Page 28 of The Broken Hearts Club

After she left, Collie slumped against the pillows, and I asked, “How are you feeling?”

“Physically, I feel fine. Emotionally, not so much. I’ve basically been told there’s a time bomb in my chest.”

A little while later, a man with a mustache and a gaudy tie arrived to talk about financial assistance. I asked Collie if he wanted some privacy, but he said, “Please stay. I’m already totally overwhelmed, so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to comprehend all of this.”

The first thing the man did was hand Collie a printout with the estimated cost of the surgery and everything leading up to it. Collie swore under his breath and passed me the piece of paper. The number at the bottom was well into six figures.

Then he started talking about state and federal assistance programs that might be available. When Collie told him how much he’d made last year, I was sure he’d qualify, because it wasn’t exactly a huge amount. But no, Collie had been right. What he’d earned was just above the cutoff point to qualify for any of those programs.

The man said, far too cheerfully, “We’ll be happy to set up a payment plan. These usually allow repayment over one to two years, but for a large amount we can allow up to five years. Of course, a five-year term would require third-party financing.”

“In other words, I’d be taking out a huge loan, with interest,” Collie said.

“Basically, yes,” the man said, as he closed his leatherbound binder. “I’ll leave you two to discuss your options. You might also consider contacting any family members who might be able to assist you.”

“I’m pretty sure the people who wouldn’t help me when I was orphaned at age ten won’t want to step up now, either,” Collie muttered. The man’s smile wavered, just a little, and he hurried out of the room.

For a long moment, Collie and I both sat there in silence. Then he threw back the blanket and said, “Welp, I’m out of here.”

I leapt up and caught him by the shoulders. “You can’t do that, Collie.”

“Oh, but I can.”

“You yourself just said you have a time bomb in your chest. You need that operation!”

“The doctor said it might be fine for another twenty years.”

“That’s not exactly what she said.”

“No, what she said was, she has no idea when it might become a serious problem,” he said. “So far, I’ve lived with it for twenty-seven years. I get a little tired sometimes, and I fainted once, which may or may not even be related to my heart condition.”

“And every day you leave this untreated, your heart is literally damaging itself.”

“I’m going to treat it. I just can’t do that right now. But I can come back in a few months, after I find a job with insurance benefits, and they can fix me right up.” He looked around and asked, “Any idea where they hid my clothes?”

“You could go into heart failure tomorrow, Collie.”

“I could also get hit by a bus. But chances are, neither of those things are going to happen.” He circled around the bed, opened a narrow cabinet, and took out a plastic bag with his clothes.

“I don’t understand why you’re not taking this seriously.”

He whirled on me with tears in his eyes. “I am taking this seriously, Miller! But come on, you saw the number on the bottom of that form. Do the math! Divide that amount by five years. Sixty months. There’s literally no way. Hell, even if they spread it over ten years, I still couldn’t pay it.”

As he dumped the contents of the bag onto the bed, an idea suddenly occurred to me. It was so perfectly obvious that I was surprised I hadn’t thought of it sooner. I blurted, “Marry me, Collie.”

“What the hell?”

“I’m serious.”

He snatched the call buzzer off the bed and asked, “Are you having a stroke? Do you need medical intervention?”

“My job has excellent benefits. If we’re married, you’ll be covered by my insurance.”

“But why would they cover me, now that my heart condition is on record?”

“A coworker and her husband just went through this, so I know for a fact that this type of group insurance can’t deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. There’s literally a law preventing them from doing that.”

He stared at me for a long moment before asking, “What would we have to do?”