“What do you think so far?” Mom asks him.
He looks right at me when he says, “It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had.”
Chapter 13
DEE
My dad encourages us to go home since it will be a while before we know if the antibiotics are working. Maria, Nico and Milo are with us, and we can’t talk Dad into going, too, so we leave him with orders to check in later and let us know how she’s doing.
We walk out into late afternoon sunshine so bright it makes my eyes hurt after the manufactured light in the hospital.
My siblings and I are like the walking wounded as we absorb the shock of yet another crisis in our mother’s cancer journey.
“She’s going to be fine, guys,” Wyatt tells us. “Port infections are far more common than you might think. The antibiotics work most of the time. Try not to worry too much.”
I can see his words make a difference to the others, even Maria, who’s a nurse. It can be difficult for her to rely on her professional know-how when her emotions are all out of whack.
“Do you guys want to get some pizza or something?” Milo asks.
The others quickly agree with his idea, and they settle on Crust, which is close to home. I don’t want to go, but I defer to Wyatt.
“You know me, babe. I can always eat.”
“So it’s already ‘babe,’ huh?” Nico asks.
Wyatt never blinks when he says, “Yep.”
“MYOB, Nico.” I use Nona’s favorite acronym from when we were kids and constantly minding each other’s business. Some things never change.
“I’m just askin’,” Nico says with indignance.
“No worries, man.” Wyatt puts his arm around me. “I love your sister. We’re together. It’s kinda simple.”
It’s not easy to shut down Nico, but Wyatt succeeds beautifully.
Maria sends me a smug look that tells me she’s thinking the same thing I am.
We head for our cars, and Wyatt holds the passenger door for me.
As I get in, I notice that Nico is watching us, and I wonder what his problem is. Not that I plan to let him bother me. I’ve got enough on my mind without him adding to the load.
“Well done with Nico,” I tell Wyatt when we’re on our way to Little Havana.
“I was hoping you’d think so. What’s his deal, anyway?”
“Who knows? He’s always poking at someone or something. That’s how he rolls. Mostly we ignore him.”
“Siblings can be annoying that way.”
“Yep. He’s a button pusher. That’s why Nona calls him Button.”
“That’s cute.”
“He doesn’t think so, but he’d never tell her that. She’s the one person he never messes with because she could destroy him with a few sharp words. And he knows it.”
“I love that. Your grandmothers are awesome.”
“I have a third one who lives in Palm Springs—my mom’s mother. We aren’t as close to her as we are to Nona and Abuela. My mom thinks her mother is jealous because we’re close to Abuela, which is so dumb. Abuela was at every sporting event, concert and play we did as kids. We hardly saw my other grandmother, and she’s jealous? People are ridiculous.”
“They can be. That’s for sure. My grandparents were a big part of our lives growing up. My mom’s parents moved to live near us in Phoenix to take care of my brother and sister when I was in the hospital. My dad’s parents were already there.”
“They must’ve been a huge help to your parents.”
“They were for sure. But it was four more people to hover over me. Not that I don’t love them, but by the time I busted loose and moved to North Carolina, I was ready to be out from under all that parenting.”
The way he says that makes me laugh. “I can only imagine how confining that had to be.”
“It was. They were all so thankful for my return to good health, but they wanted to roll me in Bubble Wrap and keep me safe from anything and everything. I had to have a sit-down with the six of them and beg them to let me enjoy the second chance I was so lucky to get. And then I sprang it on them that I intended to go to med school in North Carolina.”
“What’d they say to that?”
“They started talking about moving there, and I threatened to ghost them.”
“They were really going to move?”
“I think they might’ve until I told them I’d never speak to them again if they did. Not to mention my siblings wouldn’t have, either. They were in high school by then, and their lives had been disrupted enough by me. Thankfully, they reconsidered that idea, but they’re still far more involved in my life than they would be if I hadn’t nearly died about six times before I was seventeen.”
“Jeez, Wyatt. Six times?”
“Yeah, that’s how many times I coded, and that was so traumatizing for them. I try to be mindful of what they went through, too. Which is my roundabout way of saying they’re going to be super pissed that I’m planning to move, and they might take that out on you.”
“Yikes.”
“I don’t want you to worry about them. They’ll come around. They always do.”
“We never even talked about me moving to Phoenix.”
“You can’t do that right now with your mom battling cancer. Not to mention this amazing job offer from your aunt and uncle.”
“I appreciate how you never even hesitated on that.”
“I understand where you need to be, and since I need to be with you, we’ll do it here. Provided I get the job, but I’ll look elsewhere in South Florida if I don’t. Something will come up.”
“Does it still seem weird to you that two days ago, you were determined to keep your distance from me, and now we’re making life plans?”
“Nope, it’s not weird at all because it’s you. Being with you feels so good, no matter what we’re doing, and now that you’ve convinced me, I need to know what it’s like to be in love. I want to feel like that for every day that I have left.”
His sweet words move me to tears. “I can’t believe everything that’s happened in one weekend. My head is spinning.”
“In a good way, I hope.”
“In the best possible way.”
“We’re going to need to find a place to live. I love Carmen and Jason’s place. What about something like that?”
“I love their place, too, but I’d rather live in a house with a yard and maybe a pool.”
“We can do that. Do you know any Realtors?”
“I’ll ask Car and Mari who they used.”
“Get whatever you want.”
“You have to give me some parameters of what you want.”
“I want to live with you. That’s my parameter.”
“It’s amazing to me that I’ll be able to buy a house with you because of my new job. On any other weekend, that’d be the lead story.”
“I’ll buy the house and put it in both our names.”
“We will buy the house.”