Chapter 24
YOU SCARED ME
Two weeks later, Rowan and Saylor went to the beach with their surfboards.
Saylor had been annoyed when he brought one home for her. He laughed and said it’s not like he bought it, just grabbed it out of inventory.
It’s like she forgot he could take what he wanted in his company.
He knew she was nervous about learning to do this and he wasn’t sure why.
But after having a few heartfelt conversations with Leslie while Saylor was at work, he understood his girlfriend much more.
He actually enjoyed having Leslie stay for the week. On Sunday when Saylor went to work, Rowan was off but went surfing with Logan for most of the day, giving Leslie the house to herself so it wasn’t uncomfortable.
He did that most Sundays anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal to him.
Coming home on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to home-cooked meals by Leslie had been an awesome deal. One he was careful not to say too much about so that Saylor didn’t get upset and think he always wanted that.
He’d been sorry to see Leslie go and maybe some of it had to do with how much fun Saylor had spending time with her grandmother.
After he’d heard what Sandy had done, wanting a sitter to go out to a party, he’d been pissed off and would have suggested Leslie stay another week just out of spite if Saylor hadn’t asked.
But it wasn’t his family and he couldn’t get in the middle of it.
His annoyance stemmed from her parents’ and sister’s unawareness of his relationship with her. Saylor hadn’t shared that, but her grandmother put it out there right in front of his girlfriend.
Saylor was quick to explain why and he understood but was still hurt.
He was head over heels in love with this woman and was ready to rip his chest open and bare his feelings to her, yet he was a secret to her parents.
“Are you ready for this?” he asked.
“I’ll never get any readier,” she said almost sarcastically. “The waves aren’t too high today. I’d rather learn on small ones.”
“Logan will be here any minute,” he said. “Are you sure you don’t want me to teach you?”
Her head went back and forth. “It might be best from Logan. I know you were getting frustrated teaching me to bodysurf.”
“No,” he said but was nodding his head up and down.
She laughed and shoved his arm. “I’m so glad you were honest. I knew you were. Your actions and your words weren’t aligning that day. You were even calling off the wrong right and left arm.”
He held back the blush over that. He had a bad habit of that as a kid and then always shouted, “the other left!”
Not so great when you’re trying to teach someone something they were struggling with and you didn’t want to see them hurt.
But he had to admit he wasn’t so sure he wanted his best friend to teach the woman he loved something he thought he could do.
Logan had been busting his ass about this for a solid week.
“Yeah, well. You still understood what I was saying,” he said. “Is your number good? You might burn more.”
“I’ve turned down my insulin delivery. Did it a few hours ago and had some gummies. I’m pretty high right now.”
“How high?” he asked. “That’s not good either.”
She patted his arm. “It’s fine when I know I’m going to burn it off. I’m close to 300. I just checked. I know what I burned bodysurfing, so I should be good for an hour with less insulin. I can treat some more in an hour and be good.”
“You’re sure it’s okay?”
Everything he’d read said you shouldn’t be that high. But it also meant staying that way for days, not just an hour or two.
“I’m positive. Don’t worry.”
“I’m ready to prove to your girlfriend who is king,” Logan shouted.
They turned and Logan was walking out the gate toward them. Logan had the security code to get into the garage and his house to come whenever he wanted.
“Don’t remind me,” he said. “I’m going to watch before I get in the water in case you need my help.”
“You just want to feel useful,” Logan said.
“Yeah!”
But thirty minutes later, he got sick of standing around. Saylor finally could get on her feet on the board, but she hadn’t fully stood yet without falling off.
She was trying and laughing and not getting as frustrated as he thought she might.
He picked his board up and walked toward the water, swimming out further and trying to catch some better waves. The wind hadn’t picked up yet but would later. There would be prime surfing in a few hours, so now it was just warming up for him and Logan.
He’d ridden two waves while Saylor was still working with Logan.
His name was called and he saw a group of six coming toward him. “Hey, guys,” he said.
“Going to be good soon. Thought we’d make our way down here to hang before the waves,” Eli said. Brian, Zara, Tina, Kyle and Kia were with him. His group of surfing buddies was huge, but he normally ended up with several of these six.
“Sounds good,” he said. “I’m getting warmed up myself.”
“Is that your girlfriend with Logan?” Zara asked. “What, did she drop you?”
He laughed. “Nope. Logan is teaching her. She bodysurfs well and paddleboards but is learning to surf this weekend.”
He watched while she took another tumble, but stood on the board this time. “Doesn’t look as if she’s getting the hang of it,” Tina said.
“She’ll get it,” he said.
“Do you have a few extra tickets for the expo in a few weeks?” Brian asked. “My brother is in town and was wondering if he could come and try to get a few autographs.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Remind me later so I can send myself an email to hook you up.”
“Is she going too?” Zara asked.
“Saylor,” he said. “That’s her name. And she is going to be there.”
This was big. Not just Ava there, but other pros he sponsored.
But they were launching another line of boards.
He was able to snag an up-and-coming pro on the circuit.
A friend of Ava’s. Koah Hale. This was exactly what he was looking for.
Someone to appeal to the teens and college-aged kids.
At nineteen and two wins, Koah was a hot commodity on the circuit and Rowan got him first, thanks to Ava.
Having Saylor there was going to be icing on the cake for him. He’d make sure everyone saw it also.
“Ohhh, that might have hurt,” Kyle said.
He turned his head to see Saylor standing up and walking out of the water.
She stumbled a bit and Logan was right there with her. She was laughing and shook her head at his best friend.
He moved over when her knees gave out and she went down in the water and sat there.
Rowan rushed forward to pick her up. “Are you hurt or is your sugar low?”
She put her head on his shoulder. “I’m really low.” She held her hand up and it wasn’t unsteadily shaking but almost trembling. “I thought I was just cold.”
“What do you need?” Logan asked, his voice urgent.
Rowan ran with her in his arms to their cooler and opened it quickly, grabbed out candy and shoved it in her hand. But the look in her eyes told him this wasn’t good when she couldn’t open the packet.
She could barely focus on him and had him racing toward his house and the cabinet, grabbing the fast acting gel and rushing it back.
Her phone was next to her and he caught the glance that her number was 46 and showed two arrows down with a rapid decline. There was a fifteen-minute lag so it had to be lower.
He ripped the foil top off. “Open up.”
She didn’t argue with him and his friends were gathering around. He hated this for her, but squirted the gel in her mouth and then gave her another.
“I’ll be fine. Just give me a minute. I need to lie down.”
“No,” he said. “Don’t lie down.” He didn’t know if she would close her eyes or pass out.
“Please,” she said. “Rowan. I don’t want to get ill.”
He picked her up and carried her back to the house and laid her on the sectional in the shade. “Do you need your nasal spray?”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to use it if I don’t have to.”
He wasn’t so sure though because he’d read that emergency nasal spray would work in less than ten minutes. The amount of carbs he’d put into her could take longer.
“Anything I can do?” Logan asked.
“Go inside and get her kit. I want her to test her sugar. The blood reading will be more accurate. It’s on the kitchen island.”
Logan ran into the house while he sat next to Saylor. “You were doing good,” he said, his hand rubbing her arm.
“I suck,” she said. “And burned too much energy by being stubborn.”
“I should have told you it’d been about an hour.”
“That explains it,” she said. She closed her eyes and dropped her head. He panicked. “I don’t like the people.”
Shit. He turned and saw his friends all at the gates watching. “She’s going to be fine,” he shouted. “Go on. I’ll be out soon.”
“Is she hurt, should we call an ambulance?” Eli asked.
He knew Saylor would hate this, but he wouldn’t lie. “She’s a diabetic. Her sugar got low. She’ll be fine soon. It’s all good.”
His friends hesitated for a minute and then Brian convinced them all to go to the water.
Logan handed over Saylor’s kit that held her test strips and her emergency acting nasal spray. He really wanted to rip it open and give it to her, but with all the carbs she’d taken and then that, she’d be dealing with a high number all night.
Fuck, he wanted this fixed now!
“Can you test?” he asked.
“My hand is shaking too much,” she said. “See if it’s dry now.”
She had her hand wrapped in the blanket. He wondered why she’d done that.
He pulled it out. It was wrinkly, but dry.
He grabbed her lancet, held his breath, put it next to her finger, then hit the button. No blood came out, but she was pressing on her finger and got a drop. He put the test strip that he’d had in the meter right to it and let it suck up the blood to read.
He was staring at it, willing it to read higher than her CGM that now said 40 one arrow down. It was still dropping but didn’t seem as rapid.
When the number 50 flashed on the screen, he turned to show it to her, his breath escaping his lungs in relief. It was still bad but not as horrible as the CGM was reading.
She nodded her head. “That’s good. It’s moving up again or wasn’t as low as the CGM said. You shoved enough sugar in my mouth.”
He laughed and laid his head on the couch cushion. “Jesus, you scared me. I thought you were going to pass out.”
“I’m not sure my legs would have carried me to get to my treatments, but I would have crawled if I had to.”
“Have you ever been this low before?”
She looked at him. “Once. I was a kid. Not paying attention. They had to give me the glucagon shot. It was a big needle in the thigh back then. Thank God that has changed. Once it works, it’s great, but then I was throwing up and felt worse.
So not worth it. The nose spray is used instead of the shot now, but I hope to never need it. ”
“Me too. I think I just aged twenty years.”
She laughed. It wasn’t steady, but not nearly as shaky as she was. “Welcome to my world.”
“Dude,” Logan said, sitting down. “I think I need a shot of whiskey. I’m sorry, Saylor. I shouldn’t have pushed you.”
He looked at his watch. It’d been about twenty-five minutes at this point but felt like twenty-five hours.
“It’s not your fault. I know my body, but the water was cold and I just wasn’t thinking of that. Stubbornness made me want to do it with everyone watching.”
Rowan knew she was that way. He didn’t need her grandmother to tell him.
“Sorry I didn’t kick them out. I was just more focused on you.”
“It’s fine. Sorry if I embarrassed you in front of your friends,” she whispered.
“Never think that,” he said fiercely. “Ever. This is your health and your life. It means it’s mine now too. I don’t give a shit if someone doesn’t understand it. They can learn or they can leave, but I won’t let anyone judge.”
She put her head on his shoulder and started to cry. That might have been the worst reaction she could have given him. His heart was pounding and he thought he was going to toss up his breakfast.
“Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“For caring so much.”
“I just made you cry and you’re thanking me,” he said.
“Dude,” Logan said. “You might be more messed up than me, but I at least understand why she was crying.”
He looked over to see Logan sitting there with his head back and breathing deeply.
Guess he wasn’t the only one that might not be so good under pressure.
“I’m not upset with you,” she said. “Never think that.”
He wanted to say he loved her, but couldn’t with Logan there. It wasn’t the time.
It had to be special and not done in the heat of emotions.
They were all worn out right now.