“It wasn’t easy. I was in the hospital for four days and then you have to learn how to take care of yourself. Counting carbs, insulin doses, what to do when you’re more active, sick, hormones. You name it, it changes the way your body absorbs insulin. I gave myself insulin shots multiple times a day for six months before I started to use a pump.”
“Something tells me it wasn’t an easy few years.”
She slipped out of his arms, afraid that if she stayed any longer, the tears would come.
“No. My mother struggled to grasp it all while working so much and caring for me and my sister. I was too busy feeling sorry for myself to care or want to figure it out. I was in the hospital a few more times because I didn’t take care of myself. The last time I was seventeen. A few weeks before the summer of my senior year. I said no more. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to worry about slowly killing my organs.”
Her mother kept telling her she was old enough to do it on her own.
How do you just do that and assume a teenager was going to make the right choices that could cost them their life when half her friends were rebelling and getting a drink on the weekends?
“What did you do?” he asked.
“My grandmother asked me to live with her that summer. She talked to my doctor’s office, learned everything she needed to, and together, we figured out what worked best for me. She taught me to cook healthy food and make good choices. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know.”
“And that’s why you became a nurse?” he asked.
“Pretty much. I figured I knew so much health information already, that I was one step ahead of the game. So there you go.”
She put her head down and went back to decorating the tree.
There was some silence, then he said, “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you just now. I’m the one in the family that does or says what I’m feeling. Not always smart.”
She turned to see him smiling. “It’s fine. I bet you didn’t always do nice things.”
“Oh God, no. Elias and I are closer in age, but not temperament. I mean, he’s patient as all hell, so it was hard to get under his skin. Foster, he could get his buttons pushed so Inormally went after him or Nelson picking and prodding. I’d say I got in trouble the most in the family.”
“Because you wanted to be,” she reminded him.
“Shhhh, that’s my secret. No one knows that but you.”
The grin on his face made her match it, but she wondered why he’d shared that information with her.
8
PICK OUR FAMILY
At eight, the two of them were sitting on the couch watchingDie Hard.
Rowan had seen the movie countless times and was ecstatic by her suggestion.
He thought maybe she did it for him, but she got into it just as much, talking about what was going to happen next and why she loved it so much.
A buzzing went off and he wasn’t sure if it was her phone or his. Or maybe it was her blood sugar, though she seemed like she had everything under control.
She pulled her phone off the table in front of them. “It’s my grandmother.”
“Answer it,” he said. “Does she know you’re here?”
“I texted her earlier, but told her to call me when she had a chance.”
He picked up the remote and paused it. “I’m going to get a beer.”
He walked to the kitchen and heard her answer. “Hi, Grandma.”
It’d been a long day and he was hungry again. He was trying to remember the things that Damon ate as snacks.
He pulled his phone out and did a quick search of low carb food, and saw cheese was on the top of the list along with meats and vegetables.
