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Chapter 172: Detente
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Diagnosis: Love Chapter 173: Lunch
NOAH"Thanks for meeting me today, Juliet." I stood up as she approached my table in the quiet little restaurant. "I appreciate it." She stepped just close enough for me to take her hand and offered me her cheek. "Well, I always enjoy a good grovel. And the chicken salad in this place is to die for." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I held her chair and then took my own seat. "I know it's one of your favorite places for lunch.""Yes, it is. Convenient to both the stadium and my house." Unfolding her napkin and smoothing it over her lap, she looked up at me expectantly. "All right. The small talk is over. The groveling can begin right now." I took a moment to sip my ice water. "I'm not here to apologize or-as you say-to grovel. I don't feel as though I have anything to be sorry for. I think I was perfectly within my rights in being angry last week when I found out you'd been lying to me-and lying to Alison, too." She raised one eyebrow. "I told you, I thought I was prote
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 174: Hospital
ALISON"I'm mortified." I covered my face with my hands. "This is so embarrassing." Dr. Pickler, the hospital's obstetrics attending, glanced up from his tablet. "Get used to it. Pregnancy and childbirth are one long exercise in losing your dignity." "Thanks for that word of encouragement." I was grateful for my good sense in having chosen Maggie Corning as my midwife. This guy had no bedside manner whatsoever.Before he could open his mouth and stick his foot in it again, the door to my room flew open, and Noah burst in. "Alison." His face was red, and he was breathing hard, as though he'd been running. "Thank God. They wouldn't tell me where you were, and I had to call Emma to get her to talk to the nurse so I could get in here-" He sucked in one deep breath and let it out. "Are you-how are you? What's going on?" I blinked a few times. "How did you know I was here?" Before he could answer, my brain caught up with what he'd just said. "Oh. Emma called you. I totally forgot t
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 175: Steadfast
ALISONIt didn't surprise me at all that I wasn't moved upstairs to a room on the labor and delivery floor until early evening. Nothing moved fast in a hospital unless someone was coding or racing toward the OR, and that didn't happen as often as some television shows would have us think. It also didn't surprise me that I was left largely alone by the staff in the ER while I was waiting to be moved. There wasn't much they could do for me, and as long as I wasn't complaining, bleeding, or puking, I was the least of their worries. What did surprise me was that Noah never left. He sat with me, periodically soaking the small towel for my head, wringing it out, and replacing it. He didn't fidget or skim social media on his phone. As a matter of fact, he never took out his phone at all. His attention was on me the entire time, and when they finally wheeled me upstairs, he walked alongside me, his hand in mine.I was still getting comfortable in the new room when Maggie arrived. "Lo
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 176: What comes next
NOAH"All right, Ms-uh, Dr. Wakely. I think we're going to send you home later this morning." The same doctor who I'd met the day before pulled the earpieces of his stethoscope from his ears as he straightened. He'd taken Alison's blood pressure and pronounced it improved. Her temperature was lower, hovering just around ninety-nine. She still looked wan and pale to me, and the dark circles beneath her eyes were even more pronounced, but I was pretty sure she wasn't feeling nearly as sick as she had the day before. "Good." Her voice was raspy, and she'd developed a slight cough. The doctor counseled us to let him know if her breathing was labored or if the cough became increasingly worse, and he offered some pregnancy-safe meds to help ease her symptoms. "Now for the next five to seven days, I'd like you to stick to bed rest as closely as you can. Get up to use the bathroom, and if you're feeling significantly better after the first few days, you could be up a little more, maybe
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 177: Setting up the future
NOAHBig surprise, Alison's discharge didn't happen until mid-afternoon. It wasn't because she wasn't healthy enough to go home: no, she was more than eager to leave and feeling well enough to make her wishes known. Clearly. But when I hunted down the nurse who was supposed to handle her discharge, the woman gave me a look of harried impatience."Yeah, we know she's waiting. So are many other patients who are scheduled to go home today. Dr. Pickler was called into an emergency C-section, and we didn't realize that he hadn't signed all of the paperwork before he went into the OR. As soon as he's available again, we'll have you on your way."I delivered this news to Alison, expecting a bolt of fury, but she only rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "Typical. I'm not surprised.""Why don't you try to get a little bit of sleep?" I suggested. "If we've got some time, I'd like to go downstairs and make a few calls."She raised one questioning eyebrow at me. "Got a lot of hot dates to
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 178: Someone to watch over me
ALISONWhen I'd bought my three-bedroom house in Bayerton, I'd wondered if I was crazy to choose a home with so many extra rooms. I had planned to use the extra bedrooms as an office and a guest room respectively, although I'd been dubious about who'd be coming to visit me, making the guest room necessary. Now, of course, I planned to turn the small room near mine into the baby's nursery instead of an office. I'd long ago given up on the plan to make the bedroom into an office when I'd realized that I preferred to do any paperwork at home downstairs in my living room to be comfortable. I'd ended up buying a bed for the guest room on a whim when I fell in love with a pretty fourposter at an antique fair. I'd bought a new mattress for it that remained wrapped in plastic, sitting on the bed frame without sheets or a quilt. I explained all of this to Noah as we drove home from the hospital. "At least you won't have to sleep on the sofa," I told him, finishing my meandering story of
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 179: Lies I tell myself
NOAHHonesty was important to me. It always had been. I'd been careful to remind Alison that the two of us needed to be transparent with each other if this unorthodox living situation ever had a chance of working. I'd been strict with myself about being truthful with her, no matter what.But I was still lying to myself. I lied to myself every time Alison smiled and I wanted to kiss her breathless. I told myself that it was just because she was a woman I'd had sex with and I was a horny bastard. And every time she leaned a certain way and her shirt pulled over those full, luscious tits, my dick went hard, and I told myself it was perfectly normal to react this way. Just a visual stimulus. Nothing more. I lied to myself a lot. I'd sold myself and Alison on the idea of us living together as friendly parents-to-be, and I hadn't been wrong. It was important. I knew that every morning when Alison came downstairs and offered me a grateful smile for the decaf coffee and breakfast I had
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 180: Baby shower
ALISON"There's the glowing mama-to-be!" Emma folded me into a tight hug as I stepped into the cabin. "Look at you, Alison. I don't think you've ever been more beautiful." I wrinkled my nose. "Oh, tell me, what is it that you find more attractive? The way I waddle instead of walking? The swollen ankles? The red nose?"She gave my arm a gentle squeeze. "It's the whole package, sweetie. You just look . . . happy." She studied me. "Are you?"I hesitated. Answering that question in the affirmative felt . . . dangerous. Risky. The last time I'd copped to happiness, it had been cruelly yanked away from me. If that happened again . . .But no. I wasn't going to think that way. I remembered something that Brooke had said to me at a recent session: Don't let fear rob you of joy.So now, I let out the smile that I was feeling and nodded. "I am. I really am. I mean, life isn't perfect. I'm still nervous about motherhood, and sometimes, I wonder how I'm going to juggle everything. But I'm t
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