Page 31 of Somewhere We Belong

“Want to let me know how you are feeling while I make sure you are ok?” he asked, pulling out a flashlight from his pocket.

I nodded.

“Any headaches?”

I shook my head.

“Have you been drinking water?”

I looked away realizing I hadn’t really had anything to drink or eat today.

“Any stabbing pain?” He turned my face to look at him.

I shook my head again as he flashed the light in my eyes trying to keep still even though my eyes didn’t like the brightness.

“Are you just tired?”

“Yeah, like I need to catch up on rest, but that's all I have been doing,” I said. keeping the bitterness out of my voice. “I’m tired of being tired.”

“A concussion you suffered is tiresome to handle,” he said. “Follow my pen.”

I did as he asked.

“You are looking better. I know it’s hard to stay here when you feel like you have so much to do, but if you try and do too much before you’re ready, you’re only going to make the healing process last so much longer,” he said, standing up. “You also need to eat and drink a lot of water. Please don’t rush your healing process. Do it for Sol.”

I clenched my jaw, even though it hurt my head. Damn everyone using my daughter against me.

“I’ll bring you food and something to drink,” he said before leaving.

I almost said forget about it, but the moment I smelled the roast, my mouth watered.

“Theo’s roast is the best and it's even better when he remembers to let it slow cook for eight hours,” Atlas said, as he walked in with a tray of food and my big jug of water I usually took to work.

“It smells wonderful.” I sat up fluffing up the pillows behind me.

My shoulder twinged when I moved too much. I could handle the concussion, but this damn shoulder was limiting my movement, and I was getting tired of it.

Atlas set the tray over my lap, and handed me my water bottle. Once the cool water hit my tongue, I realized how thirsty I was. I don’t think I had any liquids other than some coffee today.

As I ate, Atlas told me about his day and how crazy the residents of Sterling Ridge were. He talked about two patients without saying their names and the wild shenanigans our elderly population was getting into. His face lit up as he talked about seeing patients and Dr. Gordon letting him take the reins. They also had a woman who came in saying she was having contractions, but as soon as they sent her to the hospital, they stopped.

“I think you were born to help people,” I said, admiring him even more.

“It was either become a doctor or go into law enforcement, but as I did more research, I decided becoming a doctor would be the right path to take. Even though it was hard being away from Theo and Colt, I’ve always wondered if it would have been easier to be a cop.” Atlas shrugged when he looked up at me with so much emotion in his eyes, it took my breath away. “But now that we’ve endured it and we've come out the other end of being long distance, I’m so glad I didn’t quit. I love being a doctor and I always thought about going into research, but that would require me to stay away longer, and I think it was time I was back with them.”

Jealousy tore through me at their love. You would have to be blind not to see it, but they loved each other like they were the air they breathed and it seemed like it was a fantasy. Yes, I was a bitter woman who thought I had been in love only to find out that love will always be conditional. Maybe one day I would experience even a quarter of the love they had. It goes to showyou, love doesn’t see color, age, gender or how many people are in a relationship.

“I can’t picture you in law enforcement.” I tried to imagine him in a police uniform.

“My brother was taken from us when I was four,” he sighed. “They never found him and even though he was legally pronounced dead, I can’t help but wonder if he is alive and if I could find him.”

“I’m so sorry, Atlas,” I said, feeling awful for him.

He shrugged. “Life hasn’t been so easy.”

“What kind of research piqued your interest?” I asked to steer the conversation to something that didn’t bring up sad memories.

“Cancer runs in the family and it's how I lost my mother and sister,” he said solemnly. “I was four when my mother got diagnosed with cancer. That was the year my brother was kidnapped; my mother was devastated, and she died shortly after that. Two years later Cali was diagnosed with leukemia and because we were in the system, there weren’t a lot of people to take care of us together, so we got separated and she died a year later.”

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