The next morning I woke, feeling like I had a bowling ball in my stomach but I climbed out of bed, washed, dressed and checked myself in the mirror. The bruises I had were going down and hopefully by Monday when I started my new job they would be all healed. But today the house repairs needed to be seen to.
Maryellen and Mondo stopped over at lunch time while the guys were filling the pool with water. I set out some lunch stuff and some iced coffee and we sat down to eat and bullshit. Mondo finally broached the subject by asking me how I was doing.
"I feel horrible but what can you do? I'm sure I'll get over it soon enough and I've got a lot of stuff to keep me going. By the way, if you want when you decide to move down you can move in here with me. We'll set up the spare bedroom for you that way you won't have to endure the craziness over at Maryellen's either."
"Fuck you." Maryellen said without any real heat. "My place isn't crazy."
"You're place is a zoo." I answered.
"Oh hell yeah it is." Mondo agreed.
"That's nice we come over here to see if Josh is ok and you both start ragging on me."
"I'm fine, guys. I mean, I'm not but I will be. Eventually. I just got dealt a shitty hand. Again. I'll bounce back."
"You don't sound too sure." Mondo said.
"Well, I guess when you get older you lose your spring and it takes longer to bounce back." I laughed but didn't feel like laughing.
We had a nice meal, watched the guys finish filling the pool and didn't talk about my heartache and loss again. When they left I told them that I would prep the pool for swimming and let them know when they could come over for a swim.
The weekend went quickly with me spending all of my time getting the house ready. It was coming along and would be in good shape by next weekend when I planned to throw a house warming party. I didn't feel much like partying but in Florida that's what one does and I figured going through the motions would at least help me feel a little more normal.
Monday came and I started to work at the ambulance squad. It was great. The area we were in had a high call volume and we were constantly heading out into the thick of it. There was also a great deal of overtime available so I took some time off from home repairs to rack up more hours at work. By the middle of the week I felt like one of the gang. We were out on Wednesday, stopping for a bite to eat when we got a call. It was to my old job site and my unit had been specifically requested. My partner, a really cool girl who had just finished her paramedic, and I jumped up from the table and ran to the rig.
"Do you know why the requested us?" Nicky asked.
"I used to work there. What's the call for?"
"A 71 year old male with chest pain." She answered and I gunned it as I flipped on the lights and siren. I wondered if it were Pete or Tiny. When we got there we saw a group of men standing around someone who had been placed in the shade. I ran with Nicky up to them and pushed them aside, only barely registering that Alex was there.
It was Tiny. He looked a little flushed and was holding his chest but at least he was still breathing. I grabbed a wrist and found his pulse to be a little fast but strong.
"How you doing Tiny?" I asked.
"Ok, now. I took my medicine and the pain went away. It feels fine now."
"What did you take?"
"My nitro."
"How many doses?"
"Just one."
"And it help that quick?" I asked.
"Yeah. It was just my goddamn angina. Kicks up every once in a while."
I kept asking him questions, and helping Nicky put him on the monitor. When he was all hooked up we watched the flashing blip of light dance across the screen. Nicky looked up at me as if to say 'he's ok'.
"All right, Tiny. You're ok for now. But we're going to bring you to the hospital and get you checked out." I stood up and headed back to the rig to get the stretcher. As soon as I stood, Tiny stopped me.
"I'm ok."
"I know you are, Tiny. But you have to be seen by a doctor. He's got to make sure you're all right."
"No, really. I'm fine." He said and started taking the monitor off his chest.
"Tiny!" I said trying to get his attention. "You had chest pain and you have a heart condition. This could be nothing but it could also be the beginning of a heart attack. You need to go to the hospital."
"All right, I will."
