One More Day (25 page)

"Kinda what I thought.  Now, in about four weeks, we will be putting her back on radiation, just to make sure that we caught everything.  Even one cell slipping through can be a problem.  Has anyone explained to you how the treatments will change her body?"

Ryan nodded.  "Doc, the thing between Mack and I?  It didn't start until after she was in treatment.  There's no sex.  Hasn't happened."

She smiled.  "Doesn't mean it shouldn't, but that's up to the two of you."  She patted his knee again.  "She's going to need to start vaginal dilation therapy, do you know what that is?"

"Yeah, stretching the interior of the vagina."  He rubbed at his face to hide the smirk.  "I know how to use Google."

"Right.  Sexual intercourse is an alternative treatment.  Three times a week is ideal.  When you come in with her for her checkup, I can run an STD screen on you, but we already have hers."

"I'm a tattoo artist and body piercer, Doc.  I get one annually already.  So what you're saying is that condoms might cause issues?"  He shook his head.  Never in his life had Ryan envisioned having this conversation.

"It's possible," she said.  "Can I be crass?"

He just held up his hand and shrugged.  "Might as well, Doc.  I'm beyond shocked at this point."

"After this type of surgery, women commonly complain that it's a tight fit.  Lubrication is important, as is the depth of penetration.  Do not force anything."

"Gotcha."

"And I'll let you tell Mackenzie about this conversation, or not.  Of course, I will be giving her similar advice."  She smiled and stood.  "And I know about the eyebrows and tattoos.  The patients really appreciate it."

"Just trying to help," he said. 

"It helps," she assured him.  "Makes it a little easier to make it through one more day."

Chapter 26

The next evening, Ryan was standing in the hall, pouring himself a cup of coffee and thinking about taking a nap while Colby spent time with Mack.  He'd run home for a bit that morning and grabbed a few more things, but felt like he'd taken over the visitor's lounge as his own.  He'd just poured a dollop of cream into the cup, when a hand grabbed his shoulder.

"You Ryan?" a man asked. 

He looked rough.  Maybe an inch shorter than Ryan, he was broad shouldered but had a well rounded belly and a beard that would put a biker to shame.  The problem was that he also looked pissed.

"Yeah," Ryan said.

"They say she gets this shit from an STD."  He shoved on Ryan's shoulders.  "You fuckin' give my little girl something that made her get cancer?"

"I take it you're Doug?" Ryan asked, setting the cup down.  "She's - "

That's when Mackenzie's dad swung, his fist connecting with the side of Ryan's jaw.  Colby rushed out of the room, having seen it through the window.

"Fuck!" Ryan said, grabbing at his face.

"You fucking gave my girl cancer!" Doug snarled.  "I'm gonna fucking kick the shit out of you, boy."

Ryan was backing off, knowing exactly what the man was feeling.  He wanted a target for his rage, and Ryan seemed like a good one, but Colby was having none of it.  He grabbed the man by the shoulders, and shoved him against the side of the wall.

"Don't fucking try it, you dumb shit," Colby growled. 

"I didn't," Ryan said softly, rubbing at his jaw.  "Colby, let him go."

"They said it's from an STD," Doug whined.

"Not always," Ryan said, "and I didn't give it to her.  I haven't slept with your daughter."

"What?"  He paused, going limp in Colby's hands.  "What!"

"He's been taking care of her," Colby said, refusing to let go.  "Mack already had cancer when they started dating.  You gonna hit my boss again?"

Ryan looked up and saw the nurses clustering in the hall.  "Colby, go tell Mack her dad's here.  Doug, come in here and let me fill you in?"

"Ryan?" Beth asked.  "Everything ok?"

"Yeah.  This is just hard on all of us.  It's ok, ladies.  Sorry."

Ryan grabbed Doug's shoulder and guided him into the visitor's lounge.  An older man sat in the back corner, staring intently at the TV, but otherwise they were alone. 

"You fuckin' them?" Doug asked, waving in the direction of the nurse's desk.

"I'm not fucking anyone," Ryan sighed.  "I've been dating Mack for four whole weeks.  Yeah, she lives with us - Colby and I - because her fucking apartment wouldn't renew the lease, and she had no one else to take care of her.  You weren't exactly around."

"I'm tryin' to make a living."

"So was she.  Doug, she got diagnosed and fired in the same damned day.  I hired her.  Colby and I are taking care of her.  Her fucking mom's only concern was that she didn't have to pay for a fucking funeral."

Doug went pale.  "Is my baby girl gonna die?"

"She has cancer," Ryan said.  "She might, but if you breathe a word of that to her, I'll throw your ass out of her room."

"How bad is it?"  His hands were shaking slightly, and he tried to cover his fear with attitude.

Ryan just shrugged.  "It's not good.  Tomorrow we get the news.  She can't have kids.  They took it all out.  She can't even sit up without help, right now."  He sighed.  "Doug?   She's bald.  She's not gonna look like you remember."

"What do I do?" he asked, looking up at Ryan with tears in his eyes. 

"Talk to her, ask her about her art.  Tell her you love her.  Just spend time with her without making her feel bad."

"She's still doing that crap?" Doug wondered.

Ryan's eyebrows raised.  "Crap?  Her paintings?  You ever see what she does?"

"But what good does that shit do?  She needs to stop dreaming - "

"No," Ryan said, cutting him off.  "First off, right now, dreaming is exactly what she needs to do.  Secondly, she's that good.  Her art is amazing.  We already have clients begging for her designs.  Her paintings?  They should be in a damned gallery."

"What?"

Ryan just nodded.  "Yeah.  She's the best I've seen in a long time.  Worst case, she ends up one of the best fucking tattoo artists I've ever seen.  Best case?  She'll be sipping champagne with CEOs at her opening debut.  She's that good, Mr. Lawrence.  It's all she has right now."

"Sorry I hit you, boy," he said softly.  "I drove all night.  Ain't slept a wink."

"I know," Ryan said, patting his shoulder.  "You want to go see her?"

He nodded.  "She's already lost her hair?"

"Yeah, and a lot of weight.  She looks like she has cancer.  Don't patronize her, though, she'll just get stubborn.  She's still Mack, just with a little less hair."

He nodded, and Ryan helped him to his feet.  Together they walked up the hall to her room.  Ryan ducked his head in.  Colby looked up, then kissed Mack's cheek before stepping out.

"Don't kill me, Mack," Ryan said.  "Brought someone to see you."  He gestured for Doug to enter.

"Dad?" she asked, trying to sit up.

"Lay down, Mack," Ryan said.  "You gonna be ok?"

"You told my dad?"

"Yeah.  Bitch at me later, sweetie.  I'm just outside.  Call the nurses if you need anything, ok?"

She nodded, but her eyes were locked on her father.  Ryan patted his shoulder again and slipped out.

"Ryan?" Theresa asked, waving him over to the nurse's desk.  When he got to the counter, she stood on the other side, passing him a small package.  "Advil.  That's going to hurt soon.  Everything ok?"

"Her dad's just looking for somewhere to vent.  I'm a good target."  He chuckled.  "Not exactly how I wanted to meet my hopefully future father-in-law."

"Look, we have security in the hospital, but it's just two guys, and I think both are retired."  Theresa sighed and gestured at the room.  "You and Colby willing to hang out a while just to make sure things don't get ugly?"

"Yeah," he said, looking around the corner at Colby.  "Hey, bro?"

"Yeah?" Colby asked, grabbing Ryan's forgotten coffee and bringing it over.

Theresa smiled at him.  "Just hang out for a bit?  I have a funny feeling that the two of you have kicked out your share of problems."

The guys shared a glance.  It was true, they had.  "Maybe," Colby said with a grin.

A younger girl wheeled her chair out of the door.  Ryan had learned it was the break room for the nurses.  "Hey," she asked.  "You really do tattoos?"

"Yeah," both men said at the same time.

"Nice," she laughed.  "Which one of you?"

"Both," Ryan said.

"He's the boss, I'm the hired help," Colby explained.

"So who did yours?" she asked, gesturing at both of them.

"Kinda both of us," Colby said.  "We do the part we can reach and have someone we trust finish what we can't.  I got Ryan's shoulder, the chest, and some of that damned tail."

"Tail?"

"Dragon tail across the hip," Ryan said, turning and lifting his shirt to show just the tip of the tail peeking above his jeans.  "I did most of Colby's back, although Mack helped with some.  He did a lot of his with a mirror, though, and that's about as hard as it gets."

"I want one," the girl said.  "No idea what to get though."

"Talk to Mack," Ryan told her.  "She has the knack for knowing the perfect thing."

"Check this out."  Colby walked to the break in the counter and turned around.  Lifting his shirt, he exposed his lower back.  "Had a fucking gap there that I couldn't figure out what to do with.  Wanted to take the biomech on the right and mix it with the Japanese on the left, but just couldn't get it to blend.  Took her two days - during chemo - to design that shit."

She stood and came closer.  "Can I touch it?" she asked.

"Sure," Colby said.  "Just skin, the ink's all too deep to feel."

Another nurse walked up and started giggling.  "Now that's a sight," she said.  "Couple of tattooed thugs teaching a pair of nurses."

Colby laughed.  "Rumor has it our jobs aren't that different.  We paint shit, y'all wipe it."

"Ain't that the truth," she said, grinning at him as she moved behind the desk.  "Which one of you got hit?"

Ryan sighed.  "That was me."

"You take anything?"

"I gave him Advil, Karen," Theresa said, "But he hasn't taken it yet."

"Am I gonna have to offer you a lollipop?" Karen asked.

"You're nicer to the patients," Ryan teased.  "Thanks, ladies.  Not gonna be fun explaining that one to Mack."

"Just tell her you walked into an IV stand," Karen teased.  "She's high on morphine half the time, she should accept it."

Ryan glanced back at the room.  Things seemed to be quiet in there.  "Any way one of you wants to check her vitals or something to make sure that's going well?"

"I got it," the girl said.  "Close enough to real time anyway."  She grabbed a stethoscope and a chart, then made her way across the hall.

"Think there's gonna be shit?" Colby asked.

"Dunno," Ryan sighed.

"Amy's good," Theresa said.  "She'll be a great nurse when she's done with school."

"Don't know how you all can do it," Ryan said honestly.  "I hate hospitals."

"You've had too much time in them," Colby said, patting his shoulder.  "After this, you're done.  No more cancer."

"You had cancer?" Karen asked.

"Nah, mom did.  She died when I was fifteen."

"Sorry."

Ryan shrugged.  "Now Mack.  Starting to feel like a professional care giver."

Amy slipped out of the room and walked back over.  "Think you guys are good.  They're talking nicely, and her vitals are right in line."

"Thanks," Colby said, pointing at the coffee on the desk.  "Drink that shit, take your meds, and sit down, bro.  I can play guard dog for a while, and you can grab a damned nap."

The two of them staggered back into the visitor's lounge, where Ryan found a reclining chair and sank into it.  He swallowed the pair of pills and kicked up his feet.  Colby sat beside him, both men aware of the older man in the corner.

"The doc stopped by and talked to Mack," Colby said.

"Yeah, me too."  Ryan chuckled, remembering that talk.

"Guess it's kinda a big deal, being twenty something and not being able to have kids."

"She upset about it?" Ryan asked.

Colby sighed.  "I'm not sure, man.  I think it's mostly the shock of not having the choice, ya know?"

Ryan nodded.  "Kinda what the doc said.  You know, we probably can't even adopt.  Wouldn't pass all the checks and shit."

"You want kids, bro?"

Ryan chuckled a bit.  "I want what ever Mack does.  Figure it isn't really a good time to ask, though."

"Not really," Colby agreed.  "She loved the flowers.  And the heart.  You two and your damned symbolism.  You'd be a good dad."

"Not really," Ryan said.  "She still doing ok?"

"Yeah," Colby said, leaning back.  "Tough as nails.  Hard to get her to open up.  She don't know half the shit I tell ya, either."

"I know.  I know it goes the other way around, too."

Colby chuckled.  "Doc gave her a prescription.  Well, two."

"Oh?  I can guess what one is."

"Yeah, pot for the pain.  Straight-laced girl like that.  That's irony right there."  Colby grinned.

"What's the other?" Ryan asked.

"You."  Colby laughed.  "She's all fuckin' worried about your damned rule."

"Shit," Ryan breathed.  "Everyone knows my business all of a sudden."

"Had to tell her that tight ain't a bad thing."

Ryan glared at him, then glanced across the room.  The old man had his hand over his mouth, obviously able to hear.  "Do I have no privacy anymore?"

"I'm getting a fucking stereo," Colby said.  "Rap music, or something with some base.  Gonna drown out the sounds from downstairs."

Ryan groaned and shoved his head in his hands.  "Ok, bro.  I got the hint."

"Just not on the kitchen counter man.  That shit's sick."

"Colby!"

He laughed and patted Ryan on the shoulder.  "Yep, this is going to be good for a while."

"Bro, don't make my life any harder."  He lowered his voice.  "That last guy she was with?  He fucking put some shit ideas in her head."

"Yeah," Colby said.  "Got that too.  She's fat, she's ugly, and she's supposed to be doing all the making happy shit."

Ryan nodded.  "She fucking thought she needed to get me off to make up for taking care of her.  That shit's fucked up."

"Wanna punch half the guys in the dick," Colby said just as softly.  "Dude, when we gonna go look at rings?"