Max took a moment to let Dan’s words sink in. They didn’t make much sense. The discord between Dan and Carla made it sound like Jed had been sick for a while, but he’d only been gone a week, and Max would’ve noticed if Jed was ill, wouldn’t he? They shared a bed, for God’s sake.
He thought back to the occasional days Jed was out of sorts, the days when he’d lie very still on the couch and not speak a word. Those days seemed to coincide with physical therapy. Max didn’t see Jed’s scars the way he knew Jed feared he did, but it wasn’t hard to imagine the pain behind them. Perhaps he’d let his imagination get the better of him.
But… no. That didn’t make any sense. Jed’s leg was healing. He’d run the loop of the lake twice last week and hardly broken a sweat. How could it be that he’d been sick all this time?
Flo leaned against Max’s leg. She seemed more at ease in the hospital than she had all week. Guilt gnawed at Max’s chest as he remembered her trying to pull him toward the ER entrance a few hours ago. Was it possible that she’d known Jed was inside all along? Inside, sick and in pain?
Of course it was.
He knelt down beside her, letting her nuzzle his ear. “Where’s Jed, girl? Where is he? Walk on.”
He wasn’t deranged enough to believe she understood the words, but she understood the command well enough. She trotted forward, letting her nose and instincts take her where she wanted to go. Max did the same and followed her out of the waiting area and down the corridor to a small reception desk.
The nurse behind the desk smiled. “Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Jed Cooper? He was admitted today.”
“Just a minute.” The nurse checked her computer screen. “Are you a relative?”
“We live together. I’m his brother-in-law.” In a roundabout way, it was vaguely true, or at least explainable if he was pressed.
“What’s your name?”
“Max O’Dair.”
“Ah, yes. I have you here as next of kin.”
That gave Max pause. He recalled the “veteran’s crap” conversation he’d had with Jed just after he’d moved in, but he’d never imagined Jed would actually write his name on the HIPAA form. “Um, how is he?”
“Better than he was… oh, hang on, here’s Dr. Phelps. He can tell you more.” The nurse flagged down a passing doctor. “Dr. Phelps? This is Sergeant Cooper’s next of kin. He’d like an update.”
The doctor trailed to a stop and placed a stack of files on the raised part of the desk. He eyed Flo. Max could tell he was trying to read the alert sign on her jacket without overtly turning his head.
“Epilepsy,” Max supplied.
Dr. Phelps started, surprised that Max had caught him out. Perhaps he thought Max was blind as well as a freak. “Fascinating,” he said thinly, and Max decided immediately that he didn’t like him. Doctors were often like that—either awesome or total pricks. This one was clearly a prick.
“How’s Jed?”
“Well, we’ve managed to calm the vomiting, and give him something for the pain, but he’s severely anemic right now. It’s going to take a while to put that right.”
“Anemic? That’s… iron, right?”
“Yes. It’s fairly common in people with gastroparesis. Jed’s digestive system doesn’t work as efficiently as, say, yours or mine, and nutrients aren’t absorbed through the gut as well as they should be. It’s manageable most of the time, but put together with a relapse and the resulting weakness and dehydration, it can be very dangerous.”
Max’s head spun. Gastroparesis. It sounded like the name of the unit, but he had no more idea what it meant than he did the sign above his head. “And that’s what’s making him sick? A gastroparesis… relapse?”
“Yes. He’s very depleted right now. I’m surprised he walked in here at all.”
Max wasn’t. Many things had surprised him today, but not that. Jed was more quietly stubborn than anyone he’d ever known. “What happens next?”
Dr. Phelps reached for his paperwork. “My attending, Dr. Howarth, will be in later to assess him and decide on a treatment plan. For now, we’ll let him rest.”
The doctor nodded his good-byes and walked away. The nurse reached over the desk and patted Max’s arm. “Lots of rest and TLC will set him right. We put him in room four, but you can’t take your dog back on the floor. She can stay here with me a few minutes if you can manage without her?”
Max pulled the leash out of his pocket, clipped it on Flo, and handed her over. He knew from personal experience that this particular hospital was pretty tolerant of Flo, unless her presence put other patients at risk. “Stay, girl.”
He followed the nurse’s directions along the corridor to a side room with a plastic number four stuck to it. Jed lay asleep in the hospital bed. IVs protruded from both arms, and oxygen tubes snaked across his face and into his nose. He lookedawful, pale and exhausted. Max longed to go to him, to smooth the lines of pain from his face, but he didn’t. Instead, he found himself frozen in the doorway, unsure if Jed would want him to come any closer.