Page 73 of Maybe in Another Life

“And,” he says as we reach the machine, “either of them would suffice.”

He pulls a dollar out of his pocket.

“I have one buck,” he says. “We have to share.”

“Some date you are,” I joke, and immediately wish I could take it back.

He laughs and lets it go. “What will it be?”

I search the machine. Salty, sweet, chocolate, peanut butter, pretzels, peanuts. It’s impossible. I look back at him.

“You’re gonna be mad,” I say.

He laughs. “You have to pick one. I only have a dollar.”

I look at all of them. I bet Henry likes Oreos. Everyone likes Oreos. Literally every human.

“Oreos,” I say.

“Oreos it is,” he says. He puts the dollar into the slot and punches the buttons. The Oreos fall just in front of me, at my level. I pull them out of the drawer and open them. I give him one.

“Thank you,” he says.

“Thankyou,” I say. “You paid for them.”

He bites it. I eat it whole. “There’s no wrong way to eat an Oreo,” he says.

“That’s Reese’s. There’s no wrong way to eat a Reese’s,” I correct him. “Oh, man! We should have gotten Reese’s.”

He pulls another dollar out of his scrubs and puts it into the machine.

“What? You said you only had a dollar! You lied!”

“Oh, calm down. I was always going to buy you two things,” he says. “I’m just trying to help you be decisive.”

He laughs at me as he says it, and I open my mouth wide, outraged. I hit him on the arm. “Jerk,” I say.

“Hey,” he says. “I bought youtwodesserts.”

The Reese’s fall. I grab them and give him one again. “You’re right,” I say. “And you took me on a journey into the hallway. Which you probably weren’t supposed to do.”

“It wasn’t specifically sanctioned, no,” he says, biting his peanut butter cup. Mine is already gone. I practically swallowed it whole.

I could ask him, right now, why he’s being so nice to me. Why he’s taking so much time with me. But I’m afraid if I call attention to it, it will stop happening. So I don’t say anything. I just smile at him. “Will you take me the long way back?” I ask.

“Of course,” he says. “Do you want to see how far you can wheel yourself before your arms get tired?”

“Yeah,” I say. “That sounds great.”

He’s a great nurse. An attentive listener. Because that is truly all I want in this world. I want to try to do something myself, knowing that when I have nothing left, someone will take me the rest of the way.

He turns me around to face the right direction, and he stands behind me. “Go for it,” he says. “I got you.”

I push, and he follows me.

I push.

And I push.

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