Losing Rene?

Ch2

I again glance at my watch, just twenty-eight minutes separate me from losing Rene forever. I sigh and screw the blue cap back on my water bottle as I began to think of the whirlwind days that had followed that seemingly innocent conversation.

It had been nearly two weeks since I had my conversation with Rene when I heard a knock on the front door.

Peeking through the curtain, I saw our neighbor Connie standing on the front porch. I opened the door and smiled.

"Come on in, Connie." She stepped inside.

"Hi, Grant. Rachel is watching the kids for me, Rene is over there playing with my youngest."

This Rachel she referred to, was her eldest daughter, a very competent teenager.

"So, what brings you for this visit - having problems with your lawn mower again?" I asked.

Being a single mother, she often had need of my service with repairing items around her house. Our relationship was purely as friends, neither of us felt we were ready to take that next step with any sort of personal relationship.

Connie made a face as she responded, it was as though she knew more than she was really letting on. "Earlier today, as Rene was playing with Kimberly, my youngest. I overheard him telling her that he had been a woman with three children, in a past life."

I laughed as I stood up and walked over to my desk and opened a drawer. When I returned I was holding the drawing. "He drew this for me two weeks ago. He mentioned the same thing."

She settled back on the chair and crossed her leg. "Did he tell you that he still feels like the same female he was then and doesn't want to go through life pretending to be a boy?"

"What?" I sank into the couch, the question coming unexpectedly. "No, he's said nothing to me like that."

"While I know he's just a kid, from the way he's been talking to and plays with my girls, I  get the feeling he means it when he says he hates the fact that he has to be a boy this time."

Connie knew of how much I loved Rene, and I could tell that it pained her to divulge this sort of information to me about him.

I sat at the edge of the couch as my mind raced through the last several years. Each little red flag that popped up seemed to lead back to what she had just told me.

I swallowed hard. "I-I don't know what to do..."

She put her hand on my arm, the gesture a sign of comfort from a friend. "I had an old college roommate who works with gender dysphoria cases, perhaps she can assist you with Rene."

Wanting to desperately stay away from this, I sighed and paused for a bit before finally nodding. I  gave in to the inevitable, knowing that eventually, I would have to deal with it one way or another. "Okay, give me her number and I'll call her in the morning."

The next day I made an appointment for the following week.

The initial consultation with the doctor was only with me, while Rene remained home with Connie. It was not going to be an easy task airing the concerns I had, especially when Rene felt he was the normal one.

I sat quietly in the office I had been escorted to by the receptionist. As I waited I mindlessly scrolled through the apps on my phone. When I heard the door open, I glanced up to see that the doctor was entering. She looked to be of Middle Eastern or Indian descent.

The doctor walked around the chair I was sitting in, and I stood out of respect.

She held out her hand. "I am Dr. Cammibal. You must be Grant."