“Yeah, but you're okay,” I smile at him, reassuring him.
“And we’re all done,” the nurse adds in her usual joyful-nurse demeanor.
Lincoln is given some juice to drink, and then we leave the clinic. We stop and pick up some lunch.
“Thank you for coming with me,” he says quietly.
I have an idea. “Can we make a stop?”
“Sure,” he says.
I take him back to the beach; the place I always wanted to take him.
The car rolls over gravel, and we both get out.
“Bring the bag,” I tell him, pointing at the food we ordered.
He looks around, wondering where the hell we are.
I beckon him to follow, and he does quietly. The seagulls start clouding the area, and I can tell Lincoln is surprised at how low they’re flying.
“You fed these birds before haven’t you?” he asks.
“How do you know?” I ask, legitimately curious.
“It’s obvious,” he answers, watching them like they’re playing in the sky.
“They’re not going to hurt you, Link.”
“Yeah, I don’t want them shitting on my head.”
“You would deserve it.”
“I know I would deserve it, but you can bet your ass I’ll wipe it off on you. These are your birds. They should shit on you.”
For a moment, it almost feels like we’re a couple again. I don’t even know why I brought him here, but I wanted to go, and he was already with me. He doesn’t have to go into work today because they gave his department their respective days to get their medicals done.
So it’s one of those rare Mondays where I can actually sit with him outside of work, which is strange, because even when I was married to him, I didn’t get that luxury. Not even when he was sick.
We start walking toward the jetty.
I don’t go too far this time, just about two minutes until the water is surrounding us. I turn to face Lincoln and sit cross-legged, causing him to do the same. We lay out the food between us.
I start eating, and some of the seagulls land close to me. Handsome is the closest, of course. He opens up his beak and charges toward any other seagull, lifting his wings to intimidate them before coming back to stand beside me.
Both Lincoln and I have our mouths full. Lincoln stares at Handsome. “That one really likes you,” he says.
“Yeah, he looks like you a little bit.”
“What’s his name? I know you named him.”
“Handsome.”
Link smiles, trying not to show his teeth as he chuckles with food in his mouth. “He looks like me and you named him Handsome?”
“Something wrong with that?” I challenge him, biting my burger.
“Nothing at all. Just nice to know you still think I’m handsome,” he smirks.
