Page 43 of 21 Years of Jane
“Take your nap, Janey. I’m gonna call my boss and tell him that I can’t make it in tomorrow.”
Chapter Thirteen
Friday, June 28th
Nolan pulled into the parking lot of Dr. Bright’s office and got as close to the front door as he could. I knew it would make life a lot easier if I just broke down and got a handicap sticker, but I refused to get one. I reasoned that the people who really needed those spaces should have them; not someone like me who was in almost perfect eighty-five percent health and could make it to the door just fine.
He pulled my wheelchair out of the back of his SUV and came around once it was open and ready for me.
I pushed open the door and pulled myself out. Nolan took over and lowered me into the seat. I looked up at him and raised my face for a kiss. He grinned and obliged before we went into the office.
I smiled at Cori, the young and bubbly, raven-haired receptionist as Nolan signed me in. She gave me a big smile and wave as she handed him a clipboard. I went into the waiting room and found a spot furthest away from the entrance so that no one would be blocked on the way in and out.
A few moments later, he came over and sat down next to me with the clipboard and a pen.
“So, Ms. East, besides being engaged to the devastatingly handsome Nolan Ransom, what else have you been up to since we’ve last seen you?” he asked in a faux Hollywood reporter voice.
I raised an eyebrow at him, and he held up the clipboard. It was a questionnaire. He balanced it on his knee and began to quietly ask me the questions on it. I rested my head on his shoulder while I answered.
For some reason, I had been particularly tired that day when I woke up. I chalked it up to the five hour “nap” I had taken earlier in the day. Too much sleep has a tendency to make you tired. At least that’s what I remember reading somewhere.
By the time we were done with the questionnaire, I felt like I could nap again. Nolan went over and handed the clipboard to Cori. When he sat down next to me again, he took my hand in his and turned his attention to the television in the high left corner of the room.
Ten minutes later, Angela, the head nurse, came out and called my name.
“Do you want me to go with you?” Nolan asked.
“Yeah, could you push me too please?” I asked yawning.
“Wow, you must be tired,” he replied playfully as he guided me down the hallway and into exam room three.
I shrugged as he plucked me out of my chair and laid me down on the examination bed. He stood there for a moment, his hands on either side of me, smiling.
The door opened and in walked Dr. Bright. One of the tallest, kindest, gray-haired, glasses wearing men in all of existence.
“Hello, young friends!” he said cheerfully.
Nolan moved away from me and shook the doctor’s hand, before taking a seat in the chair next to where I was lying.
“Everything looks good,” he said, sitting in his stool and glancing over the questionnaire. I watched him lift the second page and glance at me after reading about half way down. “When did you start becoming fatigued?”
“Oh about when I woke up this morning,” I joked.
“Honestly, Jane,” he said kindly, but firmly.
I shrugged, “’Bout a week ago.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Nolan asked, glancing at me.
“Considering what you do all day and what you come home to do, I have no right to complain about being tired more often than not,” I replied dryly.
Dr. Bright looked at us in turn, before putting the clipboard down.
“Do you know why she’s here today?” he asked Nolan.
“Yeah, I overheard her on the phone with you.”
“And what do you think?”