“Yes!” Susanne and Anja jumped up, while Ulrike got up more slowly.

The nurse nodded. “The patient will be right out.”

“How is he?” Anja asked.

When the nurse hesitated, Susanne added, “I’m his niece.”

“We X-rayed his pelvic region, and it seems he was really lucky. He’s got a coccyx contusion—a bruised tailbone—but nothing is broken or dislocated.”

Anja exhaled sharply and leaned against Susanne’s shoulder. “Thank God!”

“He’s still in quite a bit of pain, so we’ll be giving him a prescription for painkillers,” the nurse said. “He’ll have trouble sitting and maybe even walking for a week or two.”

“Anything else we can do?” Ulrike asked.

“Get him a donut cushion and apply ice for the first few days.” The nurse shrugged. “Other than that, there’s not much we can do.”

“What about work?” Susanne asked. “We’re in the middle of restructuring his store.”

“Well, he doesn’t need to be on bed rest, but if his work requires a lot of sitting or bending and lifting, he should sit it out.”

Susanne grimaced at the poor choice of words and traded glances with Anja, who was finally getting some color back in her cheeks.

The nurse said goodbye, and it wasn’t long before Uncle Norbert came out of the treatment area. He walked gingerly, as if every step hurt, but he grinned when he saw them. “The X-ray tech said I have a great-looking ass!”

“She…or he did not say that!” Ulrike slapped his arm, but her fondness for him was obvious from the way she looked at him.

Susanne smiled, glad that her uncle had someone in his life and that he was already feeling well enough to make jokes.

“Okay, maybe he said the X-rays look good, but it was an X-ray of my ass, so…”

Anja gave him a careful hug.

Susanne instantly missed her warmth against her side. Stop being stupid. You’ve never been the touchy-feely type. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Anja stepped back. “God, Nobby, never scare us like this again!”

“Wasn’t my intention. Ulrike was the one who insisted on calling you.” He gave his friend a little glare before addressing Anja and Susanne again. “Sorry you didn’t get to see the rest of the carnival parade.”

“We had already left the parade,” Anja said.

Oh shit. Did she have to tell him that?

He looked back and forth between them. “Please don’t tell me you went to the café to work!”

“No, we…” Anja studied the floor as if she had found something very fascinating down there. Her face had taken on the color of the paper flamingo she’d made for the store.

Under different circumstances, Susanne would have found it cute.

“I promise we didn’t work for even a minute,” Susanne said. For once, work had been the last thing on her mind.