Page 55 of Gray Hair Don't Care
“I think they see you right away if you have chest pains,” he said.
“All the more reason you should have done this a while ago.”
Delia popped into the room, wearing her white physician’s coat and with her hair pulled back. “How’s my new patient?” Just to drive up the absurdity factor, she giggled a little.
“He keeps having chest pains. And he won’t make time to see the doctor. I know this seems silly, but I figured this was better than nothing,” Lela said.
Delia smiled. “A doctor is a doctor. I’m going to refer you to a cardiologist, but let’s just make sure for today that there’s nothing serious going on.”
Lela sat in a chair and Delia asked Donovan a bunch of questions about his symptoms and whether there was a pattern to them. Delia listened to his heart, took his pulse, and then had a nurse bring in a small EKG machine. The nurse found it quite hilarious that the patient was a man over fifty. When all was done, Delia typed a bunch of notes into a computer then printed out Donovan’s marching orders.
“Call the cardiologist today and make an appointment,” she ordered. “Between symptoms like this and your age, you should at least establish care with a specialist. But from where I’m sitting, for today, everything seems normal.”
“Then why is this happening?” Donovan asked.
“My guess is it’s stress or anxiety. Maybe both. There’s information on the print-outs about meditation, relaxation, and dietary changes.”
That made perfect sense to Lela, but that also meant that Donovan’s pains after he slept with her three years ago meant stress or anxiety. That wasn’t fun to think about.
“Okay. Thank you.” Donovan hopped off the table.
Delia grabbed a small basket and showed it to him. “Don’t forget to pick out a sticker.”
Lela snickered. “Too bad they don’t give out lollipops anymore.”
“Oh, yeah. Those were the bad old days, weren’t they?” Delia asked, opening the door for them. “By the way, email wedding invites went out to you both this morning. Quicker than paper. Tammera and I really don’t want to make this a big deal, so we found a tiny non-denominational church near the Flatiron Building. Ceremony in the morning then lunch at a restaurant a block or so away.”
Lela gave Delia a quick hug. “Thanks for your help. Looking forward to the wedding.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Now,when Donovan walked to work, he focused on his breath.In… in… in… and out… out…. out.It took a great deal of concentration to center himself while trekking along Manhattan’s sidewalks. There were copious hazards to avoid—oblivious people staring at their phones, and pretzel vendors who’d parked too close to the crosswalk, and the subway grates Donovan did not trust would keep him from plummeting into the world of the New York City transit system.
He also pursued his breathing practice at his desk several times each day, reminded to do so by his smartwatch. There were far fewer distractions in the office. It was mostly just Lela and her smile and the way she seemed to float into a room. Those were the moments when he had to stop, catch his breath, and start over again.
For today, there was a bit too much excitement to make room for Zen moments. Echo was back from her honeymoon.
“Knock, knock,” Donovan said at her office door. He didn’t wait for an invitation, storming in to get a hug and hold on tight. He’d missed her. Desperately. “So? How was it? Awesome?”
“It was unbelievable. We have to go back. The water, the people, the food. I miss it already.”
“Well, you look amazing. So relaxed. That’s good.”
She eased back, still holding on to him. “Thank you for being the voice of reason and making me get in the car and go to the airport. If you hadn’t been there, I would’ve tried to talk Lucius into postponing so I could work. And I really worried on the flight that I wouldn’t be able to stay away from work when we got there. But I was wrong. It was so beautiful and tranquil, I just wanted to goof off and be with Lucius. I thought I couldn’t get any closer to him, but I was wrong about that, too.”
Already, his daughter was better at being married than he’d ever been. The thought warmed his heart, since he’d managed to play a tiny role in her epiphany. Being able to dole out a bit of real-life guidance felt good. “You really needed it.”
“I did. And now I get to see everything you guys have been up to while I was gone.” She took a seat at her desk. “I just looked at the sales numbers and holy cow, it has totally exceeded my expectations.”
“Things were cooking before Good Day USA, but that really blew the doors off the barn, so to speak.”
“I was able to watch it on their website after it aired. Lela not only looked amazing, shewasamazing. I loved everything she said.”
Thoughts of that day had been running through his head non-stop. It wasn’t easy to stand in the shadows of the television studio and hear her talk about how she’d turned his regrettable actions into a positive. It didn’t matter that it had ultimately worked out well for her. It didn’t matter that his gaffe brought them back together. It only underscored that he needed work.
The moment that stuck with him the most though was when she’d talked about feeling insecure. It was the first time he understood that the way he’d seen her thirty years ago and the way he saw her now, were not the way she saw herself. And that made his heart ache. It made him want to kiss her, and tell her that if she saw herself as lesser in any way, it wasn’t what he saw. It had put him so close to blurting that he wanted to try again, if she could ever see beyond his mistakes. But then the stupid pain in his chest returned and reality got in the way. “I need to talk to you about Lela.”
A worried crease formed between Echo’s eyes. “Sounds serious. Is there a problem?”
