It comes and goes

eighteen

Camila's POV

Shawn was already up and making breakfast when I woke up. Power was back on and I instantly plugged my phone that had died over night. Rain was still going on strong outside. I stood up from bed and freshened up before checking on my boyfriend that was on the phone when I saw him.

I finished the breakfast he had left unattended mid way and poured us two cups of coffee while I waited for him.

"Sorry", he said when he hung up. "It was the hospital. They're not allowing visitors until the storm weakens".

"I'm sorry", I said stroking his arm. "Did you get a hold of your dad?"

"Yes, he was ok, feeling better already".

"That's good".

"Yeah", he stole a strawberry from his plate and bit it before kissing me. His lips were sweet and juicy. I giggled when he pulled away, licking my lips. "Good morning".

"Good morning", I replied.

We had breakfast and then I asked him to help me with some furniture that I wanted to move from one room to another. The apartment wasn't really that big, but I had one room that I hadn't used for a while and wanted to redecorate to make it my office. It was a turn on seeing him moving heavy stuff and checking his arms stretch his t-shirt to the point I thought he was going to rip it. I considered for a moment asking him to move another thing but that would've been selfish and kinda cruel. I rewarded him with a cold beer and cuddles on the sofa.

After lunch the storm had gone away a bit, although it could come back over night. At 5 pm he finally got the call the he could go see his dad. I joined him and we arrived there in less than 20 minutes.

"How is it going?", Shawn asked when he stepped inside his room.

"Great", he said sarcastically but in a good mood.

"How did you sleep?", I asked.

"Good. I'm ok, seriously", Manny said with a smile.

"The doctor hasn't come around, has he?"

"No, the nurse said he's on the night shift so he's going to do rounds in an hour".

"Ok, cool. We'll wait for him".

"How are you too?", he asked. "How was the storm?"

"Power went off overnight but other than that, we survived pretty well", my boyfriend said.

"We even survived a spider", I chuckled.

"A spider? Shawn survived a spider? I would've loved to see that", his dad mocked him and Shawn deadpanned.

"Ha-ha", he said and gave me a deadly look that only made me laugh harder.

...

Manny was back home on Saturday morning. He was advised to drink lots of fluids, take some very specific vitamins and be as careful with changes in temperature as possible. In reality, it was easier said than done. He always forgot to complete his intake of water or juice and it was a constant battle between him and Shawn because Manny didn't like to be told what to do. The doctor had said chemo was stressing for him and changes in humor as well as irritability were normal during this period, so we tried to be as understanding as possible.

I came to realize that maybe Shawn's mechanism of not showing his fear around his dad was not only being hurtful for him but for their relationship. I didn't think Manny actually understood how worried and afraid his son was about him. If he knew, he would be so hard on Shawn for just taking care of him.