“No need to even say it,” he reassured her. “Your son comes first. Let’s go.”
A relieved breath whooshed out of her, but Levi couldn’t even find it in himself to feel good that he’d put her at ease. What did single moms have to put up with, that she had even considered that he might give her a hard time about this? It boggled the mind.
“Thanks,” she said. They immediately pivoted back toward the entrance to the park, this time walking far more quickly than they had previously done.
“Listen,” Levi said, not breaking his stride, “I don’t want to pry, I really don’t. But can I just ask, is everything okay?”
June shot him a tense, grateful smile.
“Yes. Or, yes and no. I was telling you about my son Benjamin? Well, he was recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.”
“Oh my gosh,” Levi said, quickly trying to run through everything he knew about diabetes… which was very little. He’d had a great-aunt who had the disease, but as he recalled, that was Type 2. He didn’t really understand the difference, but he didn’t need to ask June for a medical lecture right now.
“And is he doing okay?” he asked. “I mean, in general?”
June huffed a rueful little laugh. “That’s another yes and no. It’s an adjustment. Today, though, his blood sugar crashed. Miriam knew what to do, and she got his blood sugar back up where it’s supposed to be, so we’re not rushing off to the hospital or anything. But he’s scared. This hasn’t really happened before.”
Levi could hear in June’s tone that Benjamin wasn’t the only one who was scared. June’s distress awoke something in Levi,something protective and growly and not at all like him. It made him flash back to his father, who would sit in the hard-backed kitchen chair, cross his arms, and grumble furiously whenever someone had irritated Levi’s mother. Levi’s father was a big, teddy bear of a man otherwise, but when someone made his wife mad, he would sit and glower and make plans to get revenge that never came to fruition. Growing up, Levi had always thought that this was silly. Why had his father gotten so worked up over a patient giving his nurse mother a hard time?
But now, Levi felt weirdly like he wanted to punch… the concept of diabetes? He didn’t know. It definitely wasn’t rational. But it made him furious that he couldn’t protect June from this stress.
He noticed a slight trembling in June’s hands, though, and this gave him an idea of one way hecouldhelp.
“June, let me drive you, okay?” he said, the words pleading, as they approached the street in front of Anchor Bistro, where they had both parked. “You’re clearly stressed, and the last thing you need is to risk a car accident too. Just… let me drive you, and I’ll help you get your car later.”
For a second, he thought she was going to refuse, and he braced himself to resist insisting. But then he watched as she clearly dismissed the instinctive urge to reject the offer.
“Yeah,” she said. “That… thanks.”
“Thankyou,” Levi countered. He felt just that little bit better, knowing he was helping, no matter how minimally.
They were silent as they climbed into Levi’s truck, and the tense atmosphere was unbroken on the short drive to June’s house, except for the moments in which June reminded him where to take a turn. They pulled into the driveway of her neat little house that Levi would have liked to examine more closely, since homes so often gave indicators of people’s personalities, but he would have to do that later. For now, he just crossedquickly to help petite June jump down from the high truck, then followed behind her as she hurried toward the house. Unless she told him to go, he intended to wait and see if he could help her in any way.
As soon as they went through the front door, they were greeted by an older lady that Levi vaguely recognized from around town. The two women quickly embraced, and then the older lady led June into the living room.
“He’s fine,” she said, calm aside from a slight tremor of nerves in her tone. “He took one of those tablets, and we just checked his blood sugar again about two minutes ago. He’s back in normal range. I think he’s a bit shaken up, and he definitely needs some hugs from his mom, but otherwise he’s looking steadier than he was even a few minutes ago.”
“Thank you, Miriam,” June said fervently.
“Of course,” the lady said, squeezing June’s hand. “I’m going to bring you guys dinner… no, don’t protest, June Caldwell. I won’t be able to rest without coming back and seeing him doing better, so I’m going to make a casserole with all the good low-glycemic things that are good for our boy.”
“Okay,” June said. “Okay, thanks.”
Miriam shot Levi only a passing glance as she left the house, a faint smile floating in his direction before she headed out the door. June continued into the living room while Levi hovered outside. He watched June cross to a boy who was bundled up on the couch with a handheld video game. The child was the spitting image of his mother, and he looked to be bearing up against his ordeal bravely, but as soon as he saw June, his lip poked out in a pout.
Despite the serious situation, Levi smiled. He remembered feeling this way as a kid too: courageous when he needed to be, then in dire need of some tender care as soon as his parents were on the scene.
“Hey, baby,” June crooned, her head going to the boy’s forehead. “Scary day?”
“Yeah,” Benjamin said, leaning into his mother’s embrace. “I felt okay, but then I forgot to have my snack because I was reading my book, and then all of a sudden I felt really bad…”
Levi slipped away, not wishing to intrude on the private moment between mother and child. He found the kitchen, then checked a couple of cabinets until he found all the things he needed to make tea, then set the kettle to boil. He knew that tea wouldn’t help fix June’s worry, but he hadn’t yet found a situation where tea hurt things. That’s what his mother would say, after all.
He paused after setting the kettle on the stove, smiling quietly to himself. He was thinking a lot about his parents today. Maybe it was the proximity to seeing June in her mothering capacity, but it was still nice. He made a mental note to call his parents and tell them how much he appreciated them. The primary qualm he had about moving to Massachusetts was that it was harder to pop in for a visit with the people who had raised him.
Levi had to turn off the kettle twice and set it to reheat before June came into the kitchen, a weary expression on her face. She startled slightly when she spotted Levi.
“Hi, sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just didn’t want to leave in case you needed something, especially since you don’t have your car right now.”
