“Driving a tractor is an adventure,” Adam said with a wry expression.

“But you do it,” Quinn said quietly.

“Have to,” Adam answered. “But I went to an automatic in the truck. Save the energy for work.”

“Come on in, Amanda,” Quinn said. “Coffee’s still hot.”

He had never even looked her way, yet he had known she was there. Adam glanced at her now, turned and left the kitchen without a word.

Quinn got two more mugs out of a cupboard, and handed one to her. “Hayley’ll be in for hers any moment now,” he said with a smile and a nod at the second mug.

“Thanks,” she said as he filled her mug, then the other. She waited as he put two spoons of sugar in Hayley’s, then reached for the bowl herself. Which reminded her.

“What did you mean by bend?” she asked.

Quinn put the spoon in the dishwasher before he looked at her and said, “Just wondering how much function he has.” He held up his own arm and bent it a bit past a right angle. “A stop at a hundred degrees is pretty limiting.”

A stop? Was he saying Adam couldn’t bend his arm? She stared at him. “A... I don’t...”

Quinn gave her a puzzled look. “Pretty hard joint to put back together, the elbow. I’d go for the replacement myself, but after all those surgeries I don’t blame him for wanting to avoid the knife for a while.”

“Elbow?” she said, rather faintly. “Surgeries?”

Quinn drew back slightly. Understanding was dawning in his eyes. “Amanda, that bullet shattered his elbow. He’s lucky he can move it at all.”

“I...didn’t know.” Suddenly, the memory of that half salute he’d given at her father’s graveside shot through her mind. Along with what she’d thought at the time. It had never occurred to her that his hand had only gone halfway because that’s all he could do.

“What, exactly, did you think?” Quinn asked.

“I thought... I only heard he was shot in the arm.”

Quinn drew in an audible breath. “And so would have been physically able to shoot back.”

She nodded, starting to feel faintly nauseous.

“You never watched the store video, did you?” he asked softly.

“I tried, once. But I knew what was coming, and I couldn’t.”

“If you had, you’d have seen Adam go crashing back right through the store window. Cut him up pretty good, too. But he still got up, and fought to get to his weapon with his left hand.”

“I...didn’t know.”

“Who do you think held Malachi for the backup units after I passed out? And probably saved my life, slowing down the bleeding?”

She drew in a deep breath of her own. “I’m beginning to realize I wasn’t thinking much at all.”