19. Cooper
19
Cooper
W hen I open my eyes I’m alone in a room that smells horridly sterile and where the lights are criminally bright. Just as I pull the blanket back and swing a leg over Trinia walks in with the nurse.
“Whoa big guy. You ain’t going anywhere. At least for a little while.” The nurse advises and I grunt as she pushes me back down in the chair. My head spins and my body feels like a boulder floating through space as I lean back. How is it possible to be heavy and light at the same time I wonder as the plastic crinkles beneath me.
“We will go home soon. I promise.” Trinia’s soothing voice sings a sound I can almost see as she takes my hand, covering it in both of hers.
She’s so pretty and her skin feels so soft. I rub my thumb over the top of her hand and her skin is smooth like butter. I reach out and poke her with my other hand to really make sure she’s not actual butter and she turns, giving me a weird look like I’m the freak with butter for skin.
Fuck, I’m high.
“The doctor will be in to review the surgery with you shortly. We will monitor him for the next few minutes or so then you’ll be free to go home. Hit this button here if you need anything.” The nurse gestures towards a red button on the wall before closing the door behind her.
“You hear that? We’ll go home soon.” Trinia looks back at me, patting the hand that is still swirling around her butter skin.
Home .
I like the way that word sounds coming off her lips.
I know we agreed to take things slow but I don’t want to. I’ve changed my mind. I want her everywhere, with me, all the time.
Now that Luna and Theo are out of my house and back in their rental closer to the city, the house is empty and we finally have some space and privacy.
“Dorogoy, move in with me.” I try to say but with the gauze stuffing my cheeks and god knows what else in my mouth my words blend together in a mumble of gibberish.
“What?” She leans in as she attempts to hear me better.
“Move. In. With. Me.” I say again but just as I do the doctor comes in waving a finger.
“Mr. Cabrera I know you’re a bit groggy but try not to talk for at least the next twenty-four hours or so.” I see Trinia roll her eyes and try to hide a smirk while the doctor goes over my care instructions and medications with her.
I watch as she listens so intently and asks a handful of her own hypothetical questions.
“He really likes Pelmeni. It’s a soup with dumplings. I got the ingredients to make it but if he can’t have solids should I strain it or just stick with bone broth?” She asks the doctor, biting the tip of her thumb, and I can’t keep the smile off my face.
I think? … At least I feel like I’m smiling anyway.
I haven’t had that soup in nearly ten years. She used to make it for me anytime I was sick. The first time she made it for me she must have been no older than ten or eleven.
I loved this woman before she was even a woman. Since we were both young, stupid kids stumbling around the kitchen making dumpling soup with snotty noses. Before either of us even knew what love really was, I loved her.
I raise a hand and run my fingers up and down her arm as she talks to the doctor about me, even though I’m sitting right here.
“As long as it’s soft and easily swallowed is what we mean. Nothing that involves chewing. Nothing crunchy that would be a choking hazard or that would be damaging to the surgical area. He is going to be sore for a few days and the meds will most likely make him sleepy, but your Pelmeni should be just fine.” He hands her a paper bag and a clipboard to sign before he is on his way.
A few minutes later Trinia is wheeling me out of the automatic doors to the car that she went out and pulled around to the front. Swatting her hands away as she tries to help me up, she huffs as I stand from the chair and slide into the passenger seat, immediately turning on the seat warmer.
If you live in New England then you know leather seats with the seat warmer is not a luxury, it’s a requirement. In my completely biased opinion the feature should be standard edition for any of the cars they sell north of Nashville.
After swinging by the pharmacy we are finally home. I sink down into the couch as I flip through the streaming sites on the TV before landing on The Italian Job. I’ve seen it like a hundred times so I won’t be bothered if I doze off.
I smell the soup simmering on the stove as Trinia works the dumplings on the counter. “How many times have you watched this?” She asks and by the tone of her voice I can picture her soft smile without even turning around.
The sounds of her cooking away in my kitchen bring me a comfort that has me nodding off as my head rests against the back of the couch. How long later I don’t know but I feel her kiss my forehead and cover me with a blanket, but I can’t bring myself to open my eyes.