“Hello? Yes, Hi Dr. Carmen.” Louise looked to Joe, then to Katie. “You want her to come in again? Yes, we can come in today.” Louise hung up the phone. “Dr. Carmen wants to squeeze you in for your second round of dialysis today,” she told Katie.
“Don’t worry, Kates,” Bria said, walking her to the front door.
“Yeah, dude. You got this. It’s all gonna be fine,” Sam said. But as they walked down the front porch steps, Bria and Sam looked at each other. This time, things really might not be fine, and they weren’t sure what to do about it.
The two of them spent the day taking care of anything and everything they could think of to eliminate any extra stress on their parents. Bria called up and paid their cable and electric bills, Sam cleaned the house, and they gave Buster a bath. Then, finally, the front door opened, and Katie stepped inside. She looked up at her sisters, and ran to her bedroom.
“We’ve got to find her a kidney,” her father said, looking down at the ground. “Mom and I went in last week to get blood work done, and it turns out, your mother and I are not matches.”
When her parents excused themselves to go to their room, Bria looked at Sam, and they both knew where they were headed.
They got in the car and drove twenty minutes to Dr. Carmen’s office in complete silence.
“Hi, is Dr. Carmen available?” Bria asked the receptionist, who had a puzzled look on her face.
“He’s here, but he’s with patients all day. Do you have an appointment?” she asked.
“No, my sister is a patient here. And my other sister and I, we need. . . look I just really need to talk to him, okay?”
The receptionist looked from Bria to Sam, from Sam to Bria. And something in her expression shifted, Bria recognized the sadness, the sympathy in her eyes. She normally hated being patronized, she never wanted anyone to feel bad for her. But in this case, right now, she’d milk it for all it was worth.
“He has a fifteen-minute opening after this last appointment. I’ll ask him if he can squeeze you in.”
“Thank you!” Bria practically choked out as Sam pulled her toward a chair in the waiting room. Finally, Dr. Carmen appeared at the end of the hall.
“Ms. Kreery?” he asked. When Bria stood, he smiled, a sad, sympathetic smile. “Come on back.”
“What can I do for you?” he asked, leading them to his office and closing the door.
“Well,” Bria said, looking to Sam, “we’d like to be tested to see if either of us is a match for a kidney.”
Dr. Carmen looked down at his desk.
“That’s very brave of you both,” he said. Then, looked right at Bria. “You’re a wonderfully selfless big sister.” She shifted in her seat. “Both of you are. But again, I must warn you, that even the process of testing to see if you’re a match isn’t an easy one. It’s a three-step process; we’ll first need to check your blood type. If that’s the same, then we will need to do tissue typing, followed by cross-matching.”
Bria felt her eyes cross and her ears turn off. She didn’t give a damn what it entailed. She just wanted to get on with it. Finally, he paused. “Are you two ready for all that?”
They both nodded.
“Alright. Well, it will take some time, but given the rush, I’ll have Kristina pencil you in first thing on Monday.” Bria nodded as Dr. Carmen gave her a weary smile.
“What if neither of us are a match?” Sam asked.
Dr. Carmen sighed. “Then we keep looking.”
“Well, how much time do we have?” Bria asked. He sighed again, gently shaking his head.
“It’s hard to say. The dialysis will help, but I would like to get a new kidney in Katie in the next few months.”
Holy shit. A few months. The words smacked Bria in the face. Her chest tightened and she suddenly felt like she couldn’t breathe. Wait, no, she actually couldn’t breathe. Then she blacked out.
When she came to, Sam was holding her head up while Dr. Carmen was standing over her.
“There ya go. Bria, can you hear me?” he said. The millions of tiny black dots she was seeing finally started to clear, as his perfectly square jawline came into focus. She nodded.
“Here, drink this,” he said, handing her a juice box. “You okay? Can I walk you out?”
“We’re fine,” Sam said, “thanks, Doc.”
As Sam stood at the front desk making their appointments, Bria felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Bria, look, I just want to tell you that I’m so moved by what you and your sister are trying to do here. I know this is rough, so if I can help at all, please, don’t hesitate to give me a call.”
He handed her a business card and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Thanks,” she said.
“Jeez Louise,” Sam said, pushing the button for the elevator, “why didn’t he just ask you to marry him?”
“What?” Bria asked.
“Oh my God, come on. He was all over you with his eyes and his little ‘oh, you’re so brave, you’re so selfless,’ blah, blah, blah. Gross men and their gross penises,” Sam said. Bria chuckled.
“No, you don’t think he was, do you?”
“Good Lord, Bria. I know you got your heart broken, but it shouldn’t make you totally oblivious to the fact that another man finds you attractive. In case you forgot, that is what flirting looks like,” she said, pointing back toward the doctor’s office.
Wow. Flirting. For the past year, it had seemed like such a foreign concept. She couldn’t even wrap her head around it. She had no desire. She just wanted to heal, to move on with her life, and her career. And to fill that Knox-shaped hole in her heart.
The following week, Bria and Sam went to the doctor’s office three times a piece, getting poked and prodded and scanned. Her mother had cried when they told her where she was going. They hadn’t told Katie. As the nurse bandaged up the vein in Bria’s arm, Dr. Carmen poked his head in the doorway.
“How ya holdin’ up?” he asked.
“Oh, fine, you know.”
“Well, listen. We will try and get you these results back as soon as possible. Sound good?” he asked.
“Sounds good.”
Finally, it was Friday, and Bria was actually relieved to be back in the office and not being stuck by what felt like a hundred needles. Her office had been so understanding of the situation with Katie, and she’d been taking a lot of time off. Around lunch time, her phone vibrated on her desk.
“Hello?”
“Bria? It’s Dr. Carmen.”
“Oh, hi, Dr. Carmen,” she said, her heart rate increasing.
“So I wanted to personally call you. We got the result of yours and Sam’s tests. It looks like she has you on her HIPAA form, so I can give you both results, if you’d like.”
“Yes, please.”
“I’m so sorry, Bria, but neither of you are a compatible match for Katie. I hate to give you this news.”
Her heart sunk, and then, so did she. She closed her office door and slid down the wall until she was sitting on the ground. She covered her mouth to stifle the cries.
“Bria? Are you okay? Is there anything I can do?”
“No, no,” she sniffled, “I’m okay. We will find someone.”
“Yes, I have no doubt. You don’t seem like the type to give up easy,” he said. This actually made her smile.
She thought about calling Sam, but she absolutely hated being the bearer of bad news, particularly when she didn’t have a solution. And especially when she was breaking the news to her sisters. She took the rest of the day to immerse herself into her work, smiling at everyone, talking about the latest episodes of The Bachelor, and even scoring a new account. But when the workday ended, it was back to the brainstorming. The whole way home, she killed herself to come up with something, some sort of viable option. Some way to save her sister’s life.
Just as she was about two miles from her parents’ house, she got cut off by one of those assholes who goes ten under the speed limit
on a single-lane road.
“Oh. My. God,” she said, pounding her hands against the steering wheel. “Seriously? Drive!” But then she stopped. Drive.
She had an idea. She pulled out her phone and dialed Dr. Carmen.
“Bria?” he answered. “Everything okay?”
“Hi, Dr. Carmen,” she said. “I have an idea that I wanted to run by you.”
“Sure thing,” he said. “I’m still at the office. Do you want to stop by?”
She turned around on Route 108, making a u-turn right there in the center of town while no cars were passing, and drove the twenty minutes to Dr. Carmen’s office.
“I’m sorry,” the receptionist said, walking toward the door to intercept her, “but we’re actually closed.”
“No, no, it’s okay Jo,” Dr. Carmen said, appearing from the back, still in his white lab coat, “I asked Bri—Miss Kreery to come in. You can head out, I’ll close up.”
Jo looked from Dr. Carmen to Bria, then nodded. This was the second time Dr. Carmen had made an exception for Bria, and she knew Jo remembered that.
“So,” he said, leading her back to his office once again, “tell me about this idea.”
Bria plopped down in the chair in front of his desk, her eyes opening wide with excitement. He smiled as she spoke, waving her hands from one side to the other, rattling off every single thought she had had while stuck behind the slowest driver in the history of fucking ever. When she finally finished, he sat back in his chair, touching his fingertips together lightly. Finally, he broke out into a wide grin, shaking his head lightly.
“You don’t think it will work,” she said quietly, staring down at her hands.
“No, no, that’s not it at all,” he said, reaching out and touching her hand briefly, then bringing it back to his desk. “I’ve just, I’ve never met someone like you. I mean, I’ve met my fair share of organ donors, but I’ve never met someone like you who is just so determined to fix things for the people she loves. And who is willing to do whatever she has to. You’re just. . . you’re pretty incredible.”
She felt her cheeks flush. She shrugged.
“Well, I always said Katie was my practice baby,” she laughed. “And she’s family. We take care of each other.” He nodded.
“You want kids someday?” he asked. The question jarred her. She barely knew him.
“Yeah, I do,” she said, unapologetically. She was done belittling what she wanted. That seemed to get her in trouble before.
“Well, if this is any indication, I think you’ll make an amazing mom one day,” he said. Bria felt a smirk sneak across her face.
“Thank you.”
“Well, Bria, if you can take care of the logistics, I’m all in,” he said standing up and walking around to the other side of the desk. She jumped up out of her seat.
“Oh, Dr. Carmen! Oh, that is amazing news!” she said, reaching up and wrapping her arms around his neck. She felt his hands lay gently on her back, and she realized that she was in an awkwardly-long embrace with her sister’s doctor. She slowly slid down off her tiptoes, bringing her hands back to her sides. “Sorry,” she whispered. He smiled.
“Don’t be,” he whispered back, “and call me Eric.”
As he walked her to the door, she felt his hand ever so gently touch the small of her back. But she didn’t mind it. This man was a freaking Godsend.
“So, I’ll call you when I nail down the details,” she said.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Without thinking, she stood up on her tiptoes and quickly pecked him on the cheek. His eyes widened with boyish excitement. She smiled back at him, and walked out the door.
Bria ran from her car into her parents’ house. Katie and Sam were already at the table, twirling their spaghetti while Louise and Joe made their plates.
“Guys. I have an idea,” she said, slamming the door behind her.
“Yeah?” Sam said, slurping a noodle off of her plate.
“We can have a drive. A kidney drive! A kidney match drive!”
“A what?” Louise asked.
“We will post it all over town, and all over the county, and state, if we have to. We’ll put Katie’s blood type on everything, and we can host an event at the fire hall. We can have games and food and stuff. Dr. Carmen said his staff could volunteer for a day. They will test for similar blood type, and have those people come in to the office for the rest of the testing.”
The four of them stared blankly at her for a minute.
“Well, God damn, that’s a good idea!” Joe finally said. “We’ll get a DJ, and some games!”
“Yeah, and I’ll call Beth to see about donating some sandwiches!” Louise said.
“Great idea, B!” Sam said. She looked to Katie, who had tears welling up in her eyes.
“Thank you, Bria,” she whispered, just as they fell.
TWENTY-SIX
The kidney drive was three days away, and Louise was starting to get into her pre-event panic.
“Watch out,” Sam warned Bria when she got home from work, “she’s on a warpath.”
“Oh, lordy,” Bria said. “Ma?”
“No, I need them there at five o’clock,” Louise said, talking on the phone. “Five. Not six.”
Bria shot Sam a look.
“This is crazy. No one can seem to get here on time!” Louise said, dropping her phone on the table.
“Mom, it’s going to be fine. This is not about sandwiches, after all. It’s about kidneys. And Katie.”
Louise looked at her daughters and took a deep breath. “Man, I lucked out with you three,” she said, kissing each of them on the forehead.
Finally, it was the day of the drive. The Kreeries had been all over town, chatting up neighbors about the event, tagging their friends on Facebook, and posting flyers in all the local shops and businesses. Bria arrived at the fire hall early to get things set up and wait for Dr. Carmen.
“Bria,” he said, walking in with a team full of nurses and aids behind him.
“Eric!” she said, making her way to him and enveloping him in a hug. “I can’t tell you what this means to my family.”
He cleared his throat, his cheeks slightly pink. “Of course,” he said, “I’m happy to help.”
Bria smiled and walked him toward the back of the hall where his staff started to set up.
“Okay,” he said, clapping his hands together, “I think we are good to go. What’s going to happen today is just basic blood work. So we will take vials of blood from everyone who donates, bring it back to the lab, and see who matches. If their blood type matches, we will go ahead and call them in for the rest of the compatibility testing.”
Bria nodded. This all sounded like it would take time, and she hoped it wouldn’t be too much time. He must have seen the pain in her eyes.
“Don’t worry, Bria,” he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “We will find someone as fast as possible.” She gave him a look of thanks, placing her hand on his for just a moment.
Finally, the drive was open, and when Bria saw the line of people wrapped around the building, she wanted to burst into tears.
The thoughtfulness of her little town. Most people, granted, her family knew. But there were some new faces in the crowd too. And, here they all were, lining up to potentially donate an organ to save her sister’s life.
Bria sat at the front table, checking people in and handing out medical waivers.
“How’s it going?” she felt him whisper in her ear, and she jumped.
“Oh, hey Dr. C,” she said, “Yes, thanks, just sign right here,” she told the woman in front of her. “Seems to be going well! How’s it going back there?”
“Pretty good. Liza took the first batch back, and we actually already have one blood type match,” he said with a smile. Bria’s eyes brightened. “But, remember, it’s a three-step process. We still have to do more testing. Look, I’m going to take a quick twenty-minute break to get some food. Where’s good to e
at around here?”
“Oh, um, Tom and Ray’s is right across the street, there,” she pointed through the large garage doors of the fire hall. “Do you want me to go with you?” she asked. It was the least she could do.
“I thought you’d never ask,” he said, with that dazzling smile yet again.
“Thanks,” Eric said, as the waitress put down a tray of fries for them to share.
“I’ll be right back with your meals,” she said.
“So, this is the Dalesville hangout?” he asked, taking a bite.
“One of them,” Bria said with a smile. He smiled back.
“I like this place. It reminds me a lot of where I’m from, up in Pennsylvania. Small town like this.”
“So, what brought you to this area?”
“Med School, and then a job,” he said. She nodded. “But it didn’t make leaving my family any easier.”
She smiled again. A family man.
“Look, I want to thank you, again for all you’re doing for my family.” He smiled at her, then reached for her hand, holding it in his own.
“Bria, I’m happy to do this. And I hope we find our person today. But I also hope, when all is said and done, and Katie has that new kidney, that I get to see you again.”
She smiled sheepishly, pulling her hand out from under his.
“Dr. Carmen,” she said.
“Eric,” he said.
“Eric. I really appreciate it, but I’m just not looking for anything right now.”
“Oh, okay,” he said. “Can I ask why?”
Bria got the impression that the smoldering doctor with ocean-like eyes didn’t get told “no” very often. The truth was, she didn’t know why she was turning him down. He was gorgeous, and kind. And her stomach had done a little flip each time he had politely touched her, or smiled at her. But she didn’t feel ready. She just wasn’t interested, and she couldn’t put a finger on the reason.
Just as she was about to answer, she looked up and saw the car. The car she had ridden in so many times, pulling into the fire hall parking lot. And she lost her breath.
“I-I’m sorry. I have to get back,” she said. “I’ll see you over there.”
It Goes Without Saying Page 21
