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“Wh-what? Shouldn’t we have to wait?”
“When my wife is sick? You’re not waiting for a single fucking thing. Come on.”
“L-Levi, seriously. We could just go home. This is gonna besoexpensive.”
“We’re seeing a doctornow,Amy,” he snapped. “I won’t accept no for an answer.”
Fuck.He was mad. And I didn’t blame him. He didn’t know what was going on, and now I’d ignored him all day, possibly subjecting him to questions from Isra and Nancy, and ruining the other tentative things we’d wanted to do. I hated that I had bad days.
And that it often made people angry.
Lily was good at tolerating the times when I would go quiet. She was so busy with writing and creating her own worlds that I doubted she noticed. But she’d always been such a relaxed friend. Before I met her, people weren’t so chill.
It was why I kept my migraines to myself. Usually, no one needed to know because the medicine worked so well, but I’d flown too close to the sun. I’d gotten too comfortable with not having them and then let one sneak up on me.
And now I’d pay the consequences.
I let him lead me to the back room while my eyes stayed glued to the floor. I nearly fell into the chair and hoped that they would move faster so I could get relief and apologize to Levi.
“And who is this?” the nurse asked as she took my vitals.
“Husband,” I replied. It was all I could say.
“Are you okay with him being here?”
I gave a thumbs-up, unable to nod. He might as well know the full story.
“Your blood pressure is high,” the nurse said.
“It usually is when I get one this bad.”
“Are you on any medicine?”
“Beta blockers ... but I ran out of those a few days ago.”
Levi’s eyes shot to me.
“Why didn’t you get a refill?” the nurse asked.
“My doctor’s office needed to see me in person and I don’t have insurance.”
“Ah, I understand.” A silence settled over the room, as it always did whenever I was at the doctor and mentioned how little money I had. The nurse couldn’t do anything about how expensive health care was in America, and I didn’t blame her anyway. Just like everything else, I sometimes had to go without.
“That won’t be a problem again,” Levi muttered. I winced at the sound. His anger was only growing, and I could imagine what he was thinking right now.
Do you know how mad Isra is because of this?
You should have warned me.
Ugh. It wasn’t going to be easy.
“Dr. Spinel will be in here momentarily. I hope you feel better.”
Once she was gone, silence settled on us again.
“I’m sorry,” I said. Levi only looked at me, his jaw ticked. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer earlier.”
His entire posture was a rigid line, and I looked back at the ground, putting my head in my hands.