the many ways I want to be wherever you are.” More kisses, more dizziness. “This weekend . . . Can we please spend it together?”
I’m nodding before he finishes asking the question.
“Every minute?”
“Yes, every minute.”
“Now I have something to look forward to.”
He resettles himself in the passenger seat, and I somehow manage to start the car. After a quick trip to his hotel so he could shower and change, we arrive at Juanita’s ventanita in Priscilla. He made a case for driving me since I wasn’t caffeinated yet, and it might be safer for both of us. He thinks he’s funny after finding out I’m grumpy in the morning.
When Juanita sees me with Jason for the second morning in a row, she raises a brow. In Spanish, she asks if there’s anything I want to tell her.
“No,” I reply, “nothing to report.”
She laughs and calls me a liar. “I know something when I see it, amiga, and I see something. And before you can deny it, just know I’m happy for you. No one deserves it more.”
Jason stands by my side while I shamelessly talk about him in a language he doesn’t understand. He pays for two cortaditos and two dozen pastelitos for us and the clinic staff.
“Saw you on the news last night, Doc,” she says to Jason. “Thank God you were able to help that sweet child.”
“I’m glad I was in the right place at the right time.”
“We’re all glad for that.”
Twenty minutes later, we arrive at the clinic to find an even longer line than yesterday.
“Holy shit,” he whispers.
“You’re in hot demand, Doc.”
“I see that.”
“If it’s too much, you can still say so. No one says you have to be here indefinitely.”
“I’ll be here until every one of these people is seen.”
CHAPTER 18
CARMEN
It takes three days for Jason to see all the patients who come to the clinic. He treats everything from gout to hemorrhoids to asthma to diabetes complications to scabies. According to Jason, he’s heard from almost everyone he’s ever known since the news segment went live, which he attributes to my posts about it on Instagram as well as his mother posting the link to Facebook.
We fall into a routine that includes long days at the clinic followed by daily stops at Miami-Dade for him to check on Mateo and for me to brief Mr. Augustino on our progress in person.
“The coverage on NBC 6 was huge,” Mr. Augustino says on Friday evening. “I’ve heard from several members of the board about it. Keep up the good work, Carmen. It seems to be having the desired effect.”
Jason is thrilled when I tell him that, but he’s not himself after having been to see Mateo. He’s met me in my office, where I’ve been killing time looking at emails detailing other projects that’ll require my attention when this one is finished and reading documents the former director of public relations left for me. As I read, it occurs to me that I still haven’t called Tony’s mother, and I’m running out of time before Sunday brunch.
“What’s wrong?” I ask him.
“Mateo has an infection. We’re working on it, but it’s worrisome.”
“Do you need to stick around?”
“No, they know to call me if anything changes. It’s a waiting game right now. Hopefully the antibiotics will do the trick.”
“Is this a common thing?”
“It happens.” He waits for me to gather my belongings and gestures for me to lead the way to the elevator. In the parking lot, he takes hold of my hand the way he does every chance he gets. “Can we run by my hotel on the way to your place? I want to pick up some clothes and running shoes. I need to get in a run at some point.”
“I didn’t know you were a runner.”
“Any chance I get, which isn’t as often as it used to be. Exercise helps me manage stress.”
“Tony was a gym rat. He was always trying to get me to go with him, but I sucked at it. He would try not to laugh at me, but he sucked at not laughing.”
Jason laughs as he holds the car door for me. I’ve told him he doesn’t have to do that every time, but he says he does have to. “Now I want to take you to the gym to see this comedy routine for myself.”
“That’s not happening.”
When he gets in the car, I turn so I can see him. “Is it okay that I mention Tony and our relationship to