Page 38 of Breaking Bristol
“Again with all the right words.” A glint of humor returned to her demeanor, and my chest got lighter.
Now. I should tell her now. It would be the perfect time to explain the entirety of the situation. She was understanding about this, but would she be when she found out everything? I wasn’t ready to find out… I wasn’t ready to lose her. Instead, I gave her more words that I hoped were right. “Again with the empathetic grace.”
She tapped her foot and glared at me, but it only lasted a second before she let it go. “I didn’t want to be nosy, so I haven’t looked around. Wanna give me a tour?”
What the fuck did I do to deserve this angel?
“Yeah. I’ll show you around.”
I gave her a tour that ended with us naked in the bedroom, and after we hopped in the shower for a quick rinse, we changed into pajamas and sat on the couch eating pizza and watching funny movies.
We didn’t have plans for the weekend, but we’d figure something out, so I wasn’t worried about a schedule. As long as I had her, I didn’t really care what we did. We had a quiet night in, and I slept better than I ever had. And I knew it was all because of her. We woke up on Saturday and went out to breakfast, and because she mentioned it, I asked her if she wanted to go to the mall that she told me she drove past on the way here but had never been to.
She very enthusiastically said yes.
We’d gone into a few stores where I stood aside and watched her shop. I was thrilled, yet not surprised for some reason, that she favored the stores that held gifts and knickknacks. When we were about halfway through the mall, we got hungry and hit the food court. We both got bourbon chicken, but she got a Diet Coke and I got a water. Not very romantic, but she seemed to be having fun, so that was all I cared about.
“Dr. B! Dr. B!”
I followed the voice to see Luke running up to me. He was the son of a couple of friends from high school. “Hey, Lukimus Prime.” I held my hand out, and he used both of his to hit my palm. “Ouch.” I pulled it away with an exaggerated wince.
“Gotcha!” He jumped up and down victoriously.
“Lucas,” Marie whisper-yelled when she reached us. “Don’t run away from me.”
“But I told you I saw Dr. B.”
She put her hand on his shoulder. “You did, but that doesn’t mean you can run clear across the food court, okay? You’ve gotta have an adult with you, baby.”
He nodded. “Okay. Sorry, Mama.”
“It’s all right.” She turned to me and smiled, but the shadows beneath her eyes told me she was exhausted. “Hey. How are you?”
“I’m good. Marie, this is Bristol…Bristol, my friend Marie.” They said hello to each other, and Bristol pointed at Luke. “He’s adorable.”
I lifted Luke when he tried to crawl in my lap. He was six now but looked a lot younger. “How are y’all doing?”
“As good as we can be.”
Damn. “I’m back now. I told you to let me know if you need anything.”
She rolled her eyes to blow me off. “You’ve done more than enough. We’re good.” She looked at her watch. “We’re also gonna be late. Say goodbye to Dr. B and Ms. Bristol, baby. We’ve gotta go pick up Fuzzball from the groomer.”
“Bye, Dr. B and Ms. Bristol.”
We both chuckled, and once they were out of earshot, Bristol asked, “You don’t have to tell me if it’s private, but what did you do for them?”
“Luke had a lot of breathing issues when he was younger, and he was terrified of his treatments, so it was a huge struggle. Sometimes he’d fight so hard that he could barely breathe, so she’d have to bring him into the ER.”
“Poor thing,” she murmured.
“Yeah, seeing kids sick is the worst. For whatever reason, he let me hold the mask for him, so when I was off, I’d go to their house to give him the treatments, and if I was working, Marie would bring him in, and I’d sit with him in a room while he used the nebulizer, without charging insurance, of course.”
Bristol’s face got soft. “How often did you have to do that?”
“Sometimes three times a day, but he started getting better and eventually let Marie do them at home.”
“How do you know her? Just from the ER?” she asked.