Page 21 of When the Leaves Fall

LUCA

“ A re you serious?” I cheer. “You’re going to let me go?” I don’t want to get my hopes up. This has happened before; Mom has promised I’d be able to go somewhere or hang out with friends and that she would find someone to stay with Dad, but it always falls through.

“Yes, honey,” she smiles down at me. “I already worked it all out with Sean’s parents. They’ll be here to pick you up in about an hour.”

I jump into her arms, squeezing her tightly. “Thank you so much, Mom!” Water wells in my eyes, but I quickly wipe them on my mom’s scrub top. I don’t want her to see me cry. I need to be her strong little man.

“ W ait,” I say to Lisa, another nurse on shift tonight. “Fall Fest is this weekend? Already?”

“Already?” she laughs. “It’s the second weekend of October, Luca.”

“It’s…what? When did that happen?” I pull out my phone and sure enough, she’s right.

“Yeah, October snuck up on me this year, too,” she mentions. “I work Friday night but am hoping to hit up the Fest on Saturday evening.”

Lisa and I are standing near the nurse’s station with a few other colleagues, chatting about our weekend plans.

I go to the Fall Fest every year, but have been so busy lately, with all my spare time sneaking around with Drew, I didn’t realize it was time already.

The voices of my colleagues drift away as I get lost in my thoughts.

I have Friday night off and would love to go to Fest, but Drew and I made plans for dinner and a movie at my place.

That’s all we can really do without risking getting caught.

But if her mom is moved to the new floor on Friday, then I’m no longer her nurse.

Meaning, maybe it would be okay for Drew and me to go out in public.

Obviously, we wouldn’t start making out in front of everyone, but we could have like a real date.

An actual night out of my apartment. Just the thought of that makes my stomach swirl.

A real date with Drew.

I have to find the right way to bring it up.

I wave bye to everyone and head back into Sandra’s room .

“Ready to use the bathroom, Sandra?” I ask.

She nods in reply, and we take our time maneuvering her out of bed.

She uses the walker to slowly walk to the bathroom.

She was so excited when she graduated to using the actual toilet in the bathroom, versus the portable toilet we would bring next to her bed.

Ha! A memory of her, a couple of weeks back, when she first started talking, flashes through my mind.

She was hooked up to a catheter but still insisted she needed to use the toilet.

She wasn’t physically strong enough to get out of bed yet, but she sure as hell kept trying.

And she’s strong. It took multiple of us to keep her in bed and then convince her it was okay to let it flow.

I laugh the thought away. I turn to give her some privacy and then help her clean and wash up before getting her back into bed for the night. She asks to watch the Hallmark channel, but falls asleep within ten minutes of the show being on.

“So,” I say to Drew.

“So,” she replies and shoots me a wink.

“About Friday?—”

She cuts me off. “Do you need to cancel?” Concern lines her face.

“No, no. Nothing like that.” I reassure her. “It would take something really serious to get me to cancel on you.” I knock on wood. “Actually, I wanted to see if you were up for something a little different.”

Her brows narrow. “Different…how?” she asks.

“Not sexually,” I laugh at her. “Although…” I shoot her a wink, and she laughs. “Our town’s Fall Fest is this weekend, and I was thinking we could go.”

“Oh.” That’s all she says. A slightly panicked look crosses her face. “I don’t know, Luca.”

“Well, here’s my thought process,” I say, keeping my voice light. “Your mom should be moved to her new room by then, and that means I’m no longer on her care team.”

“I see,” Drew looks intrigued.

“So, if two people who have become friends want to hang out outside the hospital one night, I don’t think anyone could have an issue with that.”

“I would hope not,” she smirks.

“So…what do ya say?”