I shake my head, and move my limbs to make sure I didn’t hurt myself anywhere else.
“My jaw feels the same, and nothing else hurts. Just a little spill. I was stupid to take such a long shower, but it felt so nice to wash off the hospital.” I’m not sure how clear I am, but Taran still nods as if he understands.
He gently scoops me up into his arms. “As soon as I walked in the door I heard Jeanie screaming for me. I don’t think I’ve ever moved so fast,” he says. Speak of the devil, I hear her come up the stairs, and the unmistakable chuffing noises of Brody following her. Taran carries me into the bedroom while my sister and Brody follow. She puts mywater on the bedside table and roots around for some clothes for me.
“I’ve never been so scared in my life, little sis. I thought for sure you rebroke your jaw or something. There was blood tinged drool coming out of your mouth that I wiped away,” Jeanie says in a strained voice as she hands Taran the shirt she found. Taran lies me down in bed and quickly pulls the oversized shirt over my head before taking the towel. Brody promptly jumps up and lies across my lap, his eyes full of concern as he looks up at me. His tail is thwacking the covers though, he’s happy to have me home.
“Dr. Oren says that’s to be expected until she has more control over the nerves as they wake up,” Taran tells her. Like clockwork, it seems I’m drooling again a little, because Taran grabs a tissue and tenderly wipes the corner of my mouth. Then Jeanie hands me the water and I take a grateful sip. I look at these faces I love so much. The ones that wipe drool off my face and don’t care that I look like a swollen mess. I may not have a whole lot of people I can depend on in my life, but the ones I do have make me feel like I’ve hit the lottery.
“Thank you both,” I tell them. Taran kisses my forehead in response and Jeanie grabs my hand to squeeze it.
Jeanie and I spend a lot of the rest of that week just relaxing together, with her helping to make my liquid meals during the day and taking care of Brody while Taran is at work. When he is home though, he could not be more attentive. After the first week, I'm able to function better and be fine on my own during the day, though I'm devastated to see Jeanie go. Gina comes by with the family a couple of times, too. Ava and Braden lift my spirits to no end, singing and dancing around to entertain me. The Hernandez clan allvisit as well, and of course Alejandra brings enough soups and prepped frozen fruit for smoothies to feed an army. Taran and I navigate my liquid diet just fine, thank goodness for blenders and food processors. I've learned what protein shakes I like, and we both really get into smoothies like neither of us have ever been before. He even makes good on his promise of blending pasta and sauce together with some herbs. It ends up tasting like a slightly thicker, starchy tomato soup and it is delicious. I'm able to speak more clearly the more the swelling goes down, though it is still pretty difficult. I text Taran while he's at work.
I tried speaking to our neighbor when I took Brody out and she had so much trouble understanding me. I don't know how you are able to always know what I'm saying
Not to brag, but I speak fluent Lyra
He really does, in so many ways, and I tell him as much. Taran can read my every expression, my every tell, without me ever having to translate for him. Having someone who understands me so well, and who I understand in return, is so freaking priceless. We're both old souls who have been through some very challenging times, and by the most incredible chance, came across our matching souls in each other. I’ve finally found someone who loves all of me, from my biggest strengths to my glaring imperfections. To think, it all started with him delivering a small parcel next door.
Epilogue - Taran
1 YEAR LATER
“You’re a little distracted this afternoon, my friend,” my patient tells me in a low, amused voice. I smile to myself as I pack away my supplies and throw away my gloves. If he only knew just how distracted I am.
“Sorry, Mr. Weaver. I’ve got big plans with my girl tonight. I’m just really looking forward to it.”
“I love to hear that, you have fun. You know you can call me Miles, you’ve been taking care of me for weeks.”
“You’ve been a fantastic patient. The physical therapy seems to be helping a lot, your mobility has been so much better the past couple of visits.”
“I’m feeling much better, but a double knee replacement is no joke. I don’t know what I’d do without you during this recovery, Taran.”
My throat tightens when he says that, because it’s exactly why I started doing this full time. I love making an impact on people’s lives. Miles is freshly cleaned up, looking good, and getting better each time I come. He always smells like tobacco and mint, which I like. His wifeGeorgia comes bustling out of the kitchen holding a cookie tin with their terrier Scamp at her heels.
“Here, dear. If you have a special night going on with your lady love tonight, you need some dessert. I just made these peanut butter cookies and we can’t eat them all.”
At this point, I know better than to refuse Georgia’s food offerings. She does not play around, and no one is allowed to leave her house without some kind of treat. My company doesn’t allow any type of monetary gift due to ethics, but if our patients want to offer us food or a glass of something (non-alcoholic) to drink, it’s not against the rules.
“Thank you, Georgia. She loves anything with peanut butter.”
Georgia beams. I say my goodbyes to them and give Scamp some scratches behind his ears before I hop into my car to head home.
As I’m driving, my heart begins pounding an out of control rhythm in my chest. Lyra is at an all day training and won't be home for another hour, so there's plenty of time to get everything ready. It also happens to be the anniversary of her surgery, so I knew I wanted to do something special. I can't think of anything more special than what I'm about to do. Her recovery over the six months it took to get her completely back on her feet again went as well as could be expected. Once everything healed, all of the benefits of the surgery have been easy to see. She has had such an easier time chewing, and the joints have stopped hurting. She's teased me that I've had to get used to a new face on her. There is definitely a difference if you look at before and after photos. Her chin is more defined in profile, and her jaw is more angular and squared off. It's all still her, though. She still has those insanely gorgeous,bright green eyes, slightly sloped and adorable nose, and smile that makes me weak.
All this to say, she's everything to me, from her striking face to how much she encourages me every day in my new career. When I finished my schooling, I got hired by a visiting nurse service to do just a morning rotation of helping people get washed and dressed for the day before doing my normal UPS shift. I ended up loving it so much that I knew pretty quickly I wanted to do it full time. I loved being a UPS driver, and I can’t say I don’t miss it sometimes. Being a CNA has become such a huge passion, though. The company that originally hired me thankfully liked me enough to have me start doing all day shifts of going into people's homes and helping them. Val has been so fantastic with giving me advice from her wealth of experience, too. There are challenges sometimes of course, but overall it's so unbelievably rewarding. Most of the patients are elderly and treat me like a grandson, always making sure I've had plenty to eat that day and am hydrating enough. Miles and Georgia are a prime example. Along with giving them their medical care, we have fun. I sing and dance with them, play with their pets, and meet their families. I adore my patients, it’s the interpersonal connection I always crave.
Pulling into the driveway, I see that Ma and Val are already here getting everything set up, thanks to the key I gave them. They made sure to park down the street, though. I know the Hernandez clan and Gina will be here very soon, too. Seth, Sienna, Addy, Mason, plus the LeFevre family are on standby to be brought in via video chat. When I go inside, I'm immediately greeted by Brody and his recent girlfriend Lilly. We brought her home a few months ago when we saw her at an adoption event at the pet store.She's a gorgeous, dainty, sable brown and light tan girl with big eyes that look like black boba pearls. Her previous owner passed away alone, and she wasn't found for days after. Poor Lilly was a hungry, attention starved girl when we met her. No one knows what breeds she might be, but down the road we could look into the genetic testing to find out. There is absolutely some hound in her with her long snoot. Brody and Lilly are now inseparable, and it makes me and Lyra melt any time they cuddle. Right now, they are freshly groomed, decked out in fancy collars, with a sign around each of their necks saying, “Mama, please say yes.”
When the rest of our loved ones show up, we get into position. Everyone else is going to hide in the kitchen, and I'm going to greet Lyra at the door. I don't want to overwhelm her with the crowd at first, and have the moment be just about the two of us, then our dogs. My pulse begins to thrum when I hear her pull in. Everyone shushes everyone else, and I hear Gina getting our far away family online with the video call.
Lyra comes in, her brow creasing when she sees me, no doubt reading that something is up. I give her a big kiss, and murmur, “Welcome home, Firecracker.” She smiles and gives me another kiss.
“Hello to you, too, handsome. How was your day?”
“Same old, same old. Before we sit down for dinner, I have a surprise for you.” She swats at me.
“I knew it! What are you up to, Taran? I don't like surprises.”
