Page 22 of Free Heart
“I don’t want you to feel obligated—”
“But I am obligated,” I say. “Because you’re my boyfriend, and I love you. You’d do the same for me, right?”
Dan’s eyes flicker a little angrily. “Of course I would, but—”
“But nothing. We have other things to talk about instead of arguing over whether we’re in love enough to take care of each other when we’re hurt or sick—”
“I do love you that much.”
“So let me do this,” I say, tucking his blankets up around his shoulders. They always keep it so cold in the hospital. “Let me figure out how to take care of you and still meet my other obligations.”
“Alright.”
“Good. The next thing to consider is your plan of care. You’ll eventually need PT, obviously, but you have no insurance. The hospital bills are going to be—” I shake my head. “They’re going to be a lot. We can work with the hospital to see about pleading poverty and get some of it written off, but it’s going to require you surrendering whatever’s left in your trust most likely.”
“Fine.”
“Also, you don’t have the ability to work, especially now, so…we’ll have to figure out another way to get you the necessary PT.”
“Won’t CaliMed pay for it?”
“It can help out, but there’s the problem of you living in Mariposa County, which means someone will either have to drive you to Fresno a few times a week, or we’ll need a therapist to come to the house. I’m not sure how to arrange for that, or how to pay for it. It’s a lot.”
“Right. A lot you don’t need to be worrying about. I can deal with it.”
“While you’re zonked on pain meds? Sure. Go ahead. I’d like to see you try.”
Dan huffs, but he doesn’t argue with me. “So, what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know. We should talk to Rye and Lowell, probably. They are, or were, in the business of rescuing people, and EMTs and folks like that usually have connections or friends in thehealth business. Maybe they know of a PT in the area who can help you at a discounted rate or, hell, simply out of the goodness of their heart.”
“And if I just don’t get a therapist? If I wing it on my own?”
“Always on your own, huh?” I murmur. “You could try, but I don’t know if you should. Your leg is seriously messed up. They say if you do everything just right, you’ll be able to climb again, but if youdon’t, you could make yourself permanently lame. A licensed therapist can make sure you’re training the right way so that doesn’t happen.”
Dan rubs his hands over his face, shaking his head. “Fuck.”
I pull up a chair and sit in it. “So that’s why I’m stressed out. I need to coordinate all this stuff, and make it to my job at Papa Bear, and we’ll need money, so I have to get back to Tater Tots sooner rather than later too, and—”
“Well, you can’t do it all alone either,” Dan says. “People need to help us both.”
“Yeah.”
“How do I get them to do that?”
I smile and take his hand again. “I guess we’ll have to see if what you’ve been telling me and Peggy Jo is true.”
“What’s that?”
“That you have friends,” I tease.
Dan frowns, biting into his lower lip before muttering, “Oh, hell. I probably don’t.”
“Yeah. You do. You have a few.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Dan
