitch."
"You should probably take your pills now." he said looking at the clock. "Come on I'll make some dinner."
"You, cook?"
"Sure." he said and I followed him downstairs. I sat at the bar after feeding Gus who was meowing impatiently at me. "So when did you get a cat?" he asked.
"I've had Gustav about two years now." I said after a moment of thought. "I needed someone after I left the Orca."
"Why did you leave?" he asked and I cleared my throat.
"Because my dad was boating drunk." I said softly.
"Caroline, our entire lives you complained about your dad boating drunk." he said, and moved over to me. "What happened?"
"Your pot is overflowing." I pointed out to him. He turned and quickly turned down the heat under the soup he was heating up for me. Not exactly cooking, but for someone who never cooked before, it was good. Matt seemed to understand and dropped it, we had some food and I took the pills the doctor told me to take. "Matt," I said softly as I thought about something. "The mayor hired my dad to kill the shark right?"
"Mmhmm." he said and I frowned. "Is that what Vaughn was talking about the other day? When we were trying to get him to close the beaches. He said something about me getting a cut of ten grand?"
"Yeah, uh, apparently your father offered up his services for ten thousand dollars."
"Jesus." I muttered. "No wonder everyone's staring at me like I'm some sort of nuisance."
"I don't think that. Martin doesn't think that." Matt offered as he set a bowl of creamy mushroom soup in front of me.
"No offense, but you guys aren't the only people on this island." I said softly.
"The crab point guys don't think that." he said and I smiled. "Not that I really like them thinking about you at all..." I laughed lightly, and then winced at the tugging on my stitches.