Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 81584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
I didn’t meet the driver’s eye as I gave him the clinic’s address and buckled my seat belt. He could think whatever he wanted about me. I didn’t give a shit.
The next hour was pretty hazy. The receptionist at the clinic had been a year behind me in school. They had short orange and purple hair that stuck up in a faux hawk and gauges in their ears that I could fit my thumb through. I loved them. We’d never hung out in the same crowd, which had made it easier to face them initially, but I knew within minutes of checking in why they’d been hired. They were maybe the most welcoming, thoughtful, and nonjudgmental person I’d ever met.
When I stepped inside the building, I hadn’t even passed the security guard before they were out of their seat and rounding the counter to meet me.
“Hey, Frankie,” they greeted easily, smiling as I shuffled forward.
It was the right thing. I had no doubts. I had no reservations. My decision was clear as glass. I was still nervous as I met their eyes.
“I’ll walk you back,” they said, reaching out to give my arm a squeeze. “Doctor’s back there waiting on you.”
“Am I late?” I ask as I followed them into the back hallway.
“Nope,” they assured me. “You just won’t have to wait.”
We went over my options one more time. Discussed aftercare. The doctor was kind and matter of fact as she looked at my file. She didn’t question me for a moment as I answered her questions clearly and decisively.
I stared at the light covers that were decorated in blue skies and clouds until the medicine knocked me out. When I woke up in recovery, there was a warm blanket pulled up to my shoulders and a kind nurse sitting in a chair beside me.
“Feeling okay?” she asked as she rose to her feet.
“You’re already done?” I asked groggily.
“All done,” she confirmed with a small smile. “The procedure went perfectly. As soon as you’re up and around, you can have someone pick you up.”
“Okay,” I rasped, leaning back on the pillow as relief made my head feel light.
I was done. It was finally over. Tears rolled down my face as I closed my eyes. Thank God.
A little while later when I was feeling steadier, I sent for a car and put my clothes back on, glad that I’d opted for comfort when I’d gotten dressed. I wanted to crawl in bed and watch movies for the rest of the day or lose myself in a book. I wasn’t going to move until I had to be at work on Wednesday.
“Thanks, Jesse,” I called out as I passed the reception desk, my aftercare instructions and antibiotics stuffed into my purse.
“Take care,” they called back, looking at me over their shoulder.
The sun was bright against my eyeballs as I stepped outside, and I paused for a second to get my bearings. The car I’d ordered was sitting at the curb waiting, and I took a few steps forward before I froze.
I couldn’t get in there. I didn’t know that man. He was waiting patiently with a bland look on his face. He wasn’t threatening, he didn’t even seem very big, but I couldn’t make myself move.
“Frankie?” he called, leaning toward the passenger seat.
I shook my head. Even my vocal cords seemed to be frozen.
My hands shook as I pulled out my phone.
Gray answered on the first ring.
“You okay?”
“Hey,” I ground out, still staring at the car that was supposed to be driving me home. “Um, are you busy?”
“It’s noon on a Monday,” he replied dryly.
“Right. Um, never mind.”
“What do you need?”
“No, it’s okay. Sorry. I’ll talk to you—”
“Francesca,” he barked, cutting me off. “What do you need?”
“A ride?” I answered quietly.
“Where are you?”
I clenched my hand around my purse. “The clinic.”
“I’ll be there in ten.”
“You really don’t have to. I shouldn’t have called—”
“Ten minutes.”
He hung up before I could argue again.
“You sure you’re not Frankie?” the driver called through the open window.
“No,” I called back, going into the app to cancel the ride.
After a moment, the driver cursed and pulled back onto the road.
The minutes dragged by while I waited for Gray to get there. I should’ve made other arrangements, but I hadn’t realized that getting in a car with a stranger was going to spook me. We’d used that service hundreds of times in the last few years without a problem. Hell, I’d just used it an hour and a half before. I could handle myself, and if things got really squirrelly, I carried pepper spray in my purse.
“You can wait inside if you want,” Jesse called, poking their head out of the door. “Until your ride gets here.”
“That’s okay.” I shook my head.
“Okay, let me know if you change your mind. You want Hal to wait with you?”