Without replying, he stood from the chair. Automatically, my arms looped around his neck and my legs around his waist. Instead of putting me down, he carried me across the room to grab two bags he must have set on the sofa when he came in. “Actually, two phones and a smart watch. Some Goldfish too.”
“I don’t need two phones. Did you even see the doctor?” I asked, completely overwhelmed.
“It was the first thing I did,” he answered. “He said he’d be your primary care doc, and I made you an appointment at his office. He also gave me a couple names for some rheumatologists in the area that he thinks are good.”
“You were supposed to see him for you,” I pointed out.
“I’m a multitasker,” he replied. “I’m freshly bandaged and got a clean bill of health.”
He was also clearly a moron. “Being bandaged does not mean you have a clean bill of health.” He was just shot yesterday!
“I’ve had hangnails worse than this,” he argued.
“Let me get this straight,” I said as he carried me and the bags back to the dining table to sit down. “You went out to see the doc and ended up finding me a doctor, getting phones,andbuying a house?”
“Saw Haz’s uncle too.”
My mouth dropped open. “The mafia boss?”
“He’s not so tough. I made him bleed. Twice.”
“That is not something to be proud of.”
“You’re focusing on the wrong part of the story.” He redirected me. “The only thing I didn’t find was an eye doctor, but I didn’t know you needed one until now.”
“I don’t need an eye doctor,” I argued.
Hiro leaned forward to snatch the manual off the table. Holding it in his lap, he pointed to one of the highlighted sections. “Read this to me.”
I reached for the book.
“Ah-ah-ah,” he said, pulling it back. “Read it from here.”
“Fine,” I snapped and glanced down at the words. They looked like black blobs on a sea of white, so I leaned forward a little. It didn’t help. “The font in this book is too small to read from this far away.”
Without moving the manual, Hiro read the paragraph out loud. When he was finished, he said, “I’d rather watch grass attend a staff meeting than read this shit again. Could it be any more boring? Maybe you don’t need glasses. Maybe your eyes are just in mutiny.”
“Give me that.” I snatched the book and lifted it closer. His thick fingers curled around the top, stopping it halfway to my face.
“Read it from there.”
I glanced at the words and squinted and thought longingly of the magnifying glass the librarians would give me when I went to the library.
“You need glasses,” Hiro confirmed.
“No, I don’t,” I refused.
“There’s nothing wrong with wearing glasses. Four eyes are better than two.”
“Is that supposed to be helpful?”
“I thought it was,” he muttered.
I shrank in on myself.
He tossed the manual onto the floor and pulled me in, gently carding his fingers through my hair. “Tell me.”
“I don’t want glasses!” I burst out. “Why can’t one thing on my body work the way it’s supposed to?”
