Page 108 of Soft
I opened the door, and he was standing on my porch in a plain gray t-shirt and dark jeans. His ballcap was on backwards, making me wish he was here to take me to bed rather than to the doctor.
"Ready to go, baby?"
"Not yet. You're a bit early."
"I know. Wanted to be sure you didn’t have too much time alone to worry about this. After I move in, you won’t have to answer the door for me."
After letting him inside, I took off for the bedroom. I’d been back there getting ready before his arrival. Of course, Daddy followed and asked questions along the way.
"How are you feeling about the appointment? Any nerves?"
"Nope," I lied.
He leaned against the doorjamb, giving me a look that said he could smell my bullshit from a mile away. I would’ve argued if the expression wasn’t so accurate.
"Nervous," I amended.
He nodded like that was the correct answer, and he was glad I'd found it. "Me too, a little."
That surprised me enough I turned to face him. "You are?"
"Sure." He moved into the room. "I want to know what she's going to say. I want to know what we're working with." He paused. "I've been thinking about the questions I want to ask her."
I stared at him.
"You have a list, don’t you?" How had I not predicted this? It made perfect sense for him to do so when I thought about it.
"In my phone." He said without any hesitation. "I didn't want to forget anything while we were in the room. Sometimes when there's a lot going on, you come out afterward and realize you didn't ask the thing you most needed to ask, and then you have to wait until the next appointment to get it answered. I didn't want that to happen."
I thought about the first appointment where Dr. Whipell's face gave away what she hadn’t quite said yet. How I understood, without having been told yet, that I was about to get bad news.
"You didn't have to make a list," I said, since there wasn’t much else I could think to reply with.
"I wanted to. You can look at it in the car if you want. Add anything I missed."
"Thank you, Daddy," I said, which was insufficient, but it was what I had.
He smiled, then gave me a quick kiss. "Finish getting ready. We've got time, but not a ton of it."
Daddy drove us to Dr. Whipell’s office, getting us there right on time. He found a parking spot close to the door, which was a feat I’d yet to achieve.
"Lucky," I grunted before climbing out.
He turned off the engine and looked at the building for a moment. "Ready?"
"No," I admitted.
"Okay." He opened his door. "Let's go anyway."
The waiting area was small and well-lit, which I chose to take as a good sign even though it was almost certainly coincidence. The reception woman recognized me and greeted me with a smile.
She looked at Daddy for longer than I liked. I didn’t want to turn into a jealous gremlin in my doctor’s office, but she was pushing my limits.
"You're —" she started.
"Yep," he said, pleasantly, in a way that was neither dismissive nor encouraging. "He has a nine o'clock with Dr. Whipell."
She refocused at his words. Forms were produced, which I filled out at the small table by the window while Daddy sat beside me.
