Sam looked up to see nurse Janice walking into the room, a small, knowing smile on her face. She stationed herself on Barry’s other side, opposite Sam and Ollie, and started fiddling with one of the monitors as Ollie’s arm wrapped supportively around Sam’s shoulders.
“After the surgery Barry just had, it’s completely normal for his blood pressure to be a bit high. Usually we’ll see it come back to normal range within twelve to twenty-four hours, and his is already on the way down,” Janice explained, keeping her voice appropriately low.
“Ahh, I see. Um, thank you, I...” Sam didn’t know what else to say, and so he just turned back to his uncle, watching again as Barry’s chest rose and fell steadily.
“Barry’s lucky to have all of you here with him. Not everyone has that much support, you know,” Janice said.
“We’re glad to be here,” Ollie said, and Sam nodded in agreement, but he didn’t take his eyes off his uncle.
They hadn’t yet talked about what was going to happen over the next few days and weeks, and Sam was almost dreading the conversation. He’d already come to the decision that he couldn’t leave... not yet. Not until he knew that Barry was home and settled and well on his way to recovery. His sister would help, of course, but she had a demanding full-time job and definitely couldn’t handle everything on her own. They also couldn’t rely on Sam’s parents.
He would have to stay. But that could mean... weeks. Weeks away from home, from his job, from... his boyfriend. And he and Ollie hadn’t ever been apart that long. In fact, he was pretty sure they hadn’t gone more than a couple of days without seeing each other since they’d first met.
On top of all that, this was probably just about the worst time of year for him to be even considering being apart from Ollie. It was almost September, which meant that it was almost October, which meant...
“He’s doing very well. He really is recovering well. And he’s a strong man, hewantsto recover,wantsto be independent,” Janice continued, pulling Sam back to the present.
He cleared his throat quietly as he looked up at her, nodding. She was right, of course. Barry had always, always been independent, impatient, stubborn. Sam almost laughed as he realized Barry’s stubbornness might even be... sort of to blame for all of this. “His kidney issues, were they related to—I mean, maybe why he had the heart attack in the first place? I... should probably talk to Jaz, but...” He trailed off, and the nurse gave him another of her kind smiles.
“From my understanding—and he’s given us permission to speak with you and Jaz about all of this, so I’m not violating his privacy, mind you—from my understanding, yes. That’s what Dr. Gallard suspects. The damage to his kidneys from the severe infection he had—what was it, five or six years ago?—that’s likely the reason he has hypertension and could very well have been the cause of the heart attack and damage to his blood vessels. From his medical history, and from speaking with Jaz, he seems to have a fairly healthy lifestyle—eats well and is active.”
A soft knock came at the door, and a young woman poked her head in.
“Sorry, Janice, but can I speak with you for a moment?” the woman asked.
Janice nodded. “Yep, of course.” She turned to Sam and Ollie again. “I’ll be back in a bit. Just hit that red button on the wall there if you need anything.”
“Thanks, Janice,” Ollie said, squeezing Sam’s hand as though he just knew how much Sam was working to hold himself together right now.
The nurse left, and Ollie leaned against Sam’s shoulder as Sam reached forward and took his uncle’s hand one more time.
After a few minutes of silence, Sam let out a short breath. “That kidney infection... it was bad. I was... still living with him then. It was about two and a half, three years or so before I moved to Kansas,” he explained, keeping his voice low still. “He was... God, he was so stubborn. Herefusedto go see a doctor because he had, I dunno, an exam to prepare for the class he was teaching, or—or something. I think that was it. Said he’d go after... finals, I think it was? For the fall semester.”
“He teaches math?”
Sam nodded. “Yeah. At the time, he was at Tufts, teaching calculus and differential geometry. Just last year, I think I told you, he moved to—”
“—MIT, right,” Ollie cut in.
“Yeah. Anyway, um, his—”
“—my refusal to go to the doctor led to me nearly giving Sam here a heart attack of his own,” Barry said. He coughed lightly and then grinned as Sam and Ollie both looked up at him. “I passed out from the pain while at my computer, and...”
Despite everything, Sam smiled, so happy to hear his uncle’s voice again. He squeezed Barry’s hand. “And I had to call an ambulance to come, and you had to miss giving your students the exam anyway because you were stuck in the hospital for several days.” Sam shook his head. “Stubborn old man.”
Barry’s smile softened as he blinked several times, glancing back and forth from Sam to Ollie. His eyes finally settled on Sam again, and Sam saw in them a deep regret. Barry frowned and let out a short breath.
“I am sorry about that, kiddo. I should have listened to you then. And I should have listened to Jaz this time. She... she’d wanted me to come get checked out, but... I had things to do. You’d think... I’d have learned my lesson. Yet, here we are.”
Sam felt Ollie’s hand slip down his back a bit, rubbing soothingly, and he glanced at Ollie, who just smiled encouragingly. It should have been reassuring, seeing all the love and support in Ollie’s eyes. But instead, Sam was hit with a twinge of guilt at the reminder that Ollie didn’t know his plans to stay yet. God, they really needed to talk. He swallowed tightly, forced a weak smile, and then tried to reset himself as he turned back to Barry.
“This definitely isn’t how I imagined introducing you to my boyfriend, Barry. Totally unacceptable,” he teased, and he saw his uncle’s eyes light up with amusement. Sam took a deep breath and then scooted his chair just a little closer to his uncle’s bed. “Seriously, though, I’m... really, really happy to be here and see you. I... missed you a lot.”
“Me too, kiddo. Me too.”
Chapter 19
Ollie flipped the light switch on and stepped through the narrow entryway into the cozy hotel room. The single king-size bed took up most of the floor space, but he was glad to see there was also a desk—he needed to do a little work tonight before he went to bed—and that the room seemed comfortable enough. It certainly hadn’t been cheap. In fact, he’d been lucky to find anything within a few-mile radius of the hospital, since there was apparently some huge convention going on almost all week long. But he figured they’d likely be on their way back home before the week was up, so he hadn’t really been concerned with the cost.
