Fire and Freedom - Book One of the Café Latte Trilogy

Chapter Thirty-One - Jasper

Chapter Thirty-One – Jasper

Harper was by far the worst patient in the world. The moment he felt slightly better, he started telling doctors he was ready to go home, pouted when they told him to shove it up his ass, and sulked when we visited and refused to encourage him to discharge himself.

"You will sit there, and you will have that medicine shoved into your veins, and I don't want to hear a thing said about it," Lucie said firmly, pushing him into the cushions and handing him a cup of tea. "I'm going to go and get you a snack, you haven't eaten enough today."

As she hurried her way out of the ward, Harper grumbled, "I can't believe almost dying doesn't even get me a sympathy vote."

"You know," I told him, smiling teasingly. "I'm starting to see how you landed yourself in here in the first place." My smile faded as I added, "Please don't push yourself and wind up back in here, H."

Harper's face softened, and he patted me on the head. "I'm just bored here, baby. I'll stay until the doctors let me go, okay? And I promise to take care of myself."

Edward suddenly straightened up, and pulled a bunch of things out of his bag. "Well, you see," he said bossily, handing Harper a bundle of leaflets. "I thought you might say that. And I thought you might put it as vaguely as that, without actually making a plan. So I made a plan for you."

Harper frowned at the leaflet. "I am not going to group therapy."

"Oh, that's for phase three," Edward replied, checking a list he had made. "Phase one is going to a support group for HIV positive men, you just get together for social stuff, going for a meal, that kind of thing. Their next one is at the restaurant you like, Rossi's?"

Pursing his lips, Harper mused, "I do really like that restaurant."

"Plus, it's only once every fortnight," Edward shrugged. "And I called, they said you can bring anyone you want to make it more comfortable - I'm happy to go with you. In terms of therapy, Ross has paid for weekly one-to-one therapy, and I'll be taking you and driving you home."

Harper's eyes narrowed. "I don't feel comfortable with Ross paying for therapy."

"Don't fight it," I advised him. "He pre-paid for like four months, forced them to make it non-refundable so you couldn't argue."

Exasperated, Harper replied, "Oh, great." Seeing Edward's face, he said, "Okay, okay. I'll go. If it'll make you happy, I'll go."

"It'll make me very happy," Edward replied, beaming. "And in time, it'll show you how important it is to be selfish every once in a while and make sure you speak up about illnesses." He then held up his phone, showing Harper an app.

"This," he said, "is an app tracking daily symptoms. The doctor recommended you do it with a buddy, so I signed us up. I'll make sure you log in your daily stuff. He said to do it for a minimum of three months, until it becomes more of a habit for you to just examine your daily symptoms, to prevent another round of pneumonia."

Harper looked grim. "That sounds... depressing."

"And important," Edward stressed. "Harper, I swear, I turned a blind eye before because I thought that when it really came down to it, I could trust you to take care of yourself. I've lost that trust in you."

Harper took notice of Edward's voice as it cracked, and he and I realised at the same time that this was costing Edward a lot. It was clearly affecting him intensely to see Harper this unwell. Harper reached over and put his hand over Edward's. "Thank you for telling me," he gently said. "I promise to put the work into these steps. Thank you for organising them for me. I'll earn your trust back over time."