It occurred to me that Mai might be the one person in the world who could help him with parts of his life that I couldn’t. “And maybe you could encourage him—encourage both of them—to talk this out. Like you said, men can be idiots. And stubborn ones, at that. They might need a little push.”
She grinned. “I can be a little pushy. Consider it done. And I think I’ve proved plenty of times over the years that I can be an idiot myself. Thanks for looking out for Ben was I wasn’t.”
“You’re okay with us dating?”
“I really am. And I’m thankful you have his back.” She pointed her finger between us. “Are we okay?”
I leaned toward her and pulled her into a quick hug. “We’re okay. And I missed the hell out of you.”
“Same. Now hand me some of those snacks because we have a lot more catching up to do. And no more of this boring stuff I can read in your online bio. I want to know the juicy details. Who have you dated seriously? Have you ever fallenin love? Had your heart broken? Who knows all your deep, dark secrets? The ones you’ve collected since high school.”
I handed her an unopened bag of chips and grabbed some pretzels for me. “If we’re discussing all that, I might need a small glass of that white wine after all.”
“The stories are that good, huh?” She jumped up and retrieved two glasses from the bar along the back wall. She poured small portions for each of us and pushed one toward me. “Okay, fortify yourself and start dishing.”
“I think you’d better have a drink, too, because the answer to a lot of those questions is Ben.”
Her smile held for another few seconds, then faded. “Wait, I’m confused.”
“Mai, this thing between Ben and me… This isn’t the first time. And it’s not a passing thing. Seven years ago, we dated for the entire summer.”
“And both of you kept this from me?” She threw back her glass of wine and set it back down on the coffee table. “I guess you didn’t need me to set you up, after all. Okay. I can deal. And here’s how we’ll do this. For tonight, I’ll pretend you’re not talking about my brother, if you’ll kindly not share any details about his sex life. Other than that, you can tell me everything.”
I sipped my wine, then sat cross-legged on the other end of the couch. And then I told her everything because I needed a woman in my life who could hold all my secrets for me, and Mai was still the sister of my heart.
On Thursday morning,I had my 6:30 a.m. call with my potential investor. It could have been described, at best, as potentially promising, but much hinged on L&M being in good enough shape for due diligence checks in the next couple of months.
When the call ended, I went straight to the medical bay for a pre-mission physical. I’d signed paperwork to release my medical records to Dr. Bond, so barring any red flags in my history, the appointment would be quick and easy.
“Good morning.” She welcomed me into the medical suite.
The space was made up of two conjoined rooms. The front half looked like a regular doctor’s office exam room. The back half contained a desk and leather office chair, a few bookcases of books and journals, and shelves of what I assumed were medical supplies.
“Do I need to put on a paper gown?” I asked.
“Not today.” She glanced through the pages of my chart. “First, I’m going to draw some blood. You remembered not to eat, correct?”
“Nothing since dinner last night.”
She was gentle and efficient, and when she’d filled two small vials, she bandaged the small puncture and handed me a protein bar.
“I’ll run a few rapid tests on one of the samples and send the other one off to our private lab. Most of the blood tests are standard procedure and won’t affect your eligibility to participate in tomorrow’s operation.”
She checked my vital signs and eyes, ears, nose, and throat. After that, we reviewed my list of past illnesses, family history, and medications. “Low-dose estrogen birth control, over-the-counter multi-vitamins, prescription vitamin D. Any additions to or subtractions from the list?”
“Ibuprofen, but only occasionally, if I have a headache or strain a muscle during a workout.”
She made a note. “Okay. Date of your last period?”
“I have an app for that.”
I pulled my phone out of my jeans pocket and opened my period tracker. “It was…” Something was wrong. I scrolled up, then back down. “It looks like it was just over five weeks ago, but that can’t be right. Taking the pill, my periods are like clockwork.”
“You don’t recall missing any doses? Depending upon where that happens in your cycle, it can disrupt menses.”
“I haven’t missed any, and I’ve taken them at the same time every day for literally years.”
“Okay. There can be other causes of absorption interference and cycle disruptions. You haven’t taken any contraindicated medications. Have you had any digestive tract issues, stomach or bowel problems?”
