Page 244 of ClickBack

“I’m nervous about the appointment.”

“What do they have to do?”

I explain the removal and replacement, then tell him about the biopsy before Dr. Holder took over. I have told him pieces of the medical history. I have not described lying on a table apologizing for pain somebody else kept insisting was manageable.

His hand stops moving on my arm.

“You told them to stop?”

“I told her it hurt. I thought that should be enough.”

“It should’ve been.”

I look at him.

“Dr. Holder did the procedure under anesthesia afterward. She placed the first IUD then. She’s worked out a pain-control plan with me for this one. I won’t be driving myself afterward.”

“What day?”

I give him the date and time. He takes out his phone and checks his calendar.

“I’ve got Sterling that morning. That can move. I need to check the team schedule and travel with Cam.”

“Di can take me if it doesn’t work.”

“Okay. Let me check first.”

I start to tell him it isn’t necessary, then stop. I would like him there. Pretending otherwise will not make me easier to love.

“I’d like that,” I say.

His gaze lifts from the phone. “Then that’s what we’re trying to do.”

He adds the appointment, sends Cam a message, and puts the phone aside. We have time to work it out. I don’t need a guarantee tonight.

“You might have to wait in the car,” I tell him.

“Why?”

“Because I would prefer not to spend the afternoon explaining why you were seen outside a gynecologist’s office.”

“Fuck what they think. I’m taking you to the doctor.”

“They won’t know that.”

“Then they won’t know.”

I laugh, and he puts an arm around me.

“We’ll figure it out,” he says. “I’m not letting somebody with a phone decide whether you get company.”

I kiss him. At first it is a thank-you, and then he turns toward me and takes the trouble to make it something else. His hand settles at my hip. I slide one knee across him and climb into his lap.

“You done studying?” I ask.

He reaches past me for the remote. The television goes dark.

“Been done.”