Lauren scrambles for her own phone, opening up the text thread she has going with Cameron:
Lauren
Get your ass back in that room… right now!
Not more than ten seconds later, I hear Cam come bursting into the room. “What’s wrong?” he asks frantically, then he gasps. “Papa?! Oh my god, did he turn to look at the camera?!”
“He did!” Lauren replies. “He turned and he blinked in response to an ask!”
“Nana!” Cam shouts. “Nana, come here!”
From that point in the call on, everything erupts into chaos. My ex-mother-in-law comes scurrying into the room, along with someone whom I presume is a nurse because of the scrubs, and somewhere along the line, the call gets dropped in all the pandemonium. Try as I might to re-connect, I’m unable. Cam does send me a quick—uncharacteristically typo-riddled—text, however, letting me know he’ll call me back when he can.
Lauren is so excited she’s practically vibrating as she launches herself into my arms, sitting on my lap. “Oh my gosh, Caleb,” she squeals into my neck, burying her face there. “Do you even realize how big this is? Aaron responded to you.You. This just further proves that heneedsyou in his life, babe!”
I nod, softly smiling into her strands of hair. If that’s truly the case, that he did respond to me, that’d be huge. Reality, however, dictates that this was probably just a fluke, because something like that happening would be nothing short of a medical miracle.
And then what? How do our lives change? How does this change—us?
“What’s wrong, hun? You’re tense…” she notes, slipping off of me, back onto her own stool.
I keep trying to sign everything that’s currently rattling around in my head and deep within the confines of my chest, but everything comes out just as jumbled up as it feels inside me right now. I start and stop, wringing my hands in frustration when everything comes out wrong. With an understanding expression on her face, Lauren stills my hands.
“It’s okay to be confused, Caleb, but what I’m seeing is a lot of uncertainty about how this could potentially weigh on us. I am going to stop you right there, because I am one hundred and ten percent certain that you are overthinking thiswaytoo much.”
“How? How am I overthinking this?”
She sighs. "I have something I need to tell both you and Marcus, and I was going to wait until later tonight, but now seems like the right time. I hate feeling like I'm keeping something this huge from him, but I think, in this instance, he'll be understanding…"
Chapter Twenty-Two
Caleb’s brows pinch, and I suck in a deep breath. “I quit my job as an interpreter.”
“You what?!” Caleb’s expression goes wide—concern etched into every feature. “But, babe, you love that job, I thought.”
I nod. “I do—I did, but I was already in some hot water with the company anyway, since—well, you know—we’ve been a little less than conspicuous…”
“Was it Sadist Thumbs? Did he narc on you—on us?”
I shake my head. “No. I think he has an idea about us, yes, but it wasn’t him. You remember that douchey physiatrist I called out on your first visit there, Desmaris or whomever? No one has said as much, but I firmly believe he was the one to file the complaint against my unprofessional behavior. Retaliation, I guess.”
“That’s bullshit.” Caleb glowers. “I’ll go after his goddamn job.I’ll—”
I cut off his rant. “Caleb, no. We won’t solve anything by continually adding to this pissing match. Besides, I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching lately, and, well, I’ve decided that perhaps I’d like to head down a new career path. I can’t go into too many details, but one of the call-outs I had to go to in the middle of the night recently was one where someone found herself in a similar situation as myself—she was drugged and assaulted. Not only was I there to help her be understood through sign language, but I was also able to connect with her based on my own trauma. I think I’d like to do some advocacy work.”
Caleb just blinks at me, so I fill the tense silence, explaining myself further, “Caleb, I have felt guilty for years for staying silent about my assault because I felt in some way I’d let that bastard get away with it. I stayed silent to protect not only myself, but Brody as well. I still don’t feel comfortable with him finding out that he was conceived during such a dark place in my life because I don’t want that weighing on him, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want justice. That I still don't…”
Caleb’s gaze never strays from my eyes. “You’re so selfless, Lauren. I can assure you, I certainly don’t question your defenses when it comes to that.”
“Thank you,” I tell him earnestly. “But I guess I’ve always felt like I should be doing more, you know? With that poor girl the other night, I felt like I was truly on my way to accomplishing something greater. She didn’t feel like she was going through this alone. I felt like I advocated more for her in regards to her assault than I ever could have by simply being there to interpret for her.”
I gulp hard. “When I left her in the care of her family, after she left the ER, I was immediately put in touch with the hospital’s social worker, who was on call herself that night. She couldn’t be there, butI was. And I was able to help her. I told her I’d assist her inany way I could because she wants to pursue pressing charges against her attacker, even if it means I’m just offering her my interpreter services on the side. I want to continue to help other sexual assault survivors.”
Caleb reaches up and runs his fingers through my hair, a soft, understanding smile on his lips, before signing, “Then I think you should pursue that, Lauren. I think you’d be excellent at it too.”
“The only thing is, the opening the social worker told me I should apply for? It’s part-time, meaning I wouldn’t be able to contribute as much financially as I had been…” I note, biting my lip uncertainly. “There’s an immediate entry-level position available, with room for growth down the road, and the social worker told me I’d be a perfect fit. The job is pretty much mine, as long as I don’t fumble my tele-interview…”
Caleb shakes his head. “Don’t worry about finances. Marcus and I both are feeling pretty secure with our jobs, I could potentially add more with the sale of my house once we get it on the market, and—”
