bowl he was still demolishing, and grabbed another fork. I stabbed a couple more pieces of pasta and chicken and watched his face as he then tried to switch the subject to a phone call he’d had with Paw-Paw on the way home.
But he wasn’t fooling me.
“Zac?” I asked him after I swallowed a piece of chicken.
“Hmm?” he answered as he ate more pasta.
“Not that you need me to go or anything… but would you like me to go with you to get your treatment done? So I can drive you home if you… aren’t feeling well after?”
Wasn’t feeling well after. Pssh.
I remembered the stories of him passing out when he’d had to get allergy shots every month there for a little while when he’d been younger.
His blue eyes peeked at me as he speared a piece of cauliflower and chewed it slowly. “You got the time?” he asked carefully. “I was gonna take a car there and another on the way back.”
I couldn’t laugh or smile. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Because God knew if the day came that there was a flying roach, I was going to scream at the top of my lungs for him to come kill it.
“If you want to take a car, go for it. But I’ll drive you if you want.”
He eyed the bowl between us and pushed it toward me for the last bite. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat and dragged the knuckle of his index finger across his eyebrow. “All right. Yeah.”
“Mr. Travis, I’m ready for you, if you’ll follow me,” the nice-looking woman in khaki pants and a tucked-in blouse called out an hour later.
Zac and I had taken a seat in the tiny waiting area of the small facility where his trainer had scheduled his appointment. He’d admitted to me on the way over that he knew people who had gotten this kind of treatment before, but it was his first time. I’d driven his car over one-handed and had tried my best not to look surprised when he’d made the suggestion.
Two light blue eyeballs glanced at me.
And I had to pinch my lips together to keep from smiling at what I was pretty sure was him asking me to follow.
I was touched.
And I wasn’t going to ruin it.
“Can I come too?” I asked the nurse practitioner, knowing I probably looked and sounded like a clingy girlfriend, but I didn’t give a shit. I was only asking to follow because I had the feeling he wanted me to go.
She glanced at Zac, smiled a little, and nodded.
I was pretty positive that Zac was breathing a lot harder than normal as he led the way after the woman, and I had to bite my lip, then bite my tongue to keep from cracking up at the fact he was so nervous and trying desperately to hide it.
I set my hand on his waist, feeling how trim it was, and gave him a squeeze of support.
He set one hand on top of mine and kept it there as I followed after him, inches away as we headed into the tiny exam room. We introduced ourselves as Zac took a seat on the exam table, and I could see the big gulps of breath he was trying not to take but failing and taking them anyway.
He was already pale, or at least paler than he’d been when he’d gotten to the house.
And I knew the woman could tell too because her gaze moved from his slightly trembling hands to his face and back.
I met her eyes, and we smiled at each other.
She knew. “Okay, Zac, this won’t take me very long. I’ll draw the blood from your right arm, and then we’ll work on your knee. If you’re fine with it, I’ve got this handy spray that will help you not feel a thing, is that okay?”
His “Yes, ma’am” nearly killed me.
Well, I was here for a reason, even if he was in denial.
“Hey, Zac?” I asked before taking a seat right beside the table and then scooting it closer to him.
Those blue eyes moved to me, and his Adam’s apple bobbed savagely. “Yeah, Bibi?” he asked in a weak voice.
I slipped my hand between his and his thigh, sliding my fingers through his, linking them together. They were ice cold. He’d changed into some shorts, and I could feel his leg hair under my fingers. “I called WatchTube again. They won’t tell me what’s going on yet. Can you