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sister.
    Sophia was talking on her phone, and waved her into silence. The part-skim half-caff macchiato with the shot of regular caramel syrup and sugar-free vanilla syrup which she’d just had to have was not quite as important as her phone call, apparently.
    Grace was tempted to place it on the bedside table and leave the table where it was, at the foot of the bed. Sophia would need her then. She’d have to interrupt her phone call with Deezee to ask Grace to roll the table closer.
    Immediately, Grace admonished herself for being such a baby. What kind of sister would even think of placing something where a person with a broken leg couldn’t reach it?
    â€œYou asked to see me?” Dr. Gregory entered their little curtained cubicle and stood at the foot of Sophia’s gurney, next to Grace.
    Grace put the coffee down. She wasn’t normally klutzy, but she felt a little flutter now that Dr. Gregory was here, so it was better not to be holding a scalding-hot beverage.
    Really, she needed to squelch this little Clark Kent crush. The man was on the job, caring for a battered woman somewhere else. Caring for her own injured sister, too, and who knew how many other people who were sick and in pain. Yet she felt a little buzz of excitement that he was here, despite knowing that her sister shouldn’t have demanded to see him.
    â€œThe doctor decided to finally show up,” Sophia said into her phone. “Yeah, tell me about it.”
    Grace stole a glance at Dr. Gregory. He pushed his glasses up with one knuckle. He had a perfectly neutral poker face in place, but Grace had the fanciful thought that the move meant he was ready for battle.
    Sophia took the phone away from her ear and pointed it at the doctor accusingly. “I heard them talking next door. You know what they said?”
    Grace held her breath. What had she missed while she’d been looking for gourmet coffee? The horrible Mr. Burns must have returned. Or perhaps Mrs. Burns had decided to unburden herself to a nurse, and Sophia had overheard everything.
    â€œYour janitor told another janitor to take the patient’s belongings to room three. That patient is getting a room? Seriously? When I’ve been waiting here with nothing but curtains all this time?”
    Grace interceded before Sophia could make a fool of herself. “Sophia, it’s okay.”
    â€œNo, it is not. I was here first. She got taken for an X-ray before me, and now she gets a goddamned room before me.”
    â€œSophie,” Grace begged quietly. “The cursing.”
    â€œ Goddamn won’t even get you a PG-13 rating.” Sophie pinned the doctor with her glare. Really, it was a sneer. Grace hated to see Sophie sneering like that. If she could take a photo, make Sophie see...
    â€œI demand a private room, for obvious reasons.”
    â€œThere are none available.” Dr. Gregory didn’t sound upset or intimidated by Sophia’s behavior at all, not like Grace was.
    Sophia must have heard that almost bored note in his voice, too, because she hesitated, just for a second, in the middle of ramping herself up for a good old-fashioned hissy fit. She gave it a go, anyway. “Even if I didn’t need extra privacy, which you know I do, I should have been next. I’ve been waiting longer.”
    â€œThat’s not the way it works in a hospital. She needs the room more than you do, and there are patients who require my presence right now more than you do.” He stepped back and grabbed the curtain, ready to leave. “Was there anything else?”
    â€œMore than I do?” Sophia’s voice was getting high-pitched in her outrage. “I suppose you decide that?”
    â€œI do.”
    Grace felt a little chill go down her spine at the quiet confidence in those words. She looked at Dr. Gregory again, at his calm profile, his unwavering gaze.
    He can handle anything. He can handle Mr. Burns. He can handle my