Page 44 of Five Alarm Love
Lou shifted from foot to foot.Finally, she shook her head.“I can’t do this.”She trudged away.
Her absence took a chunk of him with her.
Tuli turned to watch her leave, then rotated back.
Hunter smiled, his face dark and his teeth white.“Your move,boss.”
Chapter Fifteen
Late the followingMonday afternoon, Lou restocked the ambulance.She and Hilda had returned from an all-day transport to Fairbanks and back.Now it was time to check equipment and wait for the next call.Lou was hoping to get some studying done as well.The paramedic coursework started online today, and she was eager to dive into the material.
If she could focus.
Seemed like the hardest thing to do these days was calm the swirling thoughts and concentrate on one thing at a time.
“Hi, honey,” a familiar voice rang out across the ambulance bay as the garage door opened.
Lou brushed her hands on her navy EMS cargo pants and waved at Mom.Gordy entered behind her, still wearing his high-visibility orange vest.They must have been out walking today, taking advantage of decent weather before the seasons changed.
Immediately, Gordy gave a barking laugh, his way of expressing love.Lou smiled.
Thanks to several months of physical therapy, he had gotten stronger after the severe seizures, which had been followed by a secondary pneumonia earlier this spring.Even now, though, he wasn’t back to his full health, but he was better.That was all anyone could ask, given his underlying condition.
“He finished up his afternoon hike around town and wanted to stop by and say hi.I hope you don’t mind,” Mom said.
His thin fingers worked over the tablet suspended in a case from his neck.“Hug Lou-Lou,” the machine intoned.
Lou let Gordy drape his arms on her shoulders and press his forehead to hers.“Anytime we’re here, you guys are welcome to stop by.”She leaned back and tugged at the vest.“You were busy today, huh?Getting free snacks at the diner, I bet.”
Gordy grinned.Busted.He moved his hand on the machine.“Yes.”
Hilda waved and said, “Hi, Mrs.Wright.Hi, Gordy!”as she headed into the EMT lounge.
Lou gave Gordy a proper hug.If his return embrace seemed weaker than usual, she didn’t mention anything to Mom.Sweet love twisted into sour concern.Lou was looking at her future.This is what the genetic report meant.
Gordy was a walking, talking—well, not talking, but laughing—miracle of medical care and resilience, but he had already lived a difficult life and had more challenges ahead of him.The late twenties were when patients with Bledsoe Syndrome began to decline.Gordy was thirty.Her chest ached.
Lou couldn’t willingly have a child who might be similarly affected.She shook her head, still trying to wrap her mind around the way her future had completely changed.Options were out of her control.
“What’s wrong?”Mom said, touching Lou’s forehead.“You’re thinking really hard right there.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Is it a boy?”
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.“I’m twenty-six.There are noboysaround.”
“It’s always about boys.They’re a mess.”She gave Gordy a kindhearted nudge with her elbow.
Gordy made his classic throat-slashing hand gesture to indicate he was not happy with the direction this conversation was going.
“Fine, fine.Someboys are trouble.Never you.”Lou laughed along with him.Sobering, she said, “Mom, I got the results back from that genetic test.”
“Oh?”
“The results weren’t what I had hoped for.”
Her face fell.“I am so sorry, honey.I don’t know what to say.”
