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“Okay. I love you. Kiss me again.” I say. Just in case. I don’t say that part out loud. I don’t want to go into this with negative feelings but it’s hard. If it weren’t for the cancer, I know I wouldn’t even bother with this. He kisses me and can’t help really getting into it until someone clears their throat. He pulls away from me. I forgot others were in here too.
“Are you all set, Cathi?” Mandy asks. I didn’t know she was in here either.
“Whoa,” I hear Fabian say from the other side of the room. She must have just come in.
“Yep, all set.”
“Who is this, Cathi?” Fabian asks.
“This is Dr. Amanda Ryan. She’ll be the one doing the surgery,” I say. He clears his throat. “Oh, right. This is Fabian Mulligan, my brother,” I say, wanting to laugh.
“The Fabian Mulligan?” Mandy asks.
“The one and only.” No one says anything for a few precious seconds.
“You can’t just stand there shaking his hand all day, Mandy,” Wayne says.
“Huh? Oh, right,” she says making a little squeaking noise.
“We are going to wheel you in now. Dr. Desmond is there, ready to administer the anesthesia. We should be done shortly.”
“We’ll grab a coffee and be in the waiting room.”
“Wayne, I love you,” I say. My irrational fear is that it’s the last time I’ll get to say that. “Ma, can you wait a second. I need to talk to you, alone.”
“Of course, baby,” my mom says.
“I love you too, puddin.”
“Everyone is gone. What did you need?”
“I just wanted to thank you. For everything. I know these last few months haven’t been easy, but I need you to know I appreciate it. I love you. I honestly can’t wait to see you again.”
“I know, baby. I know. I love you too. See you soon,” she says before kissing my cheek.
In the surgery suite, I meet the anesthesiologist who uses a combination of medicine.
“Alright, Cathleen, count backward from one hundred for me,” he says.
“100, 99, 98, 97, 96…”
The last thing I remember before falling asleep is a vision of a little dark-haired little girl being pushed on a tire swing by her daddy.
Waking up the first time, all I could see was fluorescent lights, but I could see them. After throwing up several times, I fell back asleep.
I don’t know how long I slept that time, but when I woke up, I could see… everything.
“Look who’s awake,” Mandy says. I turn my head to find her at the foot of the bed. She doesn’t look like I thought she would at all. She’s of average height and plumper than I thought she would be, our hug on Wednesday didn’t suggest that at all. She also has outrageously curly blonde hair. I love her instantly. She worked her laser magic.
“Mandy?” I ask, my throat dry.
“Yep. That’s me,” she says coming over to my right side. She shines a little flashlight in my eyes. “Excellent pupil response,” she mumbles under her breath. “Any floaters, or shadows?
“No, it’s crystal clear. My vision seems to be better than it was before.”
“That’s excellent, Cathi. That may change over time.”
“Okay,” I say smiling. “Is a headache normal?”
“Yes. Very. Let’s get something for the pain and some water, shall we? Your mother will want to see you and I am sure Wayne is about to pace through the waiting room floor,” she says laughing.
“Water would be good, definitely. I’m ready to see people.”
“I bet you are. In two to three months, your general practitioner will do another thorough scan to ensure the cancer is completely gone. Aside from your response to the anesthesia, everything went perfectly. Do you have any questions for me?”
“Nope. I’m all good for now.”
“I’ll send your Mom in first.”
“Thanks, Mandy.”
“You’re welcome,” she says before leaving.
My mom comes in and fawns over me for a bit, then she heads to the hotel. I am going home with Wayne for the night. When he comes in, he is almost exactly like I expected him to be. Handsome with a sexy dad bod. If I didn’t just have surgery, I’d be all over him right now. He’s even got a scratchy five o’clock shadow thing going on. Between my mom’s description of him and feeling every single inch of his body the only thing I was surprised about was his reddish hair and blue eyes.
“You doing okay,” he asks.
“Yeah,” I say touching his cheek before he rests his forehead on mine.
Yeah, I am going to be just fine.
Chapter 8
Wayne
Three Months Later
Waiting for her to come out of that surgery was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. When she did though, she slept for a really long time. She had a bad reaction to the anesthesia, but once that wore off and her eyes were rested, she could see.
