Page 69 of Until You Found Me

“Are you with me?” she whispers, shaken and wary, her tears wetting his cheek where they’d fallen.

He lets out a strangled sound of agreement and sits up with a wobble, reaching for water only to fumble it. She holds it to his mouth. “It’s never been this bad before. Happened a few times. Audrey said it’s from poorly managing my diabetes like I did it on purpose.”

“Should we go see her?”

“Urgent care instead. Can get outta there under five hundred most times. Won’t leave the clinic under a few grand. Think there’s still one open, but it’s two towns away.”

“Okay, let’s go. Come on, Lemme help you up.”

“I can walk.” He bristles, only to end up leaning against her, anyway. “They’ll run some tests and tell me to drink more water or stop rationing insulin, and I’ll be fine. Stop looking at me like I’m already dead.”

Guilt for snapping at her comes quickly. She’s the only one on his side, the only one in his corner, and this is how he treats her when he’s wounded.

“Sorry, I’m just worried. You scared the shit out of me.”

He’s never had someone worry about him like she does. No one ever cared aside from Carley and even then, half the time his sister would have sold him for a pack of smokes rather than look at him.

He’s only used to thinking about himself because he’s only ever had himself. Now he has her. That changes everything and makes it more difficult to ignore his health if it affects more than just him.

They stumble through the woods in a long, silent journey to the truck, and by the time they reach urgent care, he feels fine. Normal. He considers going back home to avoid the chargeshe still can’t afford, but something about what happened today felt different. Worse. He’s not stupid and he doesn’t want to die. Logic says to add that bill to the pile and walk through the double doors while hating every minute of it.

The constant poking, prodding, and unwanted touching are emotionally exhausting. He’s got decent coping mechanisms in place, like imagining himself on the boat while they take his vitals, or watching the sunset when they drain his blood.

He isn’t alone this time, though. Tessa is with him. It’s unfair to lean on her when she has her own set of problems, but he’s selfish at the moment and grateful for her calm presence. She’s stoic and grounding, having gathered herself quickly once they arrived, no doubt relieved that he’s somewhere safe with qualified professionals instead of laying on the ground in the woods. She’s close enough to touch but keeps her hands to herself. At least, until his fists clench against the paper sheet when the nurse pulls up his shirt to listen to his heartbeat. Tessa rests a discreet hand between his shoulder blades and he focuses on her touch instead of the other, more invasive one.

When the nurse finally leaves, taking his blood with her like a vampire, he exhales in relief. “It’s nothing. I already feel better. They’re just gonna send me home.”

“Good. Then we’ll go home and make dinner and not think about it another second.”

“What’s for dinner?”

“Salmon? I saw some in your freezer. Or that casserole I’ve wanted to make. I can remember the recipe down to the last letter.”

“Casserole. Wanna try all your recipes.”

She smiles, her hand on his back shifting to rest over hisknee instead. “Will you tell me if it’s terrible? You’ll be honest?”

“Always.” He knows full well he’ll eat anything she puts in front of him and tell her it’s amazing even if it tastes like cardboard.

“Casserole, it is then.”

“Trying to distract me with talk of food?”

“Is it working?”

“A little bit.” He sighs, frustrated, his next words more to himself than to her. “It’ll turn out to be nothing.”

He only half believes it. When the doctor comes in with a grim expression Logan’s gut drops into the basement.

“Your blood work is concerning. We’ve sent a referral to the clinic the next town over. It’s suggested you go today. We can arrange an ambulance if you can’t make it.”

“Wait what?” He grimaces. “If I can’t make it? What are you talking about? Start making sense.”

“The labs on your kidneys are off the charts. This is beyond the scope of what we can deal with here.”

“So you’re gonna charge me for the test and send me somewhere else where they’ll have to do the same damn test again?”

“Logan,” Tessa says softly.

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