“Yes. We thought he had Lou Gehrig’s disease. Most people who have it die within three to five years due to respiratory failure. Spencer has been sick for three, so…”
The pain in Jim’s tone couldn’t be faked. “You taught he was dying.”
“I did. When the latest doctor told us it wasn’t ALS but chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, we were ecstatic.”
Chloe frowned. She’d never heard of… “What is that?”
“It’s the chronic form of Guillain-Barré syndrome, sort of. Spencer might never walk again, but we’ve caught the disease before he lost any other motor functions.”
“Ouch.” Chloe winced in sympathy. “He didn’t tell me that part.”
“The good news is that, unlike ALS, it’s not fatal. He’ll live a long, happy life with the right therapies. And he has me now, so he has family again.”
“I’m glad for him.” Chloe jumped when Jim covered her hands, stopping the destruction of the poor paper napkin. “What?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” His gaze remained kind, but his tone was firm.
“Tell you butt?” Man, her brain really seemed to like that word lately.
“That I was your mate.”
“Shh.” She looked around, grateful that the other diners seemed to be immersed in their own conversations. “You can’t talk about that in public.”
“All right. Calm down.” He patted her hands and let go, sitting back in his seat. “You want a burger or something else?”
She blinked. “There’s something else?”
He laughed. “Yeah, the burgers here are the best.” When the waitress, someone Chloe had never met before, walked over to their table Jim ordered for both of them. How the man knew she liked to get the extra-thick chocolate shake along with a glass of water, she had no idea, but that’s exactly what he asked for.
“Thank. You.” Chloe smiled.
“You have conductive aphasia, right?” When she nodded, he continued. “I want you to relax. The tenser you are, the harder it is to speak using the correct words.”
“I can read and write them dine, but…” She paused, trying to spit out the word on the tip of her tongue. She couldn’t quite get it to come out, but Jim waited patiently, and eventually she was able to speak. “Talking is card sometimes, and I switch words.”
“Paraphasia.” He nodded. “I looked some of this stuff up when I realized what was going on. Took me some time, but I figured it out.”
He seemed so proud of himself for that.
“Why would you? As far as I drew you wanted nothing to do with me.”
He actually flushed. “Because you’re important to me, more than I wanted you to know. I tried to stay away, to keep you out of my mind, but I just couldn’t.”
Ouch. That hurt, but at least he was being honest with her.
“Any weakness on your left side other than your hand?”
“Go. I primp sometimes in bad weather or when I’m fired, but otherwise everything else seems fine. I’ve got some tingling in my right bland that I need to have checked out soon, though.” Chloe’s left hand was still trembling, the spastic movement outside her control. “And the aphasia is mild.”