by Jenny Wood
A couple of hours of a lazy morning at home, Lennon and I went to the shop. Morgan swung by and picked her up, and I got to work, promising I’d see them later tonight. When I dropped her off at daycare, she’d cry and scream after me; it used to break my heart. Now, the minute one of her new uncles asked her to go bye-bye, she’d wave and head for the door. It shouldn’t have, but that broke my heart too, but in the best way.
I had two appointments today, and both were relatively timely pieces. One outline of an arm piece and another chest and shoulder piece. I took pride in my work, I was one of the best portrait inkers in the state of Georgia, rivaling only my co-worker, Kingsley. Still, I was good, so it didn’t take me long to gain a small and growing reputation. The guys respected my work, and I liked that they considered me part of their crew. I felt at home here and welcome because of them.
“Hello?” My phone rang mid-shoulder/chest piece. I wouldn’t have let it go to voicemail, but I glanced over and saw that it was Morgan calling. He obviously knew that I was working, so, something had to be wrong. I needed to make sure that everything was okay with Lennon.
“Hey, Finn. Everything’s okay, but Lenny girl, here, is running a slight fever and I just fed her those puff things she likes, not many, about a handful and the first drink of juice she took, she threw up. I mean, not just spit-up, but like…exorcist throw up. I gave her the baby medicine, and although she’s a little fussy, her fever went down a bit, but I just wanted to let you know.” Morgan rambles. He’s trying to sound calm, I can tell; unfortunately, his panic is showing through his long but rapid explanation.
“Okay, do you think we should take her to the clinic? We don’t have a doctor here, yet.” I ask as I’m thinking out loud.
“I mean, kids get sick, right? It doesn’t seem like anything terrible. I’m sure it’s not emergency room sickness, is it?” He asks, worriedly, like I’ll have a clue. While it’s true I’ve been doing this dad thing for a couple of years now, as I said before, I’m still learning as I go.
“I’m not sure, should I google it?” I turn my gun off and ask. I take off my gloves that I would’ve replaced before restarting and apologized to my client. “It’s about my daughter; I’ll just be a sec, do you wanna take a break for a few minutes?” I ask, and the young lady agrees.
“I already did. I wouldn’t advise it. I’m pretty sure it’ll tell you everything from a simple infection to prostate cancer… she doesn’t even have a prostate; it’ll just scare you!” He almost squeaks. I can’t help but scoff at his warning, I already knew about those doctor sites, I try to stay away from them. Why is everything, always cancer!? Earache? Cancer. Stomach ache? Could be cancer. Long menstrual period, probably cancer! I didn’t fancy myself a hypochondriac until I started looking things up on the internet. I was convinced we were all going to die within days of a stubbed toe, from blood clots, gangrene, and infection. I’ve learned my lesson.
“How about I check her temp again in about a half-hour, and I’ll see if I can’t get her to drink some water; if it gets worse, I’ll meet you over at the clinic?” He suggests. I have about a half-hour-forty-five minutes left on this outline, so I agree. Hopefully, it’s nothing, but if she’s not doing any better, I’ll just reschedule my next appointment that’s a couple of hours after this one, and we’ll see what’s what. Better to be safe than to be sorry. I apologize to my client, and she fully understands, having three children, herself, her stories keep me distracted until we finish.
Hey, Kayse, that was Morgan. He says Lennon is running a fever and throwing up, has been for about an hour. Would it be okay if I checked out early and ran her to the ER? I just want to make sure it isn’t anything to worry about; he says now that Kingsley’s home, even he can’t get her to stop fussing. I hate not being with her when she isn’t feeling good.” I explain and hope he has mercy on me. I know I’m still the new guy and this will technically be the second time I need time off for something baby related. About a week after moving here, Lennon caught her little toes on a frayed piece of carpet in the hallway and bumped her head pretty good. She’s just learned that running is fun when you have bouncy hair, but it’s also dangerous when it’s not pulled up because it gets in her eyes and she can’t see where she’s running. Hence, head-bounced-off-wall.
Kids get bumps and bruises, I know this, but head injuries are no joke. And I know these guys don’t have children yet, so I wasn’t sure how empathetic they’d be to my situation. Sometimes, people who don’t have children, don’t understand that literally everything else comes second to being a parent. Your child will always come first, no matter how many clients I have or how important I know that they are. Luckily, the Kennedy’s understand that too.
“Of course! You should’ve said something earlier; someone would've taken over for you. Go, make sure everything is okay.” Kayson tells me, and I’ll be damned if he doesn’t look just as worried as I feel. I knew these guys were good guys, I’d heard of their reputation for as long as I’ve been inking. I never dreamed they’d adopt us into their little fold and all but adopt my little girl as their honorary niece or something. They do that, though. I shouldn’t have been surprised; between Jody, Jase, Joker, and their partners; blood couldn't make them any thicker. Now, they’ve engulfed my baby and me into all that familial goodness. For someone who doesn’t have anyone but the baby they inherited, that family means the world.
“I really appreciate it, Kayse. Thank you.” I shake his hand and gather up my things. I text Morgan on my way out, and he tells me that he’ll just meet us at the emergency since the walk-in clinic closes at five. Since it’s a little bit closer than their house, I agree. Within ten minutes, I walk in and find that they’re not only there, but they’ve also already been given a triage room.
“I’m here for Lennon Finnley. My babysitter brought her in; they said she’s already in a room.” I tell the tired looking, middle aged woman at the admittance desk.
“Oh yes, beautiful little girl. Come with me.” She smiles and ushers me down the hallway, “The doctor is a little behind, we apologize, but someone will be here in just a minute.” She says and opens the curtain. I can hear my girl whimpering and humming like she does when she tries to fight sleep.
“Daddy’s here, Lenny, look,” Morgan says to her and turns her my way. Her little head is resting on his shoulder, and she’s wrapped up tight in a blanket with her baby.
“Hey, baby girl,” I say softly as she reaches for me. Her little head falls right to my shoulder, and her little chubby arm wraps halfway around one side of my neck. She fusses a little bit, but I pat her back as I hug her to me and bounce a little bit while we rock back and forth, like Morgan was doing.
“She feels so hot, but when I take the blanket off, her whole body trembles.” Morgan explains, “I texted Cameron, he’s up on ‘labor and delivery’ so he can’t come down at the moment, but he’s sending his RN. He assures me that he’s very good with kids.”
“Thank you. Thank you for bringing her, and for calling me.” I tell him, honestly. I hate having to rely on someone else to be with my girl, but I have to work. I can’t be with her 24/7 like I want to be. I don’t think I could find a better replacement, though. Morgan is just as much of a father-hen than I am.
“No problem. If I know Cam, he’ll be down here as soon as he can, too.” Morgan smiles, and I’m betting he’s right.
Knock-knock. Someone knocks on the door, just before walking in.
“Hey guys, I’m Jay. The doctor will be here shortly, but for now, how about I get this little lady something cold for her tummy and check her over real good. That be okay?” The lanky, gorgeous, baby-faced man says, seeming to talk softly to my girl but the question seemed to be for me. Unfortunately, my struck-stupid brain hasn’t reprogrammed itself after the light blue of his eyes struck me that way.
“Finn,” Morgan calls.
“Yeah. Oh, yeah, that’s fine, thanks.” I mumble like an idiot. Oh, shit. The smile. Dimple
s.
“Great, let’s get her over here so I can check out those ears. If you wanna have a seat here. Are you dad?” He asks, looking back and forth between Morgan and me. Morgan points to me.
“Yeah, me,” I answer, stupidly. I can’t tell how old he is, but I know he’s got to be at least legal, if he’s a nurse. Even interns have years of school, surely, he’s old enough for me to be checking out, right?
“I’m just the manny.” Morgan informs him, voice full of humor, probably at the way I seem to have had a stroke in the last three minutes.
“Lucky you.” The pretty man says as we winks at me. What did that mean? Did he mean, me?
“This little lady must be all the fun, huh?” He talks to my girl, while he looks into both ears. He’s so gentle with the ear things; she doesn’t move an inch. What are those called, I wonder? “Her ear over here on this right side looks red. Has she been pulling on it at all?” He asks, now, sticking one of those ear thermometers in her ear. He holds it until it beeps, after only a second and then throws the little disposable tip away. He grabs her chart and jots things down as Morgan answers his question. I feel like a heel because I can only stare at him.
“I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.” I finally speak up. I haven’t noticed any ear problems or fussiness at all.
“That’s okay. Sometimes ear infections go undetected and clear themselves up. Sometimes they give us problems. It doesn’t look terrible, but that’d be my guess. You said she was throwing up? Has she had any fever reducer?” He asks and again, Morgan answers that she indeed she had thrown up and had a fever reducer.
“That could’ve just been the fever, especially if she's drinking milk.” He smiles at my girl and hands her tongue depressor to play with. She hides her face into my chest, but flirts with him, shyly, by side-eyeing him and smiling. She seems to be feeling better now that her daddy is here. At least, I’m hoping so.
I’m not sure if I’m making him uncomfortable or not, seeing how I can’t stop staring at him; but he seems to be staring back just as hard. I feel like a tool. The man has got me struck absolutely stupid. He’s small, way smaller than me; bright blue, almost white looking eyes, dark brown hair and a small, twink-like body. His baby face hides his age, and I want so badly to ask. Maybe Cam knows him, and I can ask him later. I wonder if he’s gay or interested. I wonder what he’d say if I asked him out.
“Does she like freezer pops? I can get her a push pop while you wait if you want.” He smiles at me, prettily.
“Yeah, thanks. That’d be nice of you.” I say softly, loving the eyes. I can’t seem to look away from them, or that dimple on the right side when he smiles. We both stare at each other for longer than is acceptable and I feel Morgan shifting around, beside me. I blink and look over to Morgan who is looking for all the world, like the cat who got the cream.
“I’ll uh; I’ll be right back with that, then.” Jay clears his throat and shuffles quickly out the door, looking as embarrassed as I feel.
“Somebody has a crush on the pretty doctor.” Morgan teases. I don’t even deny it; he’s adorably gorgeous. I can’t imagine he’d like a big, bear looking man like me, but he seemed at least a little bit interested, didn’t he?
“That was embarrassing.” I sulk, sitting Lennon and I back on the exam table, holding her to me, tightly as she gets comfy on my lap, playing with the wooden tongue stick.
“I’d say he was just as smitten.” Morgan comments.
“Really? You think so?” I ask, feeling ridiculous, but not caring. Dating has been impossible since I brought Lennon home and while I have had a couple of buddies that ended up in my bed; they were friends first, and I didn’t have to go through any trouble, meeting new guys and dating. Unfortunately, I left everyone behind when I left Atlanta.
“Totally, you should ask him out.” Morgan smiles mischievously. He’s all for that idea. “He looks familiar to me, somehow. Maybe he’s been into the shop.”
“That’s weird, I talked to him for maybe three seconds, and that was after I tried to swallow my tongue.” I complained, “What if he’s not even gay but was just looking at the bush I have on my face.” Morgan laughed his ass off and was still giggling by the time Jay walked in with a push pop for Lennon. He offered it to her, already opened and chattered with her for a minute before handing me a paper print out on temperatures in toddlers. Babies temperatures, it read, run hotter, so 103 might seem high to me, but it isn’t a cause for immediate panic in toddlers. It also gives a list of popular medicines and their recommended doses, by age and weight on here too. Lastly, it listed other options to try before needing to bring a child into the emergency room. Cool compresses, a luke-warm bath; things like that.
“And this here is my card, if you have any questions at all…you know, don’t hesitate.” He stammers, just a little. I found myself nodding and thanking him, but he left before I could say much else. He didn’t even look at Morgan, which I found weird but cute.
“Dude.” Morgan deadpanned. “He gave you his number.”
“No, he didn’t, he gave me his card. Totally different. He takes his patients, seriously.” I try to argue.
“Except you aren’t his patient because he’s just a nurse or whatever. The doctor hasn’t been in, yet.” He smiles again, looking far too pleased with himself. Would I call him? Should I? I don’t even think I’d know what to say if I did.
I look down at the print-out paper and palm the card in my hand; pulling out my wallet, so I don’t lose it.
“Dr.” Douglas Jay Perry
510-555-1415
Jay
Forward, way too forward; I cannot believe I gave that gorgeous, crazy-bearded man my card. And not even a normal card, the effing cards that Grandma had made. “If you can dream it, you can achieve it, honey”, “Put it out there, into the universe, darlin’ and it’ll come true. You have to believe it”. Hippy ass, mumbo jumbo is what it was. I love her death, really, I do; but the woman is just nutty. I wasn’t a doctor; he was going to think I was a doctor. I needed to go tell him that I wasn’t one and try to explain why in the world I’d have a card that I said I was. That wouldn’t be embarrassing or awkward or anything; explaining my grandmother. I’ve never in my life given out one of these cards; I just had them because she believed in them. Believed in the power of positivity and what you put into the universe, the universe gave back. A Wiccan, naturist. Her spiritual guru was Mother Earth. Son of a bitch.
I got caught up, though. Caught up in the deer in headlights look that he gave me for a solid minute. He was crazy big, not buff in the brick shit house kind of way, but the manly, thick muscled arms and maybe a soft, hairy tummy under all that lumberjack flannel. I wasn’t aware, before now, that I had a type. It seemed I did and he was it. And that little girl; coal black, curly hair and the pinkest little cheeks, probably brought on by her fever. She laid her head on her daddy, and I could see the worry in his eyes; he and his friend, although his friend looked a bit amused. He looked familiar, eerily familiar like I’d seen him recently. I wanted to ask if he worked at the institution where my dad was kept, but if he didn’t, that’d be awkward. Then I’d have to explain why I thought he looked like someone from a prison hospital. Moving on. Idiot.
I grabbed a chart for the next room but didn’t see a patient anywhere.
“Hey, Melanie, do you know where….Mrs. Dallas is?” I ask, reading her name from the chart. She was brought in with blood in her stool. That’d be fun.
“Yes, she went to surgery. It was a prolapse. Can you keep an eye on room 2? It looks like an ear infection but Dr. Cales won’t be out of surgery for a bit, and he wants to make sure before he sends her home. I paged Dr. Brynn, but she’s about an hour away, so, it’ll be a good little wait.” She explains, with four charts in front of her. Trying to get caught up, it looked like.
“Sure, I’m here to help so, whatever you need, just let me know.” I smile at her look of relief.
“You’r
e a godsend, Jay. Really.” She yawns and gets back to her charting. I go in search of something to keep that little lady entertained while she waits for the next hour at least. I wouldn’t mind entertaining her father for a little while, either. Knock it off, Jay. You’re not a horny teenager, stop acting like it.
I go to the toy box, where all of our donations come in for this purpose exactly and root through to find something that a little black haired angel would like. I saw that she had a baby doll secured to her chest, I found one with black curly hair and a pink dress that looked surprisingly similar to her. Grabbing it from the box, I unwrapped it and noticed that it came with a bottle and a pacifier as well. I went back to their room and knocked before entering. The babysitter was gone, but the gorgeous bearded man and his daughter was lounging on the exam table; top half against the wall but legs propped up on the table. The little girl, curled up in his lap and on his chest. What a big chest it was.
“Hey, it’s going to be a little bit, I wanted to check in.” I tell him. When the little girl hears my voice, she opens her eyes and starts to cry. “Oh, no. We don’t like tears, do we, Dolly?” I ask the little doll in my hand. Not very original on the name, but I didn’t have much experience with little girl dolls.