Medically Speaking

Chapter 33

Trigger Warning: This chapter contains potentially triggering conversations about trauma that occurred during past relationships for two characters. The details are vague but if you'd prefer to skip the worst of it, you can scroll from one scene break (---) to the other.

The mid-August heat was just starting to press through the layers of humid morning air as I set a grocery bag down on my front porch with a startling clunk before I went digging for my keys, praying that it wasn't a jar that had just cracked. The bag crinkled as it leaned precariously against my leg, threatening to collapse at any moment. It was my favorite reusable bag—blue and decorated with pasta boxes with different shaped pasta—but even I could admit that it wasn't sturdy enough for the amount of stuff we'd crammed into it.

Luke was standing right behind me, his arms so ladened down with bags that there was no hope that he could take some of mine. Through the door, Echo was meowing loud enough that we could hear her through the thick wood. "She sounds like she's auditioning for an ASPCA commercial," Luke commented, using his shoulder to try and brush his hair out of his face. "For the low, low cost of $19 a month, you can rescue this poor, mistreated beast from their life of being abandoned for three weeks straight with no food in sight."

"We've only been gone for an hour and a half," I grumbled as I finally shoved my keys into the lock. I'd managed a couple of decent hours of sleep last night, but still found myself rattled awake before the sun even came up. While not desirable, it gave me the chance to cook breakfast and then get a fair amount of cleaning done before Luke texted me.

Luke: Hey beautiful, I'm available all day to hang out or drive you wherever you need. I'm at your mercy. 😘

Joey: That's awfully brave of you. What if my plans included robbing a bank?

Luke: Just give me the address, sugar. I'll even crack the safe for you.

Joey: Sadly, after the last time, Phil told me that it was a hard no in the future. Do you mind taking me to the grocery store, though?

Luke: Shame. I already told Gabe we were going to need an alibi. Oh well. Grocery shopping sounds better, anyway ❤️ I'll be there in 20.

There had been no bank robbing, but there was a considerable amount of shenanigans while we shopped. Time with Luke could rarely be considered boring and shopping with him hadn't been any different. From trapping me between his chest and the cart while we moved to trying to convince me to buy every item in the store that had more than your 5% daily recommended amount of sugar in it, he had me laughing almost the entire time. He had been genuinely helpful, too, but the ease with which he was willing to make grocery shopping feel like a date had filled me with just as many warm fuzzy feelings as my date with Silas had.

This was the sort of thing I loved, the willingness to do the mundane with me. He hadn't moped through the grocery store. He hadn't whined, wanting to know how much longer it was going to be, he just turned every opportunity he could into an attempt to make me laugh. But more than just a running comedy set, he'd done his best to be helpful. When he saw things on the list that he knew what it was I wanted—most likely from snooping through my house, but I did give him permission—he went ahead of me to grab it without being asked. He checked for sales and examined produce like he was buying for a 5-star establishment, not a meal I was going to cook in my home kitchen that he'd most likely never get a bite of.

I know a lot of it has to do with the work the Academy puts into their teams. They want them to be self-sufficient. They've probably been handing Luke and the others grocery lists since they were 12 years old to do a full week's worth of shopping for not only themselves but teams that were willing to give them favors. There's just something so appealing about having a partner that doesn't act like going to the store is the worst thing that's happened to them all week.