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“Well, given that we dated for four years, yes, I’m afraid I do.” She smiled at Joe. Not at Lucas.
“Have a seat, Colleen,” Lucas said. There was a chair next to him.
She tried not to brush against him as she sat down. Tried not to notice that he smelled so good, that clean, outdoor smell even here in the hospital.
She cleared her throat. “So I’m here because my mom’s date seems to need a drug fix. These are interesting times in the world of romance.” She glanced at Lucas (damn those beautiful eyes), then told the story of the hirsute nude model, and by the end, Joe was laughing so hard he could hardly talk, tears leaking out of his eyes.
“Oh, Colleen, it’s good...to see you...sweetheart.”
His eyes closed, just like that. Lucas lurched forward.
“He’s asleep, that’s all,” she said.
He glanced at her, frowning, then watched his uncle’s chest, which rose and fell with a breath. Another one. Another. “How did you know that?” he asked, sitting back down.
She shrugged. “Lucky guess.”
“Did you ever become a nurse?”
“I’m an LPN. Licensed practical nurse. I work over at Rushing Creek. There are a couple dialysis patients there.” She paused. “I’ve visited Joe here a couple times.”
“Thank you for that.”
She wondered if he knew that Joe came here alone most of the time.
“So you understand how all this works, then?” Lucas asked.
She nodded. “Do you?”
“I watched a few YouTube videos.” He looked tired. And worried.
He’d never said too much about life with Joe and Didi. When they were dating, they didn’t spend a lot of time with his relatives. There’d been an awkward family dinner in the early days (she seemed to remember insisting on it). Bryce had been as cheerful as a puppy, Didi with that pinched look, Joe amiable and friendly.
But Lucas could say more with his eyes than most people could say in three days.
Then again, that was the kind of thinking that had gotten her exactly nowhere.
Lucas adjusted Joe’s blanket, and that tender gesture...damn. Those were the kinds of things that messed with a person’s head. She should go before she felt mushier than she did already.
“So where are you staying while you’re here?” she asked.
“I got a furnished apartment in town. The old opera house.”
“Sure. Faith used to live there. With Levi. Well, across from Levi, then with Levi, then they bought a house. They’re cute. The apartments, I mean. Well, Levi and Faith are cute, too. You know what I mean.” She closed her eyes as the Tourette’s of Terror welled up again, spurred on by the old feelings that had led to her ruination.
She pictured Lucas in the generically furnished apartment, alone, not staying in the big McMansion where the other Campbells lived. The quiet of the green at night. No dog to keep him company.
“Would you like to have dinner sometime?” she heard herself say.
He gave her a long look, then nodded.
“I’m only asking because, well, hell, maybe you’re lonely. I collect strays, you know how it is. Plus, you don’t know too many people here. But you know me. And I know you. But it’s not a date. It’s not romantic, I mean. It’s just dinner. We get together and eat.”
“Yes, I seem to remember how dinner works.” His eyes were smiling.
Her arm was almost touching his, and she had an almost overwhelming desire to put her arms around him and draw his head to her shoulder, kiss his hair and tell him it would be okay. Maybe kiss him on the forehead. Or the mouth. Or the neck. Or the—
Slutty. Very, very slutty, envisioning sex in the dialysis unit.
