Chapter Twenty-Six

After two days, Noah was allowed to leave the hospital, but Kenny had to stay and continue to be monitored. Jordan said goodbye to his uncle, as did Noah and Lucy, and drove them home.

Over the course of the next few days, Jordan trained himself to become the ultimate housewife. He cooked and cleaned and took Lucy to and from school once that started up again. He helped Noah with his breathing exercises and picked up his prescriptions for him and made sure that he was getting enough physical activity. He even started helping him code and answer his emails when he was tired or having a particularly bad pain day, but all things considered, Noah was healing remarkably fast.

Also, since it didn’t seem like that job working for Noah’s mom’s insurance company was gonna pan out on account of her hating his guts, Jordan had applied for a position at a call center nearby. He had an interview with them scheduled for late next week.

Furthermore, things between him and Lucy were strained for the first couple of days, and Jordan could totally see her point of view. She had been fine with him when it was all fun and games, but now things were changing fast. He was gaining more responsibility around the house, and thus, more power over her. Not to mention the fact that her dad was now experiencing some physical discomfort because of him.

Jordan was patient and gave her space. Eventually the tension just worked itself out.  Lucy understood that Jordan cared about her dad and didn’t want to see him hurt any more than she did. That alone was reason enough for a truce. He and Noah even went to an open house at her school together. There wasn’t a soccer mom in the building who wasn’t staring at them or whispering about their intertwined hands as they walked through the halls, but Noah and Jordan didn’t care. Neither did Lucy. She was excitedly dragging them from classroom to classroom and introducing them to all the teachers. They all had a good laugh about the other parents’ reactions in the car on the way home.

When he wasn’t at home taking care of things around the house, Jordan would borrow Noah’s car and visit with his uncle at the hospital. Kenny was a little worse for wear, he was getting tons of pain medication and IV fluids on top of the anti-rejection meds. He was also starving since he couldn’t eat for three days after the surgery, and irritable from being watched like a hawk. It appeared that his new kidney was functional almost right away, but with Jordan already threatening to sue the hospital, there was no way they were going to miss anything or send him home before he was ready. 

So yeah, overall, things were looking up. He nailed his interview and got the call center job, and without all his money going to rent and food, he was actually able to start building up savings and paying some of his bills. Noah went to all his post op appointments and didn’t have any complications. He even got cleared to go out on a wildlife shoot if he wanted to.

His and Noah’s relationship had only continued to blossom and grow. Jordan felt like he was learning new things and falling even more in love with him every day. The only thing that could make it better was having his uncle there in the house with them.

And as luck would have it, he got the call on Sunday, while he was driving home from work. He dug the device out of his pocket and put it on speaker just as he was pulling up to a red light.

“Hello?” he said.

“Hey kid,” his uncle said gruffly.

“Hey Uncle Kenny,” he said. The light turned green and he started moving forward. “How’s it going?”

“Not bad,” he said. “I finally got that nurse I was telling you about off my case. God that woman is a handful.”

Jordan laughed and turned onto Noah’s street.

“Well I’m glad to hear it. I hope you didn’t emotionally scar her or anything.”

Kenny sniffed.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

There was the sound of rustling on the other end of the line.

“Oh, and also I’m being discharged tomorrow. Evidently I’m cancer free and I’ve officially got a working kidney.”

Jordan almost crashed into the car in front of him.

“Uncle Kenny! Why didn’t you lead with that?”

“Because, I wanted to mess with you.”

Jordan could hear the grin in his voice.

“Okay, well I’ve gotta work tomorrow, but I can leave Noah the car so that he can come pick you up and bring you over here.”

Kenny scoffed.

“I don’t need none of that, boy. Just have him take me to get my car out of impound, and I’ll figure things out from there.”

Jordan flared his nostrils and fought to keep his tone even.

“Uncle Kenny, I know you want to get your independence back. Believe me, I was feeling the same way when I first moved in with Noah, but I really don’t want you all alone and cold and living God knows where. I just got you back. I can’t risk losing you again. I’d feel much more comfortable having you here with us. You’d get the whole basement to yourself. There’s a bathroom and I could get you a TV. It’ll be nice and private.”

“Son, don’t you think you and that boy have done enough for me? I don’t want to impose on you any more than I already have.”

“You wouldn’t be imposing,” Jordan insisted. “We all want you there. Noah and I have already discussed it. In fact, he was the one who brought it up. Lucy even promised to make you more snickerdoodles, even though they usually only make them at Christmas time.”

Jordan pulled into the driveway and turned off the car while he waited for Kenny’s answer. There was a long pause and then he finally said, “Well I wouldn’t want to disappoint Miss Lucy now, would I?”

Jordan smiled so widely he felt like his jaw might snap in two.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Uncle Kenny. Call Noah when you’re ready for him to come get you.”

Jordan hung up and sat happily in the driveway for several more minutes before starting the car, putting it in reverse and backing out. He dropped by the closest grocery store, picked out a cheap bottle of wine and brought it back to the house.

When he walked in, he said hi to Lucy who was sprawled out on the living room floor with her crayons and coloring books. She had headphones on and thus, barely acknowledged his existence. Jordan shrugged it off and went into the kitchen to crack open the bottle of wine. He poured two glasses and carried them with him upstairs.

He found Noah in his office, typing furiously away on his computer. He set a glass down on the desk beside him and wrapped his arms around him from behind.

“What’s this for?” Noah asked, placing a kiss on Jordan’s bicep.

Jordan told him the good news, and Noah broke into a huge smile.

“That’s amazing babe! I’m so happy for him, and for you.”

Jordan returned his grin and peppered his face with kisses.

They laughed and downed their glasses and spent some time just enjoying each other’s company. Jordan just casually happened to mention that Lucy was listening to loud music downstairs.

Noah grinned mischievously, instantly catching his drift. He stood up and locked the office door.

“Take your clothes off,” he said. “Now it’s time for us to really celebrate.”