Page 15 of U + Me : The Finale
“Hello Doctor Charles,” I smiled into the camera as he looked back at me with a serious look.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Kendall. I hope all is well.”
“Same with you.”
“Well, I requested today’s video call because the blood work that you took when you were here a few days ago came back and I wanted to go over the results with you.”
Instantly I got a little nervous because any time the doctor needed to go over your blood work results it usually was never good information that followed.
“So, you know we have been monitoring your CEA levels as well as your white blood cell count and protein levels. All three are very elevated, and that makes me uncomfortable because of your colon cancer scare last year. I don’t want you to get alarmed or start stressing about anything just yet but I’m going to refer you to an oncologist for some further testing.”
I inhaled deeply and held my breath for a few seconds as I took in and processed the news.
“Just when I thought I was having a good day you hit me with all of this, doc.”
“Like I said, try not to stress if you can. Stressing out about it will only elevate your levels even more. I’m sending you to an oncologist just as a precaution.”
“I totally understand. I respect how thorough you are.”
Doctor Charles gave me the name and number for the oncologist that he highly recommended and also told me that the sooner I call the better. Once I met with the oncologist, I would need to schedule an appointment with Doctor Charles again for a follow-up.
As I headed to go have lunch with Pamela, I couldn’t help but to feel worried. Cancer was a diagnosis that nobody wanted to hear associated with their name and health. It didn’t take very long to get to the Texas Roadhouse in Gurnee, but when I got there, there was a large crowd because of the lunch rush. Thankfully Pamela was already inside, seated and waiting for me.
I spotted where she was, and when I approached her from behind, I lightly placed my hand on her shoulder, then bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“Hey handsome,” Pamela greeted. “I ordered you an Arnold Palmer with extra lemon slices and I ordered the grilled shrimp app and some fried pickles.”
“Appreciated,” I smiled as I tried to hide the disappointment from the news I had just gotten.
Before we could get into any conversation our waitress came to our table and took our food orders after she placed the appetizers on the table.
“Nothing about a fried pickle is appealing.”
“You shouldn’t knock it until you try it.” Pamela rebutted as she chuckled. “So, how did your appointment go?”
I knew it wouldn’t take long for her to ask because last year when I had the colon cancer scare, we both were afraid. So much so that I made her promise not to mention anything to the girls until I knew for sure if it was cancer and had a plan in place. To be honest, that cancer scare is what made me realize that no matter how much I wanted to accept it, it was time for me to retire and live off all my hard work.
I had put so much into my business because I knew one day that I would be handing it over to Kimmie. When she showed interest in helping me run my company it couldn’t have made me any happier. And although I may have failed her as a dad growing up, I did all I could to secure her future and to set a tone for the future man in her life. I wanted my daughter to have all the things she couldn’t growing up, and then some. I also wanted her to be in a position to get those things for herself without having to depend on anyone. I never wanted Kimmie to ever want for anything.
“He’s sending me to a specialist.”
“What kind of specialist?”
“Oncology.”
“Oh Karl…that was not what I was expecting you to say. Let me know when your appointment is and I’ll go with you.”
Pamela did her best to speak encouragingly to me and for the most part it helped but it didn’t take away the worry completely.I wouldn’t be able to not worry until after I knew for sure if I indeed had cancer.
After lunch, Pamela trailed me to my house, and we spent the rest of the day in bed making love which was the perfect distraction I needed.
DARIUS
Since I wasn’t very familiar with the area, I followed KK to a spot called Ochoa’s Mexican Grill so that we could sit, talk, and have lunch. When KK walked into the conference room this morning I was just as shocked to see her as she was to see me at the table. The whole time I had been in communication with her father about us partnering with his business to expand it to Georgia, I never knew that KK was his daughter.
He did mention that his daughter would be attending the meeting because he was in the process of her taking over the company but as far as who his daughter was, he never really elaborated. All of our conversations were about business, policies, and procedures. We discussed things like five-year plans and bounced around ideas on expanding and what that would look like monetarily for us both.
Now that the meeting was over and I was pretty confident that things were going to move forward and in a positive direction for us all I couldn’t help but feel like it wasn’t just a coincidence that Mr. Kendall was KK’s dad. The fact that she and I had conveniently crossed paths again to me was a sign that itwas destined for us to see one another. It was also the sign that I needed to reassure myself to not give up on pursuing her.
