Ms. Lead: Drive Me Wild, #3 by Amy Booker

Author:Amy Booker [Booker, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798985987584
Publisher: Renaissan Publishing Limited
Published: 2023-01-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

BIANCA

GOLD

I want to be careful with Oliver. I don’t want this to become a third-degree interview. He’s told me he has the relapsing-remitting type of MS and to research that this week. It turns out that my friend, who is the chef at The Library where we ate recently, also has that type of MS, so I was able to pick her brain throughout the week pretty extensively. That being said, she did warn me that everyone’s experience with MS is different, and men especially can have more severe symptoms.

I grab Oliver’s hand and squeeze it slightly because I can tell he’s nervous. I don’t want to make this more challenging for him than it needs to be.

“Relax, Oliver,” I say, trying to reassure him that everything will be fine no matter what happens.

“I’m relaxed,” he mumbles. And I can’t help but laugh because he is far from relaxed.

“Oh, ok then. Alright, I’m diving in. Prepare yourself.” He makes to square his shoulders and straightens his back in response. “But first, give me a safe word.”

He cocks his head at me. “A safe word? As in…”

“As in, the conversation has gone far enough, and you just don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

He stares at me for a minute, and I can’t read him at all. Then, his mouth quirks into a smile. “You’re amazing.”

“Is that your safe word?” I smile back. It would be kind of cool if it is.

“Sure,” he shrugs a shoulder, and the smile grows. I like how this is starting.

“Alright. First question, when were you diagnosed, and what were your initial symptoms?”

“A year ago, my right foot had pins and needles that weren’t going away.”

Okay. Good start. But now, it’s going to get harder.

“You’ve said you can’t or won’t have children because of your MS, yet it’s not hereditary, so why do you feel that way?”

He shifts a little, the question obviously hitting a sore nerve.

“It’s not hereditary in a strict sense, but the risk increases quite a bit with a parent with it. Plus, there are other things that I think about, like holding a baby. You may have noticed that I didn’t hold baby Grace last weekend. I couldn’t take the chance that my arm wouldn’t suddenly go numb, and I’d drop her. That would be disastrous. Who knows how this will progress and what participation I could safely have with a child? I don’t want to take that risk. I wouldn’t want to harm my own child.”

My heart lurches as he talks, and I can see the pain it causes him to share these thoughts.

“Has that happened? Your arms suddenly going numb out of nowhere? Or are there signs beforehand?”

“No, it hasn’t. But I don’t want to risk it either.” And the defensiveness has started.

Not what I wanted to happen.

I just nod my understanding. He’s made choices for his life that, after my research, make sense but, at the same time, are very extreme. It’s going to be difficult to express that idea to him without making him defensive.

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