She looked sheepish. “So that’s okay, then?”
“They’re his parents. No reason they shouldn’t know he’s been injured. I don’t want Joe taken by surprise, though. We need to let him know.”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re right. He shouldn’tspend much time in the car tomorrow—assuming he’s released by then. I probably would have made him stay home and taken you myself.”
“I wonder how long all these tests are going to take?”
“I don’t know.”
She sighed and looked around the room. Ed looked around, too. Wasn’t much to see. He settled into a chair and prepared for a long afternoon of sitting around, worrying.
* * * *
Joe lay as still as possible while the machine hummed around him. He had a damned itch on his nose, but tried not to even twitch it. The last thing he wanted to do was screw up an expensive test. Would he be charged double if they had to run it twice because he’d moved? He didn’t want to chance it and tried to think calming thoughts.