"Please," Rocky pointed to the desk in the center of the room. "Have a seat and let me look at your ear.”
Rose gave me a curious glance, mouthing ‘gumpy’ with a questioning look but I shook my head and pulled her towards the desk. I smiled, loving the cute look on her face as she settled in on top of the desk. Rocky opened up a large black bag, rumbling through it.
"Now.” A squeaky sound came from his bag and her eyes tore away from me to look at it. He ignored her curious gaze and began pulling all kinds of crap from his bag and throwing it onto the top of the desk next to her. A bike bell, small stuffed animals, ring pops and balloons. "Where is my ear looker?"
A laugh burst from Rose, her eyes wide as more and more piled up. Lollipops, bubble gum, spinner tops…
A small smile played at Rocky's lips and I knew all this was his way of getting Rose comfortable with him.
"Ah yes,' he finally said, pulling out his otoscope and squinting his eyes as he stared at the end, finally pressing the button that turned on the light. Then he held it up to her, presenting it liike she'd won something at the fair. “Here it is."
The smile on her face was priceless. Beautiful.
It made my goddamn heart squeeze so hard.
"Now," he shuffled over to her side, "let's have a lookiesie, shall we?"
Giving in to the impulse, I touched her lips, needing to feel her smile and her eyes went to me, the connection buzzing between us as Rocky peered down into her ear.
After a moment, he pulled back, clicking off the light, and Rose's smile dimmed, her fingers fidgeting. "Well?"
He gave her a frown. “It's very serious."
“It is?"
“Yes.” He nodded solemnly. “It looks as if you've managed to do something that no one else has ever done."
"What’s that?” Her voice was tight.
He turned to me, his finger bopping me on the nose. "You've managed to make this hardened guppie worry about you, that's what.”
"What?!” she breathed through a laugh.
"Yes," he nodded, still giving her a serious look, though the edges of his lips were trickling upwards. "It's a miracle."
I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "There are lots of people I care about."
"Yes, yes," he waved my comment away, beginning to shove the things back into his bag. "Now, as to your ear."
He picked up a red styrofoam ball and folded it over her nose with a smile. "You have a busted ear drum.”
"What does that mean?" she asked.
"It's nothing serious, especially because it doesn't look infected. It can be fixed with surgery but it shouldn’t come to that. Give it a couple of weeks and you'll get your hearing back. If you don't, call me, and I'll look at it again, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I’m serious.” His humor died away. “Don’t keep it to yourself. Make Bourbon spend money on you, he doesn’t need it and you deserve it. Otherwise, you will loose your hearing.” He held out his pinky finger. “Pinky promise you will.”
“I promise.” She agreed, shaking pinkies with him, then she leaned upwards and kissed him on the cheek. "And thank you. This means a lot to me."
He gasped in a breath, putting his hand to his cheek and stumbled back dramatically. “The kiss of a princess. You've awoken my dead heart. Are you sure you’re not available for a date with an old man?”
She snickered and I shook my head at him, scowling. "Yes Rocky, she's unavailable."
"Well," he pulled her back into a hug and she relaxed into him, then whispered in her ear. “Just say the word and I'll take you away from this terribly grumpy man."
She laughed again, squeezing him tight. “I think I can handle him.”
“I know you can, dear, but do you really want to?” He stood back and picked up his bag, giving her a wink. "I'll see you next time, but hopefully it won't be too soon."
Then he put on a black hat and, after giving me a meaningful look, he walked out the door, leaving me alone with Rose.