“No,” she moans.
I’ll give her credit, at least she’s honest.
When she pulls away, I finally let go even though it’s the last thing I want to do.
“I was going to make you breakfast,” she repeats.
“Next time. Now come on, let’s go curl up on the couch and eat while we watch TV.” I look over at the couch. “Maybe we relocate to my place, though,” I tell her.
“But we should get ready for work…” she protests.
Before she’s even finished with the sentence, I’m shaking my head.
“No, neither of us is going to work today.”
“But we have meetings.”
“Which can be rescheduled. Today is a mental health day.”
Indecision is clear on her face.
“Come on, Iris, play hooky with me. You know you want to,” I tease.
“Okay.”
“Good. Now come on, let’s eat before it gets cold.”
We grab plates and fill them with food before we head into the living room. With nowhere to sit, we get comfortable on the floor, using her coffee table to eat. As soon as we sit down, Iris hands me the remote, and I turn on the TV. The first thing that comes across the screen is the movie10 Things I Hate About You,so I set the remote down, knowing it’s one of Iris’s all-time favorite movies.
“You want to watch this?” she asks.
Taking a bite of sausage, I nod. “It’s a good one.”
We eat in silence as the movie plays. Once we are done, I turn off the movie and help her stand.
“What do you need from here?” I ask.
She shrugs. “You can go. I’ll go lay in bed.”
I shake my head. “No way. We are in this together,” I tell her, grabbing her hand and swinging it. “So tell me what you need.”
She sighs. “My girl stuff and a fuzzy blanket. Oh, and meds for later.”
I nod. “I’ll go get all that. You get ready to leave.”
It takes me a few minutes to grab all her things, but when I come back out to the living room, I smile when I see she is in an oversized hoodie with a teddy bear that I won her our first year working together when we went to a charity carnival.
“Ready?” I ask.
She nods.
I lead her out of her apartment, locking it behind us before placing my hand on her lower back to lead her into the elevator. We are in my apartment in less than two minutes. I get her settled on the couch before I go to the kitchen and make her another smoothie.
When I sit back down next to her, I pull her into my side and turn the movie back on, fast-forwarding to where we left off.
“Hey, Max,” she says after a few minutes.
“Yeah?”
