So Much More (Book One in the Enough Series)

57. Better

I climbed out of the tub after watching my skin shrivel up, making me look like a prune. It felt great, though, and my body was less achy. I grabbed the robe hanging on the door and wrapped myself up. When I came out of the bathroom, the hotel room was freshly clean, there were various food containers on the little table, and Brynn sat looking at something on her phone.

"Where's Tate?" I asked, poking through all of the food on the table.

"He dropped off the food and headed to our room to rest. I told you, you're gonna eat, then get in bed and rest yourself."

"You're so bossy." I stuck my tongue out at her before sitting back on the bed.

"That I am. You look better. How ya feeling?" She passed over a glass of iced ginger ale.

"The bath definitely helped." I took a sip of the drink, keeping my eyes on the cup. "Thank you, Brynn, thank you for coming." I quietly replied.

"You can thank me by sipping that, eating some of this broth, and getting a good night of sleep. Then, in the morning, I'll be here to have breakfast with you, and we can hang in the bed all day." Brynn smiled.

I was so grateful to have my friend here with me, and that's exactly what we did. I fell asleep after some warm chicken broth and ginger ale. Brynn sat with me until I was sleeping.

When I woke up the following day, I still hadn't heard from Reed. I was too busy to dwell on it, though. Dr. Simmons called, and I headed into the office. She did some lab testing and gave me an injection in their office. Brynn was kind enough to come with me while Tate took care of some work at the hotel.

"How are you doing?" She asked, leaning over to me as we sat in the waiting area.

"I'm so tired and achy. The nausea seems okay at the moment, but they gave me a pill for that. So I guess we're just waiting on the counts or something. But, honestly, I'm so tired and just out of it; I don't even know."

She wrapped her arm around my shoulder, pulling me into her and kissing the top of my head.

"You're too good; ya know that? I know I fuss because I think this whole thing is ridiculous, but you're amazing, and I'm proud of you."

Once Dr. Simmons got the results back, she confirmed that my numbers had already exceeded what they had hoped, and she wanted to move up the procedure by one day. Again, it took me by surprise but to have this done a day sooner was fine by me. Brynn and I sat in the office going over everything to prepare for the retrieval. The medication for nausea had me worn out; I nearly fell asleep as we waited for the uber back to the hotel.

Once we arrived back in the room, Brynn helped me get tucked into the bed for a nap. I was exhausted and aching so badly. I kept apologizing to her for having to babysit me, but she just kept responding, telling me to hush. The last thing I heard was Brynn talking on the phone, clearly talking to Tate and saying something about my visit to the Doctor today and then something about Reed.

*

I woke up in almost total darkness with my body screaming in pain. I groaned, attempting to stretch out. I slowly moved to sit up, knowing I would need to do my second injection. I was also curious where Brynn had gone. I checked my phone, hoping to see anything from Reed, but I had nothing.

"Brynn?" I called out. When I heard nothing in response, I stood up, assuming she must have stepped out. As I made my way over to the table for the syringe, I saw a scrawled-out note from her. She went to her room for a bit to freshen up and instructed me to call her the second I woke up. Silly woman.

I was able to give myself the injection, hopefully, the final injection. Then, I straightened up the messy room, put on more comfortable clothing, and sat down to mull over the room service options. I wasn't going to message Brynn right away; she'd been so good to me, and I was going to let her rest for a little while.

My phone started vibrating on the table; excitedly, I went to it and saw it was Glenn. Then, feeling that small heartbreak, I answered to see what was happening.

"Eden?"

"Yes?"

"Erm, we just, we just talked to Dr. Simmons and June's oncologist. It seems they want to do the retrieval and transfer tomorrow."

"Yes, I saw her today; everything looks good to go."

"Okay. We just wanted to check in and make sure you were okay and everything was fine." I was shocked, to say the least because there was an inclination of care in his voice.

"Oh. Well, I'm okay. It's been rough, but..."

"Alright, just make sure you arrive on time, and we can get this going." He interrupted. Every time I let my wall down half an inch, I remembered why I was ready to be done with them for good. Before I could say anything else, he ended the call. I was left shaking my head, fighting back the tears.

I decided I would call Brynn rather than sit up here in misery alone; as I was about to tap her name, there was a knock at the door. I swore I had given her the other key card but knowing her; she'd probably lost it.

When I pulled the door open, ready to tease her about the key card, I was stunned, silent, to see Reed. He stood, daring to look sexy as hell with his bag across his chest, leaning against the door frame. He looked exhausted, and his eyes filled with worry. A part of me wanted to immediately ask how he was doing, why I hadn't heard from him if everything was okay. The other part of me was speechless, just staring at him, waiting for him to speak. Only he didn't say a word. Instead, he watched me as the tears started falling from my eyes and coating my cheeks with hot moisture.

Reed reached out, cupping my face in his hand and wiping away the tears with his thumb before stepping forward and into the room. He leaned down, looking into my eyes before capturing my lips with his. Reed kissed me slowly, softly but with intent. He was saying so much with his kiss.

He pulled back, leaning his forehead against mine, rubbing his thumb over my cheek. I could see that tears were pooled in his hazel eyes as well.

"I love you. I love you so much. I'm so sorry I haven't been here; I'm so sorry I took so long to get here. I'm an idiot, a fucking moron." His voice was soft as he removed his bag, sitting it on the floor. "You're so strong and brave to have done so much by yourself, but just because you are strong and courageous doesn't mean you have to or should do it yourself. Thank God for Tate and Brynn. I owe them so much for taking care of you. God, Eden, I love you, and I'm sorry." He pulled me to him, holding me against his chest and stroking my back. I heard him sniffle and looked up to see that he had shed a few tears. "If you don't hate me and if you don't want me to leave, I'm here; I'm here for you like I should have been all along."