Story: The Nobel Laureate
Chapter 22
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Previously: Abbey set up an appointment for Jed with her colleague Dr. Grayson; during Thanksgiving dinner, the bickering between Ellie and her cousin Brad leads Jed to see a darker side of his brother Jack's personality when Brad seems to be afraid of his father
Summary: Jed and Abbey learn what's wrong with his back; Jed is grumpy about his day of doctor's appointments and shopping
Author's Note: Chapters 22 and 23 were originally written as one chapter, but because it was so long, I decided to split it up into two. This chapter is short, but the next one will be really long!
"Leave it alone."
Abbey's voice held a warning so stern that Jed stopped dead in his tracks. Though he was used to it by now, her uncanny ability to predict his actions before he had even fully planned them was irritating. He turned an incredulous eye towards her.
"What?"
"You were headed towards the model of the human hand. Need I remind you what happened the last time you picked up one of the models in a doctor's office?" Remembering how Jed mishandled a similar model during her OB/GYN appointment when she was pregnant with Zoey, Abbey stared at him from her chair across the room.
Jed couldn't forget the incident either. He thought back to the fractured bones splattered on the floor of the office and Abbey's refusal to help him out of the messy situation. She donned that same disapproving glare even back then. Annoyed, he railed against it. "For your information, I was not headed towards the hand."
"Really?"
"Really," he confirmed. But she knew him too well to actually believe the denial. So, under his breath in a voice just loud enough for her to hear, he said, "I was headed towards the model of the leg."
"Why do you have to play with everything? Why can't you just sit down and wait patiently?"
"Because I hate this place. I hate doctors' offices. I hate doctors."
Abbey raised her left brow. "Yeah?"
"I don't mean surgeons. Just...you know...doctors who poke and prod at their patients. At least you knock them unconscious before you slice them open."
"I can see how that would be more comforting to you." She flipped through the pages of her magazine.
"I don't even know why we're here." Jed leaned on the edge of the exam table.
"We're here because you hurt your back."
"My back is fine."
"I suspect it is today, but the last thing we want is for it to act up while we're in Sweden."
He rolled his eyes. "Since when is 'we' part of the equation?"
Abbey threw her magazine on the counter and stood. "You know what, you've been making comments like that all morning. Enough with the passive aggressive sarcasm. I get it. You're mad at me for dragging you here."
"No kidding." Jed freely admitted his frustration over the itinerary she had set up for today. "And it isn't just here. It's what's waiting for me when I leave here."
"What's really bothering you? The fact that you have to buy patent leather shoes or that you have to do it with your brother?" Abbey gave him several seconds to acknowledge the question, but he didn't respond. "I didn't make the rules for the events in Stockholm, Jed. And I didn't set up this shopping trip just to bug you."
"No, but that was an added bonus, admit it." His belligerence faded into a smile when he teased her.
"You're going to have to talk to your brother eventually."
"Stop reminding me."
She circled around to face him when he moved away. "Why won't you tell me what happened?"
"You know what happened. We had a disagreement."
"All I know is I was helping Ellie change and when I came back downstairs, it was obvious I had just interrupted a conversation between you and Jack. You never told me what it was I walked in on."
"It's not important." Jed dismissed her curiosity the same way he had the night before. He couldn't discuss it because if he did, he'd have to confront similar memories from his childhood. He wasn't ready to do that again. Not here. Not now.
His agitation was apparent. Abbey cupped his chin and lifted his head to look him squarely in the eye. His eyes, so bold and expressive, held no tales. She assumed the hostility between the brothers had something to do with their father and one glance into Jed's eyes only confirmed her suspicions. "It's important to me."
"Abbey, I really don't think this is the time or the place..."
Before he could dissuade her, Dr. Grayson knocked on the door. "Hi there."
Abbey headed towards him to sneak a peek at the chart he held in his hand. "Do we know what's going on?"
"We sure do," the doctor replied. "It's what we thought."
"Where?"
"L-4."
"What do we want to do?"
"My recommendation is steroids and rest for the short term. We'll have to work out a treatment plan after he gets back from Stockholm. How long has he had this pain anyway?"
"A few months. He hurt his back over the summer, but he was too stubborn to have it checked out like I suggested."
"Tell me again, what was he doing when he hurt it?"
Abbey bashfully refused the question. "Like we said before...it was housework...that's what he was doing. Nothing out of the ordinary."
Jed met her gaze then, amused by the redness that colored her cheeks. No way would she be willing to inform her colleague of the recreational activities of that hot summer day. "I'd say it was a little something out of the ordinary, Abbey. I mean, there was an extraordinary moment or two that afternoon. Wouldn't you agree?"
Her bottom lip curled under and she tightened her jaw to contour her features.
"So what happened?" the doctor asked again.
"Barbecuing." Abbey never took her eyes off Jed as she answered. "It was the Fourth of July and we had a lot of friends and family over. Jed was barbecuing."
"Barbecuing?" Dr. Grayson's bewildered expression mirrored Jed's.
"Yes. I told him to let my father help, but when he reached for two giant bags of charcoal briquettes, did he listen? He winced in pain and spent the rest of the day trying to loosen up his back. It's been hurting him ever since."
"I have my good days," Jed interjected.
"Well, the back might be on its way to healing itself."
"You think so?" Abbey asked.
"It could turn out to be a problem, but it's not as bad as I originally thought it would be."
"That's great news!"
"L-4 is the most common place for this kind of injury, so if he behaves himself and takes care of it, I think he'll be okay in the long run."
"All right, look..." Jed approached the two doctors. "I know you guys have your own medical speak and whatnot, but I'm begging you. Will one of you please tell me what's wrong with my back in plain English please?"
"You have a herniated disk in your lumbar vertebral column," Abbey told him.
"Okay, that I understand. Now, how do we fix it?"
"Well, there are a number of options. Therapy, exercise, steroids, and if it gets worse, maybe surgery, but for now, I think we'd be better off with medication until you get back from Sweden." Dr. Grayson turned to address Abbey. "What do you think?"
"Sounds good. He doesn't really take much medication though, so his system is quite sensitive."
"I'll prescribe a conservative dose of muscle relaxants and an anti-inflammatory."
"Perfect."
"Yeah, perfect." Jed echoed her words, but it was obvious he didn't share the sentiment. As the doctor pulled out his prescription pad, Jed headed towards him.
"It's a very low dose so remember to take the steroids twice a day and the muscle relaxants once a day. The relaxant might make you drowsy or dizzy so I suggest taking it at bedtime until you get used to its affects. Got it?"
"Got it." He stuffed the prescription in his coat pocket. "Hey, Doc, say my back was hurting right now. In your expert opinion, would you recommend I take one of these muscle relaxants to alleviate my pain?"
"You could, but it would make you sleepy."
"So you'd have no objection to me taking one now as long as I went home to sleep?"
"Don't even think about it." Abbey tone was stern. If she allowed him to, he'd do anything to get out of shopping for those shoes.
"What? I'm just following the doctor's orders."
"You have plans this afternoon that can't be rescheduled, Jed. If your back is bothering you, I'm sure Dr. Grayson would be more than happy to give you a steroid injection right now."
Injection? For a man who wasn't fond of needles, that wasn't a reasonable alternative. What's more, she knew it. "You have a real mean streak, Abigail."
"No one brings it out of me the way you do, Sunshine." She snatched the prescription out of his pocket. "Come on. we'll drop this off at the drug store and I'll bring it to you when I take the kids to see Santa. In the meantime, you've gotta get to the mall."
"I can hardly wait," he grumbled as he gathered his coat and followed her out the door.
TBC