The younger woman’s pale face bleached even more, with a slightly green cast to her cheeks. “I couldn’t. I’d faint. I always faint with things like this.”
“Okay, then you should sit down now.” Alarmed by her lack of color, Anne ushered Rose to the couch, almost pushing her down to the cushions. If she was going to raise a little boy on her own, Rose was going to have to grow a thicker skin when it came to bumps and bruises and minor cuts—and splinters.
Making a sudden decision, Anne hurried to the bedroom door. Parker had started to cry again, not as loudly as before, but sounding tired and stressed. Probably he was picking up some of his mother’s panic.
Anne opened the door and peeked in. “Could you help me out here, please?”
Looking a little surprised, Liam nodded and stood, moving quickly toward her. “What’s the problem?”
She filled him in quickly, then turned to her neighbors. “Rose, this is my friend—”
“Lee,” Liam cut in quickly, walking toward the couch. “Just call me Lee. And who is this fine-looking young man?”
“Parker,” Rose replied shyly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know Dr. Easton had company.”
“I’m not a doctor. I’m a medical student.” Anne spoke a bit more forcefully this time, feeling compelled to make sure her neighbor understood that.
Liam knelt in front of Parker. “Hey, sport.”
The toddler caught a sobbing breath, looking at Liam with wary interest.
“What’s going on?”
“He has a splinter in his finger,” his mother explained, her gaze flickering from Anne to Liam. “I’d take it out, myself, but I’m not good with blood. I thought maybe Dr. Easton would help me.”
“Is it okay if I look?” Liam asked Parker even as he took the little hand in his own bigger paw. “Oh, that’s not so bad. I could pull it out right now if my fingers weren’t so big. Anne’s not a doctor yet, but I’d bet she’s got a pair of tweezers, don’t you, Annie?”
“Of course. I’ll be right back.”
Leaving Liam to entertain the duo, she hurried into her bathroom for tweezers and an antibacterial ointment.
Chapter Five
Anne cleaned the tweezers thoroughly, then dipped them in a povidone-iodine solution to sterilize them. After scrubbing her hands, she carried the tweezers and ointment into the other room.
She was amazed to find both Rose and Parker smiling at some silliness Liam carried on with the child. It never ceased to amaze her how easily Liam could set people at ease, but she’d never seen him interact with a toddler before. He seemed to be pretty good at it.
At least Rose didn’t appear to recognize Liam. Maybe it was the difference in his appearance, with the short haircut and the glasses, or maybe she just didn’t watch cable travel programming. Whatever the reason, Anne was relieved. She assumed Liam was, too, since he’d been careful to introduce himself with a shortened version of his name.
Parker looked as though he were going to cry again when Anne knelt in front of him with the tweezers, but Liam quickly distracted him by standing behind her and making funny faces. Rose watched Liam, too, rather than Anne—probably so she wouldn’t get light-headed when Anne extracted the splinter.
Anne was pleased when the tiny sliver slid right out from beneath the little fingernail. She waited until Parker was in midlaugh at Liam’s antics, and the child barely twitched when she quickly extracted the splinter. She cleaned his fingertip with an alcohol pad, dabbed on a bit of antiseptic ointment, then sat back in satisfaction. “There. All gone. Does that feel better, Parker?”
Parker looked at his finger, then held it up to show Liam. “All gone,” he parroted.
“Why, yes, it is. Good job, Almost-Doctor Easton.” He patted Anne’s shoulder teasingly as she straightened. She gave him a look.
Rose stood, too, balancing her son on one rounded hip. “Thank you so much, Dr.—”
“Please call me Anne.”
“Thank you, Anne. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here. An emergency room visit would have been so expensive for such a minor thing, but I didn’t want to leave it in there and let it get infected, and besides, it was hurting him.”
“It was nothing, really,” Anne assured her. “I’m sure you could have handled it yourself.”
Rose drew a shaky breath. “I guess I would have tried, if you hadn’t been home. I’m working on getting better at that sort of thing. My boyfriend used to take care of stuff like that, but we split up and he left town a couple of months ago. He’s real good to send me child support money, so I can pay my rent, but it’s still not easy being a single mom, you know? At least I’ve got real good child care for when I’m working. My aunt watches Parker for free because she’s crazy about him.”
It was a lot of personal information in one artless outburst. Anne merely blinked and nodded, wondering if Rose was always so forthcoming or if her image of Anne as a doctor made her so confiding. “I don’t think Parker’s finger will get infected. The splinter was in for such a short time and the whole area looks clean, but you might keep an eye on it for a day or two. Watch for pus or redness or swelling.”