Lou wasn’t the only one who had come over to Rustie’s house. Timmy, who was permanently working for the band now as their sound engineer, was there. So, it was Jason and Russell who had come and visit her while she was in the hospital. Lou had sent flowers and get-well balloons, but wasn’t happy that Rustie had gotten hurt.

“Hey, it’s not like I asked to be run into and shot.” Rustie looks at Lou with anger in her eyes.

“We’re going to need to find a temp bass player to play for the next few weeks.” Lou wasn’t happy because he didn’t have a list of people whom he could call. He’ll have to call their manager and see if he had anyone he could call.

“According to my doctor, I’ll be fine to play in about a month or so, but I can’t do any heavy lifting. As for my leg, I’ll have to wear a cast, so I’ll have to play wearing it.”

Jason looks at Rustie. “So, how much hardware did they end up putting in your leg?”

“They had to completely rebuild the bone. I have screws and metal plates holding the bone together.”

“How bad is the scar?” Russell knew Rustie held the guys' attention when she played.

“Not too bad. The doctor tried to keep everything as minimal as possible and gave me some cream to put over the scar when the cast comes off.”
Rustie knew it was going to take time for her to heal.

Lou knew Rustie didn’t get injured on purpose, but just as things were getting good for them. She was throwing a monkey wrench into the works. He knew their manager had a thing for Rustie s well.

“So, how are we going to handle the morning show at WJUY on Friday?” Russell knew they had been invited to appear on the morning talk show.

“We could do a remote setup. That way I can communicate with you guys from here.” Rustie figures it wouldn’t be that hard.

“It would be easy to set up, and I could do it for the band.” Timmy didn’t mind doing the remote.

“Fine, why don’t we contact the radio station and see if they will go for it?” Lou had pulled his cell phone out and texted Carangi, letting him know about Rustie being unable to play for at least a month or so.

Rustie watches as the guys leave the house. Her mother was going to come home early to take care of her. She had to go into the office for a little while.

Rustie takes a pain pill and slowly falls asleep after taking it. The pain was from her leg, where her leg had been hit by the bullet. She doesn’t hear her mother when she walks into the house.

Shirley walks into the house and spots Rustie passed out in the recliner she had left her in when she left. She saw the pills Rustie was supposed to take and figured Rustie took one of the pills like she was supposed to. She heads upstairs to her bedroom and changes out of her work clothes.

She comes back downstairs and walks into the kitchen, and fixes herself some lunch. She figures if Rustie took the pain pill the doctor prescribed for the pain. She didn’t want to wake her daughter up. She’ll make something later for Rustie.

As she opens the mail, she notices several bills in Rustie’s name and sets them aside for her. The rest she set aside to take care of later. Shirley adds a little bit more salad dressing to her salad.

The rest of the afternoon, Shirley keeps an eye on her daughter. Since Rustie was asleep, Shirley figures she’ll get started on dinner for the rest of the family. Her law firm was handling the case against the robber who hurt her daughter. The robber himself was already facing a number of charges from the owner of the house and the police department.

By the time Rustie woke up, she smelled the aroma of food being cooked. She slowly gets up out of the recliner and walks towards the kitchen. She spots her mother in the kitchen cooking.

“What’s for dinner, Mom?” Rustie knew her mother was a good cook.

Shirley looks towards her daughter. “Mexican Beef ‘N’ Rice.”

Rustie walks around to see where her mother is cooking. She saw beans, rice, corn, shredded beef, and yellow rice. The smell coming off the
food as it cooked had garlic and a few other spices she could identify.

“What’s left to do, Mom?” Rustie looks at her mother standing nearby.

“Just to add some cheese. Normally, you add it while it's cooking, but I know you guys like to add your own. So, I’ll let you guys do that at the table.” Shirley knew her family liked adding their cheese.

“Cool.” Rustie grabs a juice bottle out of the refrigerator.

“So, how did things go with your meeting?” Shirley knew the rest of the band came over.

“Lou’s being an ass. He’s a little disappointed that he has to find someone to cover for me.”

“Well, you can’t play in the condition you're in, and I wouldn’t let you try. Maybe you have recovered for a month. I might.” Shirley wasn’t going to let Rustie travel and play in her current condition.

“I know, Mom. Still, it sucks that I got injured, and after I recovered from being hurt the last time.” Rustie wonders if she was bad luck.

“I know, baby.” Shirley knew Rustie hated being hurt.

“What else did you guys talk about?” Shirley remembers the band visiting Rustie while she was in the hospital, except for Lou.

“We have a morning show that we're supposed to be on, on Friday.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Shirley looks at Rustie for an answer.

“We’re talking about doing a remote unit. Timmy says that he can do it, so hopefully, the production manager will go for it.”

“I think he’ll approve, once he learns what condition you are in.” Shirley knew Rustie wasn’t in any condition to leave the house.

“I hope so.” Rustie just watches her mother as she moves around in the kitchen.