‘Don’t be daft,’ Conor replied. ‘You’re sick. Would you rather we stayed and watched you wheeze and cough for a week? No thanks, buddy.’
Finn laughed wryly.
They finally arrived back at Liberty. As soon as they crossed the threshold into the old mining town, it was like a big, soft blanket of safety had been drawn over them. The car pulled up outside Tammy’s surgery, and Tammy shot straight out of the car.
‘You stay right there,’ Conor said, before getting out and opening Finn’s door.
‘Wait, you’re not gonna carry me are you?’
‘You bet I am,’ Conor said. ‘Believe me, I don’t want to. But I’m not having you falling over and making a mess on the floor.’
Being carried into the doctor’s surgery wasn’t actually so bad. No-one was around to witness it, thankfully.
‘You’re a heavy bastard, aren’t you?’ Conor said, groaning with effort.
‘Imagine how much heavier I’d be if I’d eaten a triple meat burger yesterday.’
Inside, Tammy was already wearing her doctor’s coat. She motioned to the bed, and Conor put him down.
‘Luckily, your inhaler arrived,’ she said. Tammy held up a pale gray-blue inhaler. ‘This one is to manage symptoms. It won’t do anything for the cause of the problem, but if you get in trouble, best to have a couple of puffs.’ She held the nozzle up to Finn’s mouth. ‘Breathe in, OK?’
He nodded and started to inhale. As he did so, she pushed a button on the top of the inhaler. There was a hiss, and a taste like bitter, musty orange as he sucked the medicine into his lungs. Almost immediately, the pressure that had been resting on his lungs started to lessen.
‘Damn,’ he said, his voice already stronger, ‘that hits the spot.’
There was a look of relief on Tammy’s face, then, her lower lip trembled and she threw her arms around Finn. ‘I’m so glad. Thank goodness.’ She kissed Finn’s cheek, tears already moistening her own.
‘Whoa there,’ he said, ‘I’m alright. Like you said, it was just a case of getting me the right medicine.’
‘Well, yeah,’ she sniffed, ‘but I didn’t know if I’d got the diagnosis right. And, you know, some people with the type of asthma I think it is don’t respond to inhalers at all. It’s a very good sign that you’re feeling better.’
Even Conor looked a little misty around the eyes. ‘Glad you’re feeling better, bro.’
Another puff from the inhaler made him feel even more like himself. In fact, he was pretty much back to normal.
Tammy gave him a brown inhaler too. ‘I know you said you’ve had no luck with steroidal inhalers, but I’d like you to try this one. If it doesn’t work, there are several other routes we can take, including monoclonal antibodies, which—’
‘Whoa there, Doc,’ said Finn. ‘Let’s just try this for now, before you blind me with science.’
Conor snorted. ‘We don’t wanna be sorting out sudden blindness on top of everything else.’
Finn laughed, but he felt kind of serious inside. It struck him that he’d been in real danger today. Tammy had kept him calm and acted quickly. He felt so grateful that he wanted to grab hold of her and never let go.
‘Alright, brother. I’m going to take you back to The Den,’ Conor said. ‘I’m sure Dr. Southey has plenty to be getting on with.’
‘I do, actually,’ she said. ‘I need to sort out some medical plans and… well, let’s just say there’s plenty to be getting on with. Although… I’d never normally ask this but, Conor, when you’ve set Finn up to rest, could you come back for a moment? I could do with some help.’
‘Of course,’ Conor smiled. ‘I’ll be right back.’
*
Even a single day away from the practice was enough to cause a tidal wave of extra work for Tammy. There were appointment requests from Billie and Angel — turns out they’d caught whatever she and Haze had been suffering from — as well as the blood tests to file and approve.
Also, she had to work out a treatment plan for Haze. She had a feeling that he wasn’t going to be happy about the idea of the yoga, meditation, and stand-up comedy she was prescribing him, but at the same time, she was pretty sure that he wouldn’t be into the idea of taking anti-anxiety medication, too.
It was a tricky one.
For a moment, she wondered what her father would do. Probably prescribe a ton of Xanax and be done with it. Maybe not, though — maybe that was just how he treatedher.