Page 103 of Perfect Chemistry

“No,” I whispered in defeat.

“You’re doing it today. Let’s go!” He urged, shoving me into the bathroom and closing the door.

“Rude…” I grumbled, turning on the shower and stripping off my pajamas.

All of this started when I had my address officially changed to Kai’s house. Letters held by the post office were delivered in bulk.

Then my folks brought a few boxes from their house, and one was filled with unopened mail. Kai joked that I had a ton of fan mail at first, but then got serious when he realized the majority were letters from the veterans’ office requesting follow ups on my health care.

* * *

“Did you send what they needed?” He asked a week later.

“What who needed?”

“Kat. Have you sent your stuff to the VA yet?” He asked, looking annoyed.

“I think I sent it off.”

“You think?”

“Well… I meant to. But I forgot it when I ran to the site for work,” I lied.

“Where is it? I’ll mail it tomorrow when I go to work.” He offered. He took one look at my face and knew I was lying.

“Get your laptop, Kat.”

“What? Why?” I asked, grabbing my laptop and setting it on the table.

“You’re doing this now. What do you need to fill out the medical claims?” He asked, rummaging through a box of paperwork for my medical records.

I stopped moving. “Kai, we don’t have time for this. I’m supposed to be meeting Andie in thirty minutes.”

He didn’t even bat an eye before calling Andie and telling on me. I could hear her screaming through the phone. She was so pissed, she proceeded to further rat me out and told him she was bringing the rest of my stuff over. Apparently, there were records in the boxes of things at her place that I would need.

“How does she know what I need?” I asked defensively when Kai hung up.

“Apparently, your Doctor Giancolo gave you a nearly completed packet that just needed to be mailed a year and half ago!” He growled in frustration at me.

* * *

Three weeks… It took three weeks for the VA to process my medical disability claims and schedule my appointments.

Today, I was scheduled with a general health doctor, a nutcracker, an osteopath, and a ‘full photo shoot’ in radiology. I didn’t want to seem like a whiner and tell someone how broken I was. There were guys far more damaged than I was, and it didn’t feel right claiming ‘disability’ when I could walk around and work.

I dressed in a pair of loose jeans and a sweater. It wasn’t cold yet, but the damp fall weather always left me feeling chilled. Kai was waiting for me in the kitchen with a cup of hot coffee and breakfast.

“Don’t I need to fast or something like that for blood work?” I asked him, eyeing the bacon and egg sandwich he prepared for me.

“They said you can eat. They’ll do the bloodwork later today, so it will be okay to eat breakfast.”

I grudgingly sipped the steaming cup of coffee. How did he always make it so perfectly? Kai smirked as a small moan escaped my lips.

Damn it.

“Now hurry up and eat so we can get there on time,” he chuckled, turning to put his dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

Feeling extremely petulant, I ate that sandwich like it was my last meal, and savored every damn bite. Kai didn’t say a word and just leaned against the counter with his arms crossed, watching me. When the last morsel was in my mouth, he grabbed my plate and coffee cup and put them in the dishwasher.

---