Page 236 of Finding Us

“I can’t eat all that,” I say, eyeing the tray.

“It’s a sampler platter. Just eat what you can. For beverages, I have water, juice, Sprite, 7-Up, and those sports drinks that have electrolytes.”

“Any of those is fine.”

He comes back with Gatorade.

I take a few sips of it, then eat a cracker, and a few spoonfuls of soup.

“Okay, that’s all I can eat.”

“You didn’t even try my orange Jello. I worked really hard on that.” He smiles as he takes the tray away. “I had to boil water and everything.”

“Sorry. I’ll try it later. My stomach is full.”

“At least you ate something.” Garret sits beside me. “Are you going back to sleep?”

“No. I’m not tired right now.” I check the clock. It’s 10 a.m. “What day is it?”

“Monday. Why?”

“Don’t you have class now?”

“It’s canceled because the professor is sick. And I’m skipping my afternoon classes.”

“Garret, you can go. I’ll be fine.”

He kisses my forehead. “You still have a fever and you’re blacking out. I’m not leaving you until you’re better.”

I smile. “You’re an awesome husband. Have I told you that?”

He smiles back. “Once or twice. But I don’t mind hearing it again.”

I reach up and kiss him. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Do you want me to bring the TV in here?”

“Um, no. That’s okay. I kind of wanted to talk.”

“What do you want to talk about?”

I don’t want to tell him this, but I have to. I can’t do this anymore.

“I’m having trouble keeping up with my classes.”

“That’s why you’re dropping one. I checked online for how to do that and I already—”

“Wait. How did you know I wanted to drop a class?”

“You told me yesterday.”

“I did?” I have no memory of that. I wonder what else I told him.

“Yeah, and I told you it was a good idea. Anyway, I printed out the form you have to fill out. Do you know what class you want to drop?”

He doesn’t care that I want to drop a class? I thought he’d be mad at me or tell me I’m not trying hard enough.

“Um, I’m not sure yet. I need to tell you something else. I’m—” This is so hard to tell him. He was so proud of me for wanting to be a doctor. Everyone was, and now I have to disappoint them.

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