“My head is spinning so much,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.
I couldn’t help it. I slid closer to her and found myself pressing a lingering kiss on her temple. Her head snapped to the right and we lost one drop to the ground. When she caught my eyes, she looked down again, clearing her throat.
“Talk to me, Jack.”
I gentled my voice as much as I could. “What do you want me to talk about?”
“Just let me hear your voice. Distract me. You never talk about your family.”
“There isn’t much to talk about. We don’t talk.”
It wasn’t that I was uncomfortable talking about my family, I just didn’t see the point. Rose had been closer to me these last few weeks than they’d ever been. I wouldn’t lie and say I never wished to have a more close-knit family, but wishing didn’t change anything.
“Why?”
“No specific reason. We all work a lot, and none of us have time to spare or the inclination.”
“What do they do?”
“My mother is a psychologist, and my father is an investment banker.”
“No siblings, right?”
“No siblings.”
“Why did you want to be a lawyer?”
I thought about it and realized I didn’t have a straight answer. “I don’t know. It was always something I found intriguing. Lydia, my mom—her dad was a criminal lawyer and I used to think the world of him, so it felt natural to go into law. Plus, I’m good at it.”
“You call your mom by her first name?”
“Yes. She preferred that, I think, after a certain age.”
“You didn’t want to go into criminal law like your grandfather?”
“I considered it for a time, but turns out it’s not my thing.”
“Is your grandfather still alive?”
“Unfortunately, no. He passed away when I was thirteen.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Jack. You’re not so close with your family, then?”
“No. Like I said, we grew apart.”
A few minutes passed in silence.
“How much more?” Rose asked.
“Just a little. You’re doing great.”
She snorted, and when more liquid came rushing down, her grip on me tightened. “You have no idea how weird this feels.”
“I can imagine.”
Another twenty minutes passed much the same way. With each passing minute after the one-hour mark, she started to get paler.
“How are you doing?” I asked, my voice coming out gruffer than I wanted.
“Not so good. I feel nauseous and I’m starting to get a headache.”
“That’s normal. You’ve been hanging upside down for an hour now. Do you want to take another break?”
As an answer, she pushed her head up, and I had to let go of her neck so she could rest it on the back of the couch.
I studied the cup as she took a few deep breaths. “Another ten minutes or so and you’ll be done.”
Opening her eyes, she also examined the cup, which was almost three inches full. “When do you think they’ll be able to tell?”
I frowned at her. “Didn’t you hear what the doctor said?” When she gave me a blank stare, I continued. “He’ll rush it for us. Thankfully they can do the test here so we’ll come back tomorrow and learn what’s going on.”
Sniffing, she nodded and took the cup from me. “Your hand must be going numb. I’ll hold it.”
“I’m fine. I don’t mind.”
“I know, but I do.” Closing her eyes, she took another deep breath and bent down again, making sure the cup was aligned correctly.
When her left hand curled around her knee, without thinking I grabbed it and linked our fingers together. This time, she didn’t look at me, and she didn’t try to pull away either. We just held on.
I wasn’t sure which one of us was holding on tighter, but we stayed like that for the rest of the ten minutes and then finally the cup was full enough to stop.
“Okay. Okay, Rose. It’s done.”
She opened her eyes. “Done?”
“Yeah.” I took the cup from her and snapped on the cover they had left us. I kissed the back of her hand, but had to let it go as I stood up. “You rest for a few minutes and I’ll get this to the nurse.”
Wordlessly, she nodded and leaned back.
It took me a few minutes to track down the nurse and hand the cup to her. When I got back to the room and gently closed the door, Rose’s eyes opened. “Can we leave, Jack?”
“I think you should sit for a few more minutes. Here, take a few sips of this.” I handed her the water bottle I’d gotten for her.
She downed a third of the bottle. “What time is it?” she asked in a rough voice as she was tightening the top back on.
“It’s one PM.”
Before I could stop her, she was up on her feet, and almost just as quickly she swayed back and forth. “Whoa.”
“For fuck’s sake, sit down!” I grumbled as I caught her arms before she could fall. “You’ve been sitting with your head between your legs for longer than an hour. You’re not gonna get up and start running around.” I tried to soften my rebuke. “Take it easy for a second. For me at least.”