Unknown:
I’ll be seeing you soon, Marina.
Chapter 26
Arlo
A week and a half.
That’s how long it’s been since Rina kicked me out of her house. I can’t even blame her; I deserved a hell of a lot worse. That’s not to say I’ve just left her alone. I’ve done the exact opposite, actually. Trading sleep for naps so I can park my ass in front of her house at night and keep watch. Leaving Audrey in charge of our office while I go Sherlock Holmes on the texts Rina’s sent me from the stalker.
I haven’t gotten anywhere, though, and it’s pissing me off.
This can’t be a case of wait and see. I need to be proactive.
Today, however, I’m on my way to Rosedale and feel more anxiety over it than I want. It’s time to get results of my scans and possibly another round of shots, depending on those results. Overall, I’m feeling better, but the pain isn’t completely gone.
As I walk into the medical center, all I can think is how much I wish Rina was here with me. Her presence calms me, and I could use that right now. It’s not that I think anything bad is going to come back from the scan; it’s just that I’ve rarely had good news at the doctor’s, and that fear is a hard habit to break.
It takes them no time to call me back before I’m waiting in a room, nervous as hell.
“Good afternoon, Arlo. How are you today?” Dr. Vincent asks as he walks in.
“Doing okay. How are you?”
“Really good, especially after seeing these results.”
My heart rate rises. Logically, I know that’s a good thing, but it doesn’t stop the anxiety from hitting me full force. Now, I wish more than ever that Rina was here with me.
“It looks like things are progressing the way we want them to. The inflammation has gone down a lot, and the pressure on the areas surrounding your fusions looks like it’s slowly healing, right along the timeline I would expect. So, I think we should stay the course, do a total of six months of treatment and reassess, but if things improve the way they are, we should be able to be done with the injections for a while. So, three more treatments after today?”
I nod, a little dazed that everything is working the way it should.
“It’s a lot to take in. I apologize. How are you feeling about all of this?” he asks, sensing my anxiety.
“Honestly, I feel great about it, but it’s just hard to believe. This has been such a long-ass process it’s strange that things are finally working, you know?”
“Totally understand that. I’m glad you took a chance and came in, though. You aren’t always forced to stay in pain, and now you can see the results of coming in.” He’s not condescending; he’s just saying exactly how my thought process went. Getting out of this mindset that you’re forced to deal with pain is hard to shift from, but I’m glad I did.
“I appreciate you working with me,” I tell him. This has changed my life more than I thought it would, and I’ll forever be grateful to Dr. Vincent because of it.
“Anytime. Now, injection today. I’ll have the nurse come in and do all the good blood draws and such, and then we’ll pull the stem cells and inject them again. You should be out of here in an hour if we’re lucky. Any other questions for me?”
“None that I can think of.” I’m still a little shell-shocked things are this easy.
“Alright, well, I’ll send the nurse in, and I’ll see you in a little bit.”
The rest of the appointment goes as it usually does, and before I know it, I’m walking back out to my truck.
As I climb in, my phone pings with a text, so I pull it out and see it’s from Oakley.
Oakley:
Rina texted me. She got another message from the stalker.
He forwards her message, and it stabs me in the chest.She texted Oakley, not me.
Me:
