One More Day (12 page)

"And no sex until she's through radiation, it could cause discomfort or even tearing.  Her bowels and bladder will probably go haywire in the next couple of hours, so keep her close to a toilet."

"We can work with that," he said.

"He's an angel," Mack told the nurse, a drunken smile on her lips.

"Sounds like it," Maria agreed.

"My guardian angel," Mack sighed, her eyes closing again.

"Ah sweetie."  He lifted her hand to kiss it.  "I think that's probably the sweetest thing you've ever said."

"And super hot," she muttered. 

Ryan laughed.  "Shut up, Mack, before you embarrass yourself."

"Mm.  I like these drugs, but I don't think I can walk."

Maria chuckled at that.  "If you want to bring your car around, we can wheel her out, or let her stay here until she's feeling a bit better.  Either way."

"Nope," Mack said.  "I need to go to work."

Ryan shrugged.  "The boss has spoken."

"Go get the car and I'll get her in a wheel chair," Maria assured him.

He caressed the soft fuzz on the top of Mack's head.  "I'll be back in a second, ok?"

When she nodded, he left, and Maria went to find a wheel chair.  In a few second, the nurse was shaking her arm gently.  "Time to go to work, Mackenzie."

"Where's Ryan?" she asked, pulling herself back awake, trying to think through the Valium in her system.

"Getting your chariot.  First, you have to make it into this chair."  She directed Mack through the process, holding her stable until she was sitting in the wheel chair, then carefully setting her feet on the stirrups.  "We mean it when we say no sex, you know that, right?"

"Not gonna happen," Mack said, drunkenly waving that away.  "I'm not real sexy puking all day long."

Maria just patted her shoulder.  "Yeah, but he's pretty smitten with you."

Chapter 12

Mackenzie slept most of the afternoon away on the sofa in the break room.  Ryan kept trying to convince her to head upstairs, but Mack refused, tired of being stuck in bed all day.  She woke to the sound of men's voices.

"No, she's on the couch.  I've got a client coming in fifteen minutes," Ryan said.

"Well, we rearranged a few things, but it's all good.  One more load, and we're done."  This time it was Colby.

The third voice surprised her a bit.  It sounded like Tony.  "I got something for her.  Was hoping she'd be awake."

Mack pulled herself to her feet, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and staggered into the hall.  "I'm awake."

Tony looked at her, and smiled.  "Good morning, sunshine.  I'll be right back."

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Colby lifted his hands, and turned for the door.  "All you, Ryan."

The two men retreated, leaving her alone with her boss.  He sighed.  "They've been moving your stuff over, because I asked them to."

"What?"

He shrugged.  "Third floor's empty, and when you're good enough, we'll move everything up there, if that's what you want.  While you're passing out every few hours, I'm keeping you a bit closer."

"Ryan!" she gasped.  "This wasn't the deal we had."

"Kinda was, Mack," he said.  "You're doing designs for me, and I'm not firing you.  That's all it is."

She leaned back against the wall, and let herself slowly side down it, until she sat on the floor.  Breathing deeply, she refused to have yet another breakdown in front of him.

"I'm taking advantage of you," she said softly.

"No," he assured her, moving to kneel at her side.  "You sure are not.  I kinda like having you around."

"Why?" she asked.  "What the fuck did I do to deserve all this?"

"You make me feel like a good man, ok?  We'll work it out, but I was serious when I said I was gonna take care of you."

She nodded, hearing the back door open again.  "Can we talk about this later?" she asked.

"Yeah," he promised.  "I have to do a tramp stamp in a few minutes."

Mack laughed.  "First world problems."

"You ok, Mack?" Colby asked, hurrying over.

"Yeah," she said.  "I just feel like I haven't slept in a week.  Gimme a hand up, and I'll find a chair a bit more comfortable than the shop floor."

With Ryan on one side and Colby on the other, they lifted her to her feet, and helped her into the break room.  When they got her in a chair, Colby held up a finger, and leaned around the corner.

"Ok, you get mine too?" he asked.

"Yeah," Tony said, walking in with three large bags.  "Presents," he declared, setting them in front of her.

Mack gaped at the men, shaking her head.  "What the fuck, guys?"

Grinning, Tony pulled out a large stuffed bear and passed it over.  It didn't say "get well" or anything, but it did have an adorable little heart stitched on its arm like a tattoo.

"Something to cuddle with when you pass out in the break room," he said, then reached into the next bag.  "And a collection of bandannas to keep your head from getting sunburned."

"Thank you!" Mack said, waving him closer.  She pulled him down for a hug, and said, "And thanks for helping with my stuff."

"Aw, you're welcome, Mack."  It was possible he was blushing.

"I had to top him," Colby warned.  He pulled out a metal case and slid it across the table.

When Mack realized what it was, her eyes went wide, and she laughed.  "Pens and inks, I think you're trying to tell me something."

"A bit," he admitted.  "After seeing the paintings in your place, I thought about a set of oils, but didn't think the smell would do so good.

She shook her head.  "No, me either."

"They're all we have left," Colby said.  "We didn't want to haul the canvases with anything else.  You gonna let Ryan hang a few in the shop?"

"My stuff?"

Both Tony and Colby nodded.

"I like the one with the dots," Tony said.  "Looks like a demented version of something Ryan would make."

"Dots?" Ryan asked.

Mack sighed.  "It's a sunset seascape in stipple."

Ryan chuckled.  "Ok, that's going in the shop."

"It's neons," Tony said.

That's when the chime for the front door went off.  Ryan hadn't even turned before a woman was calling into the shop.

"Where's that fucking hottie at?" she yelled.

"Ah, shit," Ryan sighed.  "Hailey's here."

"Hailey?" Mack asked.

"I brought a friend to get a tattoo!" Hailey called.

Ryan groaned and headed to the front.

"She used to work here," Colby explained.  "She didn't work out so well, but keeps bringing her friends in for work.  You gonna be ok for a while if Tony and I go grab the art?"

Mack nodded.  "Yeah, I'll either take yet another nap, or get some drawing in."

"K.  We won't be gone too long."  He reached over and rubbed her arm gently.

Together he and Tony left.  Mack could hear Ryan in the other room talking to the two women.  Their voices were low, and she remembered that he'd mentioned a tramp stamp on the schedule.  Finally awake, she decided to do her own drawing.  She felt too weak and unstable to do much else.

Ryan had been wrong, though, and Mack hadn't forgotten the idea of  finally getting a tattoo.  Having seen so many wonderful ideas over the last week, she already had a basic plan in mind.  The radiation made the skin of her abdomen and pelvic area too sensitive, but along her ribs shouldn't be a problem at all.

Using the new supplies, she pulled out a sheet of paper - which was one thing that seemed to be prevalent in a tattoo shop - and began sketching out her idea.  Bougainvillea was a thorny vine with a simple yet elegant flower, it was neither pretentious nor delicate, and seemed like a better statement than a silly ribbon.  Making lazy swirls, Mack quickly lost herself in the flow of the design, her chemical hazed mind tuning out the rest of the world easily as curves became stems and leaves began to grow from the simple lines.

In the background, she could hear the the tattoo equipment, so when the phone rang, she answered it on the line in the break room, well aware that Ryan was busy.  "Sterling Ink."

The woman on the other end sounded a bit faint.  "My name's Leanne, and I spoke to a couple this morning," she started.

"Hi Leanne.  I remember.  From the oncology clinic.  This is Mack."

She sighed as if relieved.  "I've been thinking about this all day, and was hoping I found the right place.  Can that cute boy really do anything for those dots, or help hide the scars?  I looked online and there's a lot of really pretty things.  I had a double mastectomy you know, and..." her voice trailed off.

"Let me put you on hold," Mack said, "and I'll ask him."

"Oh thank you!"

Mack set the phone back in the cradle, and shuffled into the front room.  She didn't really walk anywhere anymore, it just took too much effort.  As she got closer, she could hear the two women flirting heavily with Ryan, the buzz of the tattoo equipment a steady counterpoint to their giggles.  Unfortunately, the smell of their perfume also wafted to her.  Mack clenched her jaw against the twist in her gut.

"Ryan?" she asked, coming around the corner.

"You got a new receptionist?" a pretty blonde asked.  She was wearing clothes a bit too tight, and had half her body draped across Ryan's back and shoulders while he leaned over the brunette on the tattoo table.

"She's a designer, Hailey," Ryan corrected before looking up at Mack.  "Yeah, babe?"

"You remember Leanne from this morning?" Mack tried to ignore how Hailey was running her fingers along the back of his neck.

"Quit," he hissed, tilting his head away from her hands.  "Yeah, Mack.  The radiation tattoos."

"She's on the phone, wants to know if you can do anything for scars.  She confirmed it's a double mastectomy, and said she saw some work online that she liked."  Mack was being very careful to take shallow breaths, through her mouth if possible.

"Anything she wants," Ryan said.  "See if you can get her here Monday, and we'll talk about some ideas.  I meant what I told her too."

Mack nodded and tried to back away, but Hailey saw how uncomfortable she looked.  Unfortunately, she didn't quite understand that it was the smell, and not just the sight of her pawing all over Ryan.

"Jealous?" Hailey sneered, sliding her hands down Ryan's back.

"No," Mack said, turning away.  Did she use a fucking bottle of that shit?  Did Ryan really like that?

Mack walked around the corner, and back into the hall, taking long deep breaths of the clean air, trying to make her stomach settle.  Finally in control, she turned back to her desk, and grabbed the phone.

"Leanne?"

"Yeah?" the woman replied, sounding ready to be disappointed.

"Ryan said he'd like to see you Monday to talk about ideas.  Bring pictures if you have them, or website addresses if you want."

"I really can't afford much," Leanne said.  "The cost of the medications - "

"He meant it," Mack said, breathing shallowly.  "I just asked, and he said not to worry about that."  She took a long breath, the hint of that woman's perfume still in the front room.  "Most likely what will happen is, he will need to look at where you want the tattoo, then your ideas."

"You ok?" Leanne asked suddenly.

Mack pressed her finger to the base of her nose, taking a long breath through her mouth.  "Perfume in the shop," she whispered.  "I'll be ok.  So where was I?"

"I get to show that good looking man of yours my boobless chest?" Leanne reminded her.

Mack chuckled, careful to breath lightly.  "Right.  We'll discuss designs, and set a second appointment for you to approve it, or make changes.  If you like what you see, we can start the tattoo then, or anytime after.  Are you available Monday?"  Pressing against her septum seemed to be helping. 

"I am," Leanne said.  "What time?  I am guessing you both will be busy in the morning."

"Does two work?"

"Yes, it does.  I'll see you then.  Give that boy a kiss for me, would you?"

Mack chuckled.  "Sure will."

She hung up the phone, but Ryan had been listening.  "She's still interested?" he asked.

"Monday at two," Mack called back.  "I'm heading up for a minute?"

"Yeah babe," he replied.  "Don't make me remind you."

"That's where I'm going," she said, ducking back into the hall. 

She shuffled along as fast as she could, willing her stomach to behave just a few steps more.  She knew she'd never make it upstairs, so ducked into the bathroom at the back of the building, pulling the door closed and dropping to her knees.  She managed to take one long breath, before the vomiting started.

It was as if puking was more work that she'd ever done in her life.  She didn't have the strength to lift her head from the commode, but the smell made her body rebel again.  She tried to lean back, resting against the wall, sitting on the floor of the shop bathroom, breathing deeply.  Unfortunately she wasn't done.  Round two was nothing more than dry heaves wrenching her body apart from the inside.

She could hear the guys return, laughing as they walked in the back door, so managed to reach up and flush the toilet, but couldn't make it to her feet.  Her legs were like water, and her arms felt like they would never stop shaking.

"Colby?" she asked, not sure if she really hoped he'd hear her.

"Mack?" he called back, walking over to the bathroom door and tapping on it.  "You in there?"

"I can't get up," she admitted.

The words were no more than out of her mouth before he'd pulled the door open and rushed inside, dropping to squat beside her.  "Oh baby.  How long have you been in here?"

Mack shook her head.  "Not long.  Ryan's tattooing.  Told him I was going upstairs, but didn't make it."

He nodded, rubbing her arm soothingly.  "Slip that over my neck, Mack.  Lets get you someplace a bit more comfortable."

She did, bracing her arm against his shoulder, and he picked her up, but headed the opposite way of what she expected.  Walking back toward the front of the shop, she was about to complain when he turned into the office instead, her own sofa tucked against the far wall.  That's where he put her down, smiling at her protectively.

"What do you need, kid?"

"A glass of water?" she begged. 

"Got it."  He hurried out of the room.

He came back with a red solo cup filled with water, a couple of ice cubes floating in it.  Like Ryan, he sat beside her and put his arms around her shoulders before passing her the drink, nearly holding her up as she swallowed gulp after gulp.

"God, that tastes horrible," Mack gasped.

"The water?"