Page 50 of Clean Sweep
“You’re a good man, Landon.”
He scoffed. “This has nothing to do with being a hero and everything to do with keeping her on this planet with me. That’s it. I’m a selfish bastard at the core, really, because I don’t want to lose her.”
The ferocity of his expression convinced me, if the force of his voice hadn’t.
“How are you going to make this happen?” I asked. “Looks like she has a stack of medical bills awaiting her, a long, uncertain road ahead, and it sounds like you have a job or something?”
“Or something,” he said and nodded. “Yes, I found a job. I’ve become a drug rep for a pharmaceutical company that wants to emphasize more offices in this area.”
“Drug rep?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “They take people that don’t get into medical school all the time. It’s a good fit. It kind of keeps me in the medical sphere without having to go to 8,000 years of college.”
“It’s a far cry from a cardiothoracic surgeon.”
Landon met my challenging gaze. “I know,” he said without wavering, “but none of that mattered once I found her. And I really wasn’t sure I wanted it anyway. Before I met Starla, I’d been seriously questioning medical school. Four years of college is enough for right now. Something elsewillcome. For now, however, my focus is Starla.”
I made a mental note to coach him on whatnotto say to Leslie when he explained this situation.
“You have insurance through this new job?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Good. Do you have enough income?”
He nodded reluctantly, his gaze darting a skeptical glance around the apartment. “For now,” he said.
“Good. You’ve got a good start, college degree or not. Sounds like she won’t be able to work?”
He hesitated. “She wants to, but she was working at a daycare when she got the diagnosis. With treatment—probably chemo and radiation—she can’t work there. She had to quit a week ago because her symptoms have gotten worse.”
“So, no.”
“No.”
“Will she be safe here while you’re gone? What if she needs to get to the hospital? She clearly can’t get herself there on her own.”
His brow furrowed with the first sign of trouble. I glanced around.
“Let me help you answer that,” I said. “No, she definitely won’t be able to keep herself safe or take care of herself. I know people everywhere, Landon. Let me help you find a better place to stay where there is more support for youandStarla.”
Landon’s nostrils flared for a moment, and I saw the struggle. A man like him thrived on pride. On the ability to take care of the woman he loved and the life he chose. He was young and eager to prove himself. My offer wouldn’t be easy to take, but the guy had plastic forks and a ratty rug to his name. Not to mention inherited medical bills, and who-knew-how-many-more on the way.
Finally, he nodded once.
“Sounds good.” He swallowed. “Thanks, coach.”
I stood up and clapped him on the shoulder. He squared to me and tilted his chin back. Though still smaller and leaner through the shoulders, he wasn’t far away from finally being stronger than me.
“You’ve got this, Landon. It’s an impossible situation, but you’ve always thrived in those. One last question.”
“Why haven’t I told my Mom?”
I nodded.
“Starla asked me not to, not with Christmas coming up. She didn’t want my family’s first impression of her to be one ofthe sick girl. Doesn’t want anyone to think she married me for the insurance or anything like that. She has a really ugly road ahead and she just wants our first Christmas together to be normal. As normal as it can be,” he added quietly, with a vague wave to the back room.
“Okay.”
