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When I don’t move, King presses. “Alternatively, you could stay. We could wait three to five months for another kidney to come available, if Otto lasts that long. Kenzi could lose her son, but I suppose these things happen. You know what that feels like to lose family, don’t you—?”
I swipe the pen off the desk and scribble my signature across the black line. As soon as it’s done, I drop the pen and put my hand back in my lap. I don’t want him to see my hands are shaking.
“You’re making the right decision,” he says.
“Are we done?”
He nods. I rise. My heart is pounding. I can’t get out of this room quickly enough.
But I pause with my hand on the door handle. There is one thing I can’t let go—
“Just so you know,” I tell him, “your son’s sexuality isn’t an illness that you can cure.”
His eyes don’t leave mine. “No,” he says, his voice shockingly calm, “but I can remove the tumor.”
His words are a knife between the ribs, but I push on. “Jason is a great guy. And if you spent less time trying to control him and more time supporting him for who he is, you’d see that.”
He says nothing at that. I walk out of his office, feeling as though I’m stepping out of a nightmare.
78
Kenzi
I keep it together for Otto.
It seems like we’ll be here at least overnight for observation. When I’m with him, I try to keep it light-hearted and fun. He’s uncomfortable. Kevin—he says—is being a bully.
The only thing worse than seeing your child suffer…is being helpless to do anything about it.
I wish Kevin was real. I wish I could call his mother up and unleash on her. I wish I could banish Kevin from our existence. I wish I could take Otto and run far, far away and leave Kevin stranded here.
But I can’t. Otto is in the hands of the doctors at Lighthouse Medical now.
He’s strapped into a dialysis machine, tubes and wires churning through my boy. Pearl sits in the chair opposite us, her nose in a Nora Roberts novel. I sit in the chair next to Otto and pet his dark hair back. “How’re you feeling, buddy?”
He lifts his arm, and IV lines follow. “Like a cyborg.”
I let out a small laugh, because somehow, through all this, he still has a sense of humor.
There’s a knock on the door, and I glance up to see a doctor I don’t recognize enter the room. She has a warm smile. “How are we doing?”
“Holding up,” I tell her. Otto gives her a thumbs-up.
“That’s what I like to hear.” She steps inside and shakes my hand. “My name is Dr. Esmeralda. I’ll be your attending doctor.”
“Oh—sorry. There must be a mistake. Dr. Donovan is our doctor.”
Her lips thin, but her smile remains intact. “Unfortunately, Dr. Donovan is no longer with Lighthouse Medical. I’m taking over his patients. Including this strong man here!”
“Hold on—what do you mean, he’s no longer working here?”
“Just that. He’s transferred to another hospital in New York.”
“Transferred?” Pearl balks.
“I can assure you, I’ve been through Otto’s paperwork, and we’ll keep him on track—”
I grab my jacket and sling it over my shoulders. I turn to Otto and say, “Hey, how would you feel if Grandma Pearl stayed with you for a bit?”
