11. Collie #2
He returned a few minutes later with a strawberry-banana smoothie for each of us. I thanked him and clinked my paper cup to his. “Cheers.”
We both took a sip, and then he asked, “How’s Jeannie?”
“She traumatized herself by cutting all her hair off. Other than that, she’s fine.”
“Her due date must be getting close.”
“Yeah, it’s less than a month away. Her last three were all late by a few days though, and—oh shit, Miller! I just realized we missed your almost-married-a-douche date!”
“My what?”
“When you first mentioned that the one-year anniversary of your wedding date was coming up, I told you I’d spend the day getting drunk with you. But then, all of this happened and I forgot about it.” I gestured at our surroundings as I said that.
“I forgot too, which was great,” he said. “I only remembered two days later, when I happened to glance at a calendar. I thought that anniversary was going to be painful, so I love the fact that I skated right through it.”
“So then, I guess I did help in a way, because my medical shit was such a massive distraction.”
He reached out and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear as he told me, “You helped in a lot of ways.” Then he stroked my hair, and his fingertips trailed down to lightly brush my cheek.
I loved it when he did things like that. I wanted to believe he was looking for excuses to touch me, but maybe it was just the human equivalent of petting a cat.
“I’ve always wanted to ask,” I said, after a minute. “What did you see in Bruce?”
He grinned at me. “I always wanted a Ken doll as a kid, but my parents wouldn’t get me one.”
That made me grin, too. “I knew it.”
He thought about it before saying, “I guess the real answer is that he made me feel special. He was the kind of guy who could have anyone, but he chose me.”
“I get it.” I took another sip of my drink before asking, “Do you feel like you got closure after your relationship ended?”
“The answer was no for a long time, but I think I actually got it the day I ran into him in the hospital cafeteria. It was a short conversation, but it provided a lot of clarity.”
Once we finished our smoothies, I told him, “I know you’re nervous about the meeting with your art director tomorrow, so you should go home and work on your sketches.
” As much as I wanted him to stay with me, I felt guilty for taking up so much of his time, especially because he was under pressure at his job.
“Are you sure?”
“Definitely. I’m pretty tired, so I’ll probably just take a nap.”
“Are you just saying that, so I don’t feel bad about leaving?”
I totally was. I had no intention of napping, but I didn’t want him to feel guilty about going and getting some work done. “Nope. See? I’m practically asleep already.” I pushed the button and started to lower my hospital bed.
“Okay. I’ll see you in the morning, and I’ll be here bright and early. Your doctor mentioned coming by first thing to sign off on your release, so hopefully I’ll be able to turn right back around and take you home with me.”
“We’ll see.”
“Think positive, Collie.”
I smiled big and flashed him two thumbs up. “Yay, I’m definitely going home tomorrow!”
He smirked at me. “Fine, be skeptical. But I believe you’re finally getting out of here.”
Miller put on his sweatshirt and slung his messenger bag over his shoulder. Then he collected an empty food storage container, his tablet, and two travel mugs. He spent so much time here that he’d learned to make himself at home.
As he started to leave, I called after him, “Thank you, Miller.”
He turned back to me and asked, “For what?”
“Literally everything.”
He flashed me a sweet smile and said, “See you soon, Collie,” before leaving the room.
Once he was out of sight, I moved the bed back into its upright position and hugged my stuffed alligator to my chest. When Miller was here, I could forget that I was in a hospital. But as soon as he was gone, this place became very lonely and a little scary.
I was so happy when they actually released me from the hospital the next morning. That had been the longest three weeks of my life.
Miller helped me pack my stuff. Then one of my sweet nurses took me to the exit in a wheelchair while he hurried on ahead and pulled the car around.
The top was down on his convertible, just like it always was. As he helped me into the car, he asked, “Is the wind going to bother you? If so, I can put the top up.”
“No, this is great. The sunshine feels amazing, but I could use some sunglasses.”
“Check the glove compartment.” I fished out a pair of aviators and put them on, and he asked, “Ready to go?”
“Hell yes. Let’s get out of here before they change their minds.”
As we drove home, I hugged my stuffed alligator and marveled at the absolutely gorgeous day.
The sky was vividly blue, a crisp breeze was blowing in off the bay, and here I was, riding in a convertible with a cute boy.
This was the California of my dreams. How many times had I pictured myself in this exact scenario?
Although in my San Francisco fantasies, my chest didn’t feel like a donkey had kicked it, I wasn’t already exhausted first thing in the morning, and the guy in the driver’s seat was my boyfriend. But hey, at least we looked the part.
Miller pulled into the garage when we got home. Then he hurried around to my side to help me. I wanted to claim I was fine. In truth though, I felt shaky and was glad I could hold onto his arm to steady myself.
“I’ll come back for your stuff later,” he said. “For now, let’s get you upstairs and into bed.” He entered the code and propped open the connecting door before asking, “Can I carry you?”
I nodded, because those stairs were steep and I had next to no energy. He scooped me up carefully, and I clutched my gator as Miller brought me into the house.
The cat let out a loud meow when she saw me. Then she followed us down the hall. When he stepped into his bedroom, I asked, “What are you doing? I thought I was going to sleep in the front room with the cat.”
“This is going to be your room while you recover,” he said.
“You need a good bed, and you also need to be close to the bigger bathroom. You told me it was okay to bring in some of your stuff from the van, so your clothes are in the walk-in closet. I also brought up your beanbag, but I’m not sure if it’s the best idea to climb in and out of it while you’re still healing. ”
That wasn’t all he’d done. His bed was made up with new, dark purple linens, which matched the new curtains and the shag area rug.
In the center of the bed was another stuffed alligator.
This one was skinny, and about four feet long from tip to tail.
There were framed art prints on the walls, and Hubery Humphrey was sitting in one of two new comfortable-looking yellow chairs across the room.
But my favorite part was the floor lamp beside the bed, whose long, curved arm held a sparkly chandelier.
He sat me down on the bed and crouched to take off my shoes as I murmured, “It’s so beautiful, Miller. I can’t believe you did all of this.”
“I wish I could have done more. I would have loved to paint the white walls, but I didn’t find the time.
” He straightened up and arranged the pillows so I could lean against them.
After I shifted around and gathered the new gator into my arms along with the little one, Miller covered me with the puffy, deep purple comforter.
Then he sat beside me on the edge of the bed and said, as he picked up a remote from the nightstand, “Here’s the best part.” When he pushed a button, a television rose out of a cabinet near the foot of the bed. “I always wanted a TV that did that.”
“That’s super cool, but is the rest of this even sort of your taste?”
“Some of it is. I really like those yellow chairs, and the TV cabinet. And it’s not like I hate the color purple.
But I kind of assumed you’d take a lot of this with you when you were well enough to move into the front room.
We’re talking two or three months from now, by the way.
I want you to stay in here until you’re fully healed. ”
I had to hold back tears as I whispered, “I’m totally blown away.”
He tried to downplay it by shrugging and saying, “It’s no big deal. I ordered all of it online, so all I had to do was set it up.”
“It’s definitely a big deal, Miller. It’s huge, as a matter of fact.”
He looked down at his hands, which were fidgeting with the zipper on his hoodie.
“I just wanted you to have some nice things to look at while you recover. You’re going to be stuck in here for a while, and the way the room looked before was pretty grim.
I would have felt bad if I’d subjected you to that. ”
He’d been willing to do all of this for me, but he’d let himself live in a room he considered grim for a year. That was kind of depressing. It really made me wish I was able to take care of him in return.
He got up and asked, “Would you like a smoothie? I stocked up on all of your favorite ingredients, so I can make one any time you want.”
“Thanks, but maybe later. Right now, I think I really need to sleep. I’m pretty wiped out.” I hadn’t done much, but I’d still managed to drain all my energy.
“Yeah, of course.” He helped me rearrange the pillows so I could lie down and said, “I’ll be right across the hall if you need me.” He took the air horn out of the nightstand and placed it beside the remote with a grin. “Curtains open or closed?”
“Open. I like the sunlight.”
“Okay. I’ll need to leave in about three hours for the meeting with my art director, but I texted JoJo this morning and let her know you were coming home. She can come over if you need anything while I’m gone.”
“I’ll be fine, Miller. I promise.”
“I know.” He smiled at me before leaving the room, and the cat immediately jumped onto the bed and curled up beside me.