“I’m okay.”

The receptionist grabbed my arm. “You are leaving now.”

Mason’s grip on me tightened. “She’s staying.”

“Mr. Deveraux, she and her friend have disrupted the entire waiting room in a stunt to get her back here without permission. We can’t reward bad behavior.”

“Neely Kate, I presume?” I heard the dry amusement in his voice.

The woman crossed her arms over her ample bosom. “It’s not amusing, Mr. Deveraux. That young woman has convinced half the waiting room that she has Ebola.”

His eyebrows lifted as he looked down at me. “She told everyone she had Ebola?”

“No.” I tried to look innocent. “She only asked a hypothetical question.”

I could see he was trying to decide if he actually wanted to know more.

“I asked the receptionist nicely, Mason, I swear. But she wouldn’t let me back here, and she wouldn’t tell you I was here. I was scared to death. I knew you were getting a CT scan of your head, and I kept envisioning you in a coma. I couldn’t just sit out there and wait.”

He gave me a soft smile. “It’s okay. I’m sorry you were so scared.”

“She has to come with me, Mr. Deveraux.”

Mason stepped between us. “And I said she’s staying.” When the woman still glared at him, he gave her his no-nonsense look. “Or I can leave with her.”

She huffed out a loud breath. “I’m filing a report.”

“You go ahead and do that,” Mason said, sounding angry. “And I’ll file one too.”

“I’m sorry,” I said as he ushered me into the room and shut the door behind us. “I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble. But I had to see you or at least know you were okay.”

“No.” He grimaced as he sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed my hand, tugging me to sit next to him. “This is all my fault for not calling you in the first place. How did you know I was here?”

“Joe.”

A scowl covered his face, then he grimaced in pain.

I turned to look at the gash on his forehead.

“Honestly, Rose, it looks worse than it actually is. Head wounds tend to bleed a lot, and I have a nasty cut.”

“I can see that. Do you really need to get a CT scan?”

He frowned. “Joe talks too much.”

“Well, is it true?”

“Yes, but I’m sure it’s an overreaction. I lost consciousness for a short bit, probably less than a minute, and my pupils were a little dilated. While I’ve assured them I’m fine, they’re still insisting that I get my head checked out.”

“You should be lying down, Mason.”

“Rose, I’m fine. I’ve lost a little blood. I have a killer headache, and my side hurts some. Otherwise, I’m perfectly okay.”

“You are not fine. Why haven’t they given you stitches yet?”

“They said they were going to wait until after my CT scan.”

I hopped off the table and pulled several paper towels out of the holder and held them under running water. “What happened?”

“A car passed me, then stopped abruptly, but mine didn’t slow down when I stepped on the brakes. So I ran off the road to avoid rear-ending the car. I tried to miss the pole, but when I swerved, the tires hung up on some gravel. I clipped it with the left front end.”

“Your brakes didn’t work?”

“They must have gone out.”

I walked over to the exam table and set most of the paper towels down, then started wiping his cheek with the one still in my hand. “And your head?”

“The air bag went off, but I still hit the door.” He reached up and grabbed my hand. “You don’t have to do that, Rose. The nursing staff will do it.”

“I have to do something.”

He leaned over and gave me a kiss. “I know.”

I looked away, focusing on wiping off the blood. “So, why didn’t you call me?” I tried not to sound accusatory, but it was hard to hide my hurt feelings.

He hesitated. “I’m so sorry, Rose. I should have. But I lost my phone in the accident, not to mention I knew what I looked like. I didn’t want to scare you.”

I tossed the bloody paper towel into the trash and picked up another wet one. “Well, you scared me worse. I imagined all kinds of terrible things.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. What can I do to make it up to you?”

I gave him a stern look. “Promise to call me immediately if you’re ever in an accident again.”

A soft smile lit up his face. “Okay. I promise.”

“Have you called your mother?”

“Not yet. For the same reason.”

“You need to call her, Mason,” I said as I continued to scrub.

“I will. After I’m released. Our family has given her enough to worry about.”

I scowled, but I understood his reasoning. How many times had I avoided calling Violet after all of my scrapes?

He was silent for several seconds while I continued to scrub. “With the break-in last night and then our shenanigans later, I never got a chance to ask you how your investigation into Neely Kate’s cousin’s disappearance is going.”

“Slow. We found out some things, and Neely Kate told Joe, but he said it still wasn’t enough to do anything. At this point, I’m counting on his promise to have someone start looking for her tomorrow if we haven’t found her or if she hasn’t turned up.”