He set her down on the bed. “Where are your pills?”
She motioned in the direction of the bedside table, where a framed photo of her grandmother and her was tucked behind a myriad of pill bottles. Ben picked up the pill dispenser that had her pills divided up both by day and morning and night. He handed it to her, along with the water bottle she kept beside it. He then picked up the Tylenol and shook two out of the bottle.
Her hands were still shaky, but she managed to dump her three required medications into her hand. Accepting the Tylenol from Ben, she popped all five pills into her mouth at once, chasing them down with a swallow of water.
Even though she felt awkward having him standing in her room, it was too hard to stay sitting up. She let herself fall back onto the bed and pulled the blanket over her the best she could.
“Can I get you soup or something?”
She shook her head once, her eyes drooping closed. The next thing she remembered was the sensation of a cool washcloth on her face and the soothing tone of Ben’s voice.
Chapter 23
Ben spent half the night pacing and worrying. He didn’t have a thermometer in the house, but he could tell just by touching Maya’s forehead that she was running a fever well over a hundred, and it wasn’t breaking. He’d tried putting cool washcloths on her forehead, and he’d awakened her four hours after her first dose of Tylenol in the hopes that a second dose would help her fever break. By eight in the morning, he was on the phone with the cancer center in a panic. His concern heightened when the nurse told him the doctor wanted to see Maya right away.
He got ready to go and went into her room to try to wake her. “Maya, the doctor wants to see you.”
“I just need to sleep.” She started to roll over, but Ben put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from snuggling back into bed.
“Come on.” He pulled the covers back and helped her sit up so he could help her put on her shoes and coat. When she was ready to go, he lifted her gently into his arms and started for the door.
She tried to speak, but it came out in a whisper. “Ben, I can walk.”
“Maybe, but let’s not take any chances.” He carried her out of the apartment and made his way downstairs. It wasn’t until he needed to open the car door for her that he finally set her down.
When they reached the hospital, once again, he picked her up and carried her until they reached their destination. He deposited her in a chair in the waiting room and went to the receptionist’s desk to sign her in. He had barely scribbled her name on the sign-in sheet when the receptionist said, “She can come right back.”
“Thanks.”
He started to pick her up again, but Maya said, “I can walk. Really.”
Not quite sure if he believed her, he slipped an arm around waist to help support her as he led her out of the waiting room and into the examination room the nurse indicated. He helped Maya onto the table and stood helplessly by as the nurse took Maya’s vital signs.
“The doctor will be right with you,” the nurse told them and then closed the door.
“This is my fault,” Ben said remorsefully. “If I had been on time yesterday, you wouldn’t have been out in the cold and never would have gotten sick.”
“You can’t be sure of that,” Maya told him, barely able to sit up straight. “This happens sometimes when people are in treatment.”
“Still . . .” Ben trailed off when the door opened and the doctor walked in.
He looked at Ben with curiosity and extended a hand. “I’m Dr. Schuster.”
Ben reached out and shook his hand. “Ben Evans.”
“And what is your relationship to Maya?”
Ben reminded himself that legally they were more than acquaintances now. “Actually, I’m her husband.”
“So you’re the lucky guy,” Dr. Schuster beamed at him. “Well, let’s see what’s going on here.”
Ben stood off to the side of the room while the doctor looked at Maya’s eyes, ears, nose, and throat. It occurred to Ben that he should probably step out of the room to give Maya some privacy, but he couldn’t force himself to leave her alone, afraid the doctor might tell Maya something he needed to hear.
As soon as the doctor finished his probing and prodding, he moved to the door and called for the nurse. He issued some instructions quietly, and Ben couldn’t make out the words, then he closed the door again and motioned for Ben to sit down. He spoke to both Ben and Maya. “The good news is that it looks like Maya just has a virus.”
“So what do I do?” Ben asked.
“She needs a lot of rest, but mostly, we need to keep her hydrated. I’m going to have the nurse give her an IV now, but she has to keep drinking lots of fluids.” The doctor shifted his attention to Maya. “How is your appetite?”
“Okay.”
Ben shook his head. “She eats like a bird.”
“I know it’s not always easy, but, Maya, you need to increase your calorie intake. And I’m not talking about milkshakes and candy bars. I mean healthy food that will help your body fight this cancer. Lots of fruits and vegetables, fish and lean meats, whole grains. Keep it basic so your stomach can handle it, but you need to get some weight back on you. And it wouldn’t hurt for you to have a slice of apple pie every now and then.”
“We’ve been working on that,” Ben told him.
“Good.” Dr. Schuster looked over at Ben in a way that made Ben feel like he’d just formed a new alliance. “After the nurse gives Maya the IV, you can take her home, but if the fever doesn’t break by tomorrow, I want you to call me.”
“I will,” Ben agreed. “Thank you, Doctor.”
As soon as the doctor left the room, Maya said, “I’m really . . .”
“If you apologize, I’m going to be really ticked off,” Ben cut her off. “I’m the only person here who should be apologizing.”
Before Maya could respond, the nurse walked in pushing an IV cart. “Okay, let’s get you hooked up here, and we’ll have you home in no time.”
Sitting down in the chair across from Maya, Ben leaned back and prepared to wait to do just what the nurse had said—take Maya home.
* * *
Maya was starting to think Ben was obsessed. After Maya got home from her check-up with the doctor, Ben had insisted that she eat something before she went back to bed. Though all she had wanted to do was dive into sleep, she had managed to eat half of the cup of broth he had fixed for her.
Four hours later, she woke up from a nap to find him standing by her bed with water, Tylenol, and applesauce. Again, he had been insistent that she eat, and again, she had obliged him.
This time when she awoke, she found a fruit basket on her bedside table. Her bedroom door was open, and she could hear movement in the kitchen.
She looked at her clock, trying to remember when she had last taken some Tylenol. She was still trying to put together a timeline of today’s events when Ben appeared in her doorway.
“Oh good. You’re awake.” He held out a glass of water in one hand and two Tylenol in the other. “It’s time for you to take your medicine.”
Maya tried to shift herself up and found she didn’t have the strength. Ben set the water down and knelt beside the bed, putting a hand on her back to help her sit up.
Though she felt odd with Ben kneeling by her bedside, she accepted the pills from him and took a sip of water to wash them down.
When she tried to hand the glass back to him, he shook his head. “You need to drink some more. The doctor said you need to stay hydrated.”
Maya lifted the glass again for another sip. With Ben’s hand still warm on her back, she let him support her and continued to drink the water until the glass was empty.
She handed it back to him, and he helped ease her down onto the bed.
“Are you feeling any better?”
One shoulder lifted.
He put his hand on her forehead. “You don’t feel nearly as warm as you did earlier.”
“That’
s good,” Maya managed.
“I’ve already ordered dinner. It should be here in about twenty minutes. What do you say I help you out into the living room, and we can watch a movie while we eat.”
“You don’t have to wait on me, you know. I’m sure you have more important things to do than sit around and take care of me.”
“Actually, I already worked out downstairs while you were sleeping. I was just planning on vegging in front of the TV tonight.”
Maya looked at him. The truth was that though she was still weak, she did feel a lot better. It would be nice to get out of bed and start acting like a human being again instead of a vegetable.
“Come on.” Ben stood and leaned down to lift her into his arms, her blanket still wrapped around her.
She started to say she could walk herself, but she wasn’t really sure that was true. Instead, she let herself lean into him, noticing the smell of soap on his skin and the strength of his arms around her.
He carried her to the couch and set her down, helping her get comfortable before picking up the remote control to turn on the television. A classic baseball game was playing on MASN, the local sports network that aired most of the Nationals’ games. Ben hit the guide button to start scrolling. Maya noticed in the guide description that the game was one of Ben’s from last season.
“Do you ever watch the replays of your games?”
“Yeah, a lot, actually.” Ben sat on the other couch. “It helps me see what I could have done better and to see how the pitches look when I’m not standing in the box, not to mention how different umps call the strike zone.”
“We can watch this if you want.”
“I thought you would want to watch a movie or something.”
“Actually, I’d kind of like to watch one of your games. The Nationals were hardly ever on television in Tennessee.”
“Kari mentioned that.” Ben exited the guide so the game filled the whole screen. “That’s how she kept finagling airline tickets out of me to come to my games.”
“That was really nice of you to do that. It helped give her a break from taking care of me.”
“What do you mean?”
Maya looked over at him, surprised. “The reason Kari stayed out at school last summer was that I was going through chemo and radiation.”
“I didn’t know that.” Ben hesitated as though he was debating what to say next. “When did you find out you had cancer?”
“Seven months ago,” Maya told him. “Last February, I started having really bad headaches. When they didn’t go away, Kari convinced me to go to the doctor. They started running a bunch of tests. April was the first time I heard the C word. I started chemo a couple weeks later.”
“I gather it’s pretty widespread if this treatment is your last resort.”
“Actually, the cancer is still contained within the primary tumor. I was extremely lucky we caught it when we did, but the biopsy indicates that it’s a pretty aggressive cancer. If the doctors can’t remove the tumor, it could kill me within a year. Because of where it’s located, they have to get it to shrink to almost half of its original size before they can operate, but even then, the surgery will be risky.”
“But this new treatment is working, right?”
“Everything seems to be going well so far.” Eager to change the subject, she looked at the TV and saw the image of Ben striding into the batter’s box, a stubble of beard on his face, along with a look of determination. “Oh, hey, you’re up.”
He looked at the image and shook his head. “You don’t want to watch this one.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m about to strike out on three pitches.”
“Nobody’s perfect,” Maya said and proceeded to watch Ben foul off a first pitch fastball. He then watched a wicked slider catch the inside corner of the plate. On the third pitch, he swung at another fastball that was high out of the zone. She looked over at him. “What was your game plan?”
“What?” Ben turned his whole body to face her.
“Your game plan. You know, what pitch were you looking for?”
“That’s exactly what my hitting coach asked me after I walked into the dugout.”
They chatted companionably as one of Ben’s teammates struck out, another drew a walk, and then a third popped up to end the inning. “Seems to me that if you can recognize this guy’s slider, that would be the pitch to hit. He only throws it to the inside corner,” she said.
Now Ben just stared at her.
“What?”
“Do you know my hitting coach?”
Her eyes narrowed. “No. Why?”
“I swear I had this exact same conversation with him. How do you know so much about baseball?”
“My brothers played when I was younger. When I came here to the United States, watching games on television was one of the ways I used to try to improve my English.”
“It sounds like you picked up a lot of knowledge along the way.”
The doorbell rang, and Ben went to the door to pay for their food. Maya could hear him exchange greetings with the delivery man, and a moment later, he reappeared with a large carryout bag. He set it on the coffee table and pulled it a little closer to the couch. “We can just eat in here.”
After collecting plates and eating utensils from the kitchen, Ben sat down beside Maya and put everything on the table. She looked at the dish he placed before her and reminded herself about the conversation Ben had had with the doctor about nutrition. Dr. Schuster would approve of the grilled chicken breast, steamed vegetables, and brown rice.
Then Ben pulled out two slices of apple pie. Yes, Ben was taking her doctor’s orders seriously
Chapter 24
Ben dropped his duffel bag on a kitchen chair and lined up the ingredients to make smoothies. Over the weekend, Maya had gotten stronger, nearly as strong as she had been before the virus, but he was still erring on the side of caution. He didn’t want to see that sickly pallor on her face again anytime soon.
He dumped strawberries and pineapple into the blender, as well as orange juice and protein powder. He was just pouring it into two large plastic cups when Maya walked in.
“Here. I made this for you.” Ben retrieved a straw from a drawer, stuck it in, and handed it to her.
“Thank you.”
He then watched her open a cabinet and proceed to put some almonds in a plastic bag. When she slipped the snack into her purse, he asked, “Are you taking those in case you need a snack or because you’re afraid I’ll forget you again?”
“I just want to be prepared.”
“It’s not going to happen again. I promise.”
Maya fell silent for a moment, and then she said, “I feel bad that you are rearranging your schedule so much because of me. I hate feeling like a burden.”
“So you’ve said before.” Ben stuck a straw in his smoothie, but instead of picking it up, he turned his attention fully on Maya. “From listening to my sister talk, it sounds like you were already part of the family before I married you. Even though neither of us planned to have our lives intertwined like this, I think after all we’ve survived this past weekend, we’ve proven we can make this arrangement work.”
“Okay, but promise me that if you start feeling overwhelmed or you need a break, you’ll tell me. I don’t want you to start resenting my being here.”
“Fair enough.” He picked up his drink and hefted his duffel bag. “Let’s get this day started.”
“Okay.” She followed him out into the hall, and he saw her take her first sip of the smoothie. A look of wonder appeared on her face, and she took a second sip. “This is really good.”
“Why does that surprise you?”
“I thought the only way you knew how to fix food was by dialing a phone.”
He gave her a mysterious grin. “Oh, I’m full of surprises.”
She smiled, and her eyes shone a little brighter than usual. “I’m starting to believe that.”
&nb
sp; * * *
Maya looked at Ben, confused when he parked in the hospital parking lot the next morning instead of dropping her off at the entrance like he normally did. Automatically, she looked around the parking lot to make sure there wasn’t any sign of Rishi. Even though they hadn’t seen him since telling him she and Ben were married, she wasn’t quite able to believe he was out of her life.
She turned to her left and watched Ben climb out of the car and circle to the passenger side to open her door. After he helped her out, she asked, “Why are you coming in with me? I’m just getting a shot today, so it’ll only take a few minutes.”
“I figured I might as well come in instead of waiting in the car.” He took her arm to keep her steady, and they walked the short distance to the entrance.
When they passed through the main entrance, Maya asked, “What are your plans for the day? I assume you’re going to the stadium to work out.”
“Actually, they have a bunch of tours going on today, so I got up early and went for a run over on the mall. I can hit the weight room later this afternoon.”
“What’s the mall?”
“You know, the grassy area between the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building.”
She shook her head. “I’ve never been over there.”
He looked at her, stunned. “You’ve been here for over a month, and you haven’t seen the sights?”
She shook her head. “We flew in one morning, met with the doctor that afternoon, and I’ve been in treatment ever since. Besides, I don’t have a car, and the doctor prefers that I not take public transportation if I can avoid it.”
“Does that include taxis?”
“Taxis are fine. What I’m supposed to avoid is exposure to large groups of people. Taxis are just a bit out of my budget right now.”
“We’ve got to do something about this,” Ben told her.
“Something about what?”
He opened the cancer center door. “Your lack of cultural experiences here in Washington.”
Maya passed through the door, not exactly sure what he thought could change her DC experience. The nurse called her right back to get her shot, and a minute later, she walked back into the waiting area, surprised to see that Ben wasn’t there.
Chances Are Page 15