I frowned. “I’m used to doing this alone.”
He shook his head. “That’s not the way this works anymore.” His hand tightened around mine.
I still wasn’t used to letting others take care of me.
“Thank you,” I whispered past the lump in my throat.
“Grace Young.”
I turned and nodded at the receptionist who waited at the door to show me down the hall to Dr. Mitchell’s office.
I looked back to Jacob.
“I’ll be right here when you get out.”
“But you have a me—”
“I’ll be here when you get out,” he stated again, more firmly. “Oh,” he began while cupping my chin in his hand, “and don’t think we’re not going to discuss why you chose not to clue me in on this appointment in the first place.”
I ducked my head to hide my grin and pushed up on my tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek, before pivoting on my heels to follow the receptionist down the hall. As I walked down the hall with my chin lifted, I realized that the fear had lessened. It was still there, but even more palpable was the knowledge that I had gone and thoroughly fallen head over heels in love with the man who’d shown up for me, just to wait and hold my hand when I hadn’t even asked him to.
“I do think that’s the first time I’ve seen you walk into my office smiling,” Dr. Mitchell mentioned as I entered her office.
Dipping my head, I tried to cover the smile I wasn’t even aware of as I moved to sit in the armchair across from her shiny wooden desk. “I’m sure the day you officially gave me the news I was in remission, I wore a smile.”
Dr. Mitchell nodded, the long dreadlocks she wore in a high ponytail shifting as she did so. “You had a smileleavingmy office, not upon entering. And that one was more of a tentative grin, rather than the full-on, happy to be alive glow you’ve got going on. If I didn’t know any better, I would suspect that you’re in love.”
My eyebrows rose and eyes enlarged. “Dr. Mitchell, I thought you were an oncologist not a psychiatrist,” I teased.
She giggled. “You know I did consider psychiatry as a specialty early on in medical school, but ultimately chose oncology.”
I shook my head. “Maybe that’s evidence that youneededa shrink instead of becoming one.”
She let out a laugh that was so infectious I began giggling myself. One of the things I appreciated about her was her sense of humor. She was undoubtedly one of the best in her field, but she had a way of making her patients feel at ease. At least, that’s how I always felt around her, and I’d heard many others say the same. And considering the work she did day in and day out, that was no easy task. I wondered how she kept her spirits high when faced with so much disease and pain. But I didn’t ask that, I was in too good a mood.
“So, Dr. Mitchell, I hope you have some good news for me,” I said once she ceased laughing.
Dr. Mitchell nodded and opened the folder that was in front of her. Her dark brown eyes shifted downward, and she read over the results of the examination and blood work I’d taken as soon as I arrived in the office, about thirty minutes prior.
When she lifted her head with a smile on her face the remaining tension I’d been feeling dissipated.
“Looks good.”
Dr. Mitchell kept talking but I didn’t hear anything after those two words. I didn’t need to. All I knew was that I remained cancer free and the man I loved continued to wait for me in the lobby of Dr. Mitchell’s office as I left.
Stepping over the threshold of the door that separated the lobby from the back office and exam rooms of Dr. Mitchell’s office, my eyes immediately scanned for Jacob. He didn’t waste any time when he lifted his head from his cell phone and saw me standing there. He rose and met me at the door, his lips landing on mine.
“Looks good.” I was barely able to choke out the words.
His lips parted. “Celebration dinner tonight.”
I nodded and let him lead the way out of the doctor’s office.
Chapter Twenty
Jacob
I’m not particularly prone to fear. My profession is to cut people open for a living, fix whatever is ailing them, sew them back together again, and to let their bodies take over the rest of the healing process. I was good … fuck that,greatat my job and only getting better with time, age, and experience.
