LIFE Interrupted

“You aren’t changing your mind about us?” He asked.

“God, no, Josh.” She smiled at him, that smile that reached her eyes for the first time in months. “I love you, silly man so much. You’re never getting rid of me.”

He laughed at her. Then he scooped her up and sat her in his lap, holding her close. “Josh, one more thing.”

With a heavy sigh, he said, “What else?”

“Dad and Heath are taking me to chemo on Friday.”

He raised his head and looked at her with a deep scowl that left an indent between his brows. “Why?”

“Because they think it’s taking a toll on you too. You need a break, babe.”

He snorted. “I don’t think they understand what happens to you with these chemo treatments. The anti-nausea meds don’t seem to work. You get worse with each one, Sophie.”

He didn’t like this new plan. She turned a little and cupped Josh’s face between her palms. “I think they are right. Just skip this one.”

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he tugged her closer to him. “How do I get anything done when I’ll be worried about you?”

She kissed his neck and whispered. “You’ll be okay. Do it for me. You have always been the relaxed one and you’re starting to show the strain now.”

He nodded. Reluctantly, he was agreeing. Josh had given a little by letting their parents take her for her fluids. He couldn’t be Superman and he didn’t have to be with so much help available to him, but the treatments were so hard on her. Worse than the typical patient experienced, Doctor Roberts noted at the last one. She had started coming to them, checking Sophie’s progress herself. She was thinking of changing some things to try to make it easier on her.

Sophie kissed his check and slipped onto her own chair. She finished her oatmeal while Josh was no longer hungry. She told him about her conversation with Jagger this afternoon while he was rinsing his plate.

“I caught some of Ally’s conversation with Brian. I don’t what she’s doing for Thanksgiving now,” Sophie informed Josh.

He stopped loading the dishwasher. “She left with Jagger tonight. She was going to his house to spend time with his mother and him. She likes his mother, a lot.”

“I heard that from him Jagger. I don’t know about this relationship, Josh. He’s eleven years older than her.”

“I get it.” He closed the door and sat down beside her. Cleo kept trying to untie his shoes. “Girl will you behave?” He snapped at the puppy. Then he glanced at Sophie as she popped the last bite of oatmeal into her mouth. Josh snatched her bowl out from under her and headed to the sink.

“I’m not helpless,” she declared.

“I never said you were.” He rinsed the bowl and dropped it in the dishwasher. “Want anything else?”

“I’m stuffed.” He rolled his eyes at that response.

“Come sit with me in the living room after I change. Let’s watch a movie together,” he suggested.

“All right.”

Josh went to the bedroom while Sophie let the puppies out. He stripped out of his work clothes and put on sweats and a long sleeved thermal. He felt tired down to his bones. He knew it was the stress and his father-in-law and son were right. A break from Sophie’s treatment would do him good but she didn’t get a break so why should he?

In the living room he sat in the corner of the sofa and found a movie they both wanted to watch. He glanced over his shoulder at his wife settled back in the recliner. Laying the remote on the table, he decided, she was sitting with him or he with her. He got up and stalked over to her chair. Her pale, blue eyes one of the prettiest things about her stared up at him in confusion. He grabbed her in his arms, startling her.

“Where do you want to be on the sofa or in the recliner?” He asked.

She laughed at him, then Sophie wrapped her arms around his neck. “Go to the sofa. You’ll be more comfortable.”

Josh walked back to the couch and sat down. He got Sophie settled where she was comfortable with her back against his chest and covered by the weighted blanket and they watched their movie with the dogs at their feet.

They fell asleep in each other’s arms before the movie was half way through. Maybe another time, they’d watch this movie or another one. Ally coming in at six o’clock in the morning woke them.

Sophie sat up on Josh’s thighs. She looked at the clock on the wall above the mantle. Then she looked at Josh who was still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“It isn’t what you’re thinking,” Ally said.