Page 104 of My Best Years

“Callum,” she repeats, her tone thick with grave concern. Her eyes frantically dart between mine, searching for an answer. “What is it? What’s going on?”

I purse my lips together and shake my head, trying to ride out the wave of agony.

“I…” I try to speak, but my words trail off as another jolt of pain shoots down my arm.

“Fuck. It hurts.”

Overcome with worry, Birdie lets the sheets fall from her naked body and straddles my waist, never removing her hands from my jaw. Her eyes shift from my face, to my chest, anddown my torso as she attempts to assess me, but her shoulders slump when she doesn’t immediately pinpoint anything.

“Cal,” her voice cracks with emotion. “Talk to me, baby. Tell me what hurts, or at least try to show me.”

Ollie attempts to jump between us, his paws brushing against my stomach as he lets out a string of anxious whimpers.

“It’s okay, Ollie,” Birdie exhales, her voice shaky. “He’s okay. I’m going to take care of him, bud. He’ll be okay.”

She quickly rubs the top of Ollie’s head before he huffs out a whine and lays down beside us.

“Listen to me, Cal,” she instructs, returning her attention to me. “I need you to tell me if you’ve taken any new medications recently. Are you having trouble breathing? Any chest pain?”

Just as the spasm starts to subside, Birdie’s hands are everywhere. Her fingers poke and prod around my chest and abdomen before she reaches for my wrist to check my pulse. Once she gets a reading of my heart rate, she instructs me to open my mouth before looking deep inside my throat. My first thought is that she’s checking for an allergic reaction.

She’s in full-on nurse mode, trying her best to keep calm while assessing me as quickly as possible.

I shake my head in protest when she closes her eyes, trying to focus as she rechecks my pulse.

“It’s,” I pant, “my arm. “I can breathe. It’s just…my right arm.”

Her body freezes when she hears my voice. Her eyes snap up to meet mine.

“Oh, thank God,” she exhales a relieved breath, placing a hand over her chest. “Callum, you almost gave me a heart attack.” She leans forward and presses her lips to mine before trailing kisses along my cheek and jaw.

Fuck.I love her.

Her brows furrow in confusion when she pulls back.

“Did this come out of nowhere? Have you injured your arm recently?”

“No.”

I finally feel like I can focus long enough to take a full breath as the last of the pain starts to dissipate. I push off the mattress with my good arm and sit up straighter with Birdie still in my lap.

“Maybe you injured it without knowing,” she guesses. “Did you lift anything unusually heavy today?”

“No, it’s not that,” I clear my throat. “Have you ever woken up with a leg pain that takes your breath away? It starts off feeling like a sharp knife, then it’s like your muscles try to crawl out of your skin.”

“If you’re referring to a charley horse, then yes,” she nods. “But most people experience cramps like that in their legs at night… It’s not as common in the arms.”

“Well, that’s exactly what it felt like just now. At first, the pain was in my shoulder, and then it shot down to my elbow. I never know when it’s going to happen, but once it does, it’s fucking debilitating.”

Her brows knit together as the color leaves her face.

“What do you mean?” she asks quietly. “Does this happen to you a lot?”

“At first, the episodes were maybe once a month.” I pause and push a hand through my hair. “But over the past six months, they’ve been more frequent.”

Her expression stills, scaring the ever-loving shit out of me. She seemed so calm less than a minute ago.

Now, she looks like she could throw up.

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