Kapitel 26: What Would I Do Without You?
Pearl looked at the clock again. She wasn't sure whether she should order dinner for herself or for Jesse, as well. Since her Skype surprise, he hadn't come back to her room.
She wasn't exactly worried, but she was unsure. After all, he had come to Bolivia for her… what could he possibly be doing?
"What do I do, Lord?" she asked out loud.
Before the last word was fully out of her mouth, there was a knock at the door and Jesse let himself in.
"Pearl?"
She turned and looked in his direction. "There you are! I was wondering where you'd disappeared to."
Jesse's hazel eyes sparkled as he held up several plastic bags. "I was out hunting!"
"Hunting?"
"Yeah, for the perfect Chinese food."
"Really?" Pearl laughed. "Who would've thought?"
"Grab a seat. This is all on me."
Pearl sat down and watched Jesse take out the cartons and plastic containers, the chopsticks, and bottles of juice.
He took out the napkins and folded them, setting a pair of chopsticks on both sides of the table.
"Okay, then," Jesse looked up and smiled at Pearl. "Dinner is served."
"Awesome." Pearl grabbed a cushion off the sofa and put it on the floor. Perching on it gracefully, she reached for Jesse's hand. "Let us pray."
Jesse closed his eyes. She said a brief prayer, and then they both got started on the food.
A little while into the meal, Pearl said to Jesse, "Thank you for the surprise this afternoon. That was really nice of you."
Jesse shrugged. "I can empathise with you being stuck in your room all day. It's good to escape sometimes."
"And video calls are safe as far as escapes go, right?"
Jesse chuckled. "Right."
They finished eating, and Jesse insisted they wait a while before opening the fortune cookies, so she watched him clean up. As he packed up the empty containers and cleared the table, Pearl just looked at her companion.
"I can't believe I never saw it."
Jesse kept on stacking and putting things in bags. "Saw what?"
"How much you look like your brother."
Jesse stopped then. "Seriously?"
"Yeah…" her brown eyes found his incredulous green ones, and she chortled. "I mean, I knew you resembled each other but never noticed how much."
"I guess," he began softly, "to see that kind of thing you really have to look at someone."
"I guess so, too."
"Of course we know how overwhelming that can be for ladies, so I get it."
"Oh!" Pearl threw her hands in the air with a look of disgust. "You just had to."
Jesse burst out laughing. "You gave me no choice."
Pearl laughed too, shaking her head. She was alone for a little while as Jesse went to throw out the Chinese leftovers and she chuckled, realising how God had answered her so quickly about how she'd deal with supper.
"Does tea with fortune cookies qualify as dessert?" she heard Jesse ask as he approached her.
Pearl wrinkled her nose. "Or… we could order a real dessert from the hotel."
"Sugar is bad for you."
"What if I order something which has fruit in it?"
Jesse stared at her. "I can't believe you're compromising on dessert!"
That made her pause. "What?"
"You're not supposed compromise on it!" Jesse insisted. "You either go in or you go home."
Realising he hadn't really been chastising her for being unhealthy, Pearl shook her head. "You're special."
"My family tells me the same," Jesse smiled, picking up the phone.
By the time the chocolate on chocolate cake arrived, Jesse had found a movie to watch and Pearl was curled up on the sofa under a light throw.
The waiter served the cake with much pomp and ceremony and left them to dine alone.
"Are we ever going to get to the fortune cookies?"
"We will," Jesse said with a laugh, "right after the cake. What if it's bad news?"
Pearl laughed and took the plate Jesse offered her.
The cake was delicious, so Jesse fist bumped Pearl on her excellent choice. Once they were done with dessert, they turned their attention to the movie which was about zombies and government experiments gone wrong.
The two of them kept up a light commentary going through the film, but an hour into it, Pearl dozed off. Jesse had seen her head loll to the side a few times before she finally gave in, so he didn't keep her awake. He put pillows against the armrest and gently shifted her body so she was lying down.
Sitting down to finish the movie, he would stop now and then to listen to her breathing. When the zombie movie ended, Jesse turned off the TV. He gave his full attention to his charge and debated on a course of action.
He could carry Pearl to her room, or he could wake her up and she could go on her own.
As much as he wanted her to rest, he figured he knew which option Pearl would be comfortable with. So he put a hand on her foot and gave it a little shake.
"Pearl," he said in a clear voice, "you need to get up and go to bed."
When she didn't respond immediately, he waited a couple of seconds and repeated the action.
Her leg jerked against his hand, and she turned her head. With a sigh, Pearl opened her eyes. It took a little while for her to remember where she was, but when her eyes locked on Jesse's watchful face, she grimaced.
"Did I fall asleep?'
"Most certainly."
"Sorry, I didn't realise I was this tired."
"No problem." Pause. "The movie's over so I thought you might like to change and go to bed before I leave."
She hesitated. "Yeah. okay."
He chuckled at her slow reaction time. "The other option was I change you and put you to bed-" her eyes widened "-but I figured you'd prefer to do it yourself. Even though I'm fully capable of assisting patients with such things."
Pearl's face went pink. "Thanks for waking me up."
He almost grinned. "You're welcome. Now get up! It's past your bedtime."
Pearl swung her legs to the side and placed her feet on the floor.
"Thanks for spending the day with me, Jesse," she said on her way to her bedroom.
"Hey," he smiled, "I have nothing better to do and it was my pleasure. You'll be back in shape in no time. If you take it easy."
She stopped in the doorway and turned. "You're right. I'll need you to keep reminding me."
"Oh, I will," he assured her. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay. Goodnight," she said softly.
"Night, Pearl. If you need anything, just call me."
"Okay," she said again and closed the door.
Turning around Jesse headed for the door. Halfway across the suite, he stopped. After looking around a bit he found a 'do not disturb' sign and put it on Pearl's bedroom door. Then he left.
Changing for bed, Jesse reviewed his day. The anxiety had decreased measurably since settling in at the hotel. At times, when he'd been watching Pearl it'd been a struggle to hide his concern for her well-being. He knew it never helped a patient to see their doctor's bleak countenance, so at lunch he'd put on a brave face. His chat with Dr Douglas had helped him put it into context and now he could rest easy, knowing he knew what he could do to help.
Just before he got into bed, Jesse did something he normally didn't do. He said a prayer, asking God to help him help Pearl and for her to trust him. Then he quickly included his family and said amen.
Slipping into the sheets, Jesse let his mind go blank and was asleep in seconds.
He woke up because his phone wouldn't stop ringing. And it wasn't the hotel phone, it was his cell phone. Once that registered, he sat up and reached for it, answering it without looking at the screen.
"Hello?"
"Hey bro, how is my smile looking?"
"What? Is this a video call?" Jesse blearily checking his phone screen before returning the phone to his ear, confused.
Sam laughed out loud. "No, it's not a video call, Jesse. My smile is another nickname for Pearl."
Oh. Interesting.
Pause.
"Well? How is she?" Sam insisted.
"She's sleeping, Sam."
"Already?"
"Dude! I was sleeping too! It's almost three in the morning."
"Oops." Sam's guilty chuckle travelled down the line. "I'm sorry, Jesse."
"It's fine. She's doing a little better than when she was in hospital."
"A little better?"
"Yeah. She's still weak and she gets tired quickly so we're keeping her indoors for a day or two to make sure she doesn't over exert herself."
"You have no idea how glad we all are that you're there to take care of her. Todd said she looked horrible and she has a habit of downplaying how she feels when she's sick."
"I noticed," Jesse muttered. Then he said to his brother, "But don't worry too much. She's going to be okay if she just rests."
"Okay." Pause. "I'm sorry for calling so late."
Jesse smiled. "It's okay. Next time you call just add seven hours to your time."
"Haha. I will. Give our love to the pearl when she gets up."
"Will do."
"Good night, Jess."
"Good night, little brother."
It took Jesse longer to get to sleep this time.
He smiled again, thinking of Sam. Pearl had been right about him not paying attention to time zones.
A part of him felt the pressure that came with taking care of Pearl. Even though she wasn't actually related to the Teabs and Teab-Murrays she was just as much a part of the family as he was. If anyone had asked him to leave work for a non-relative back in Bulgaria, he would have undoubtedly declined. But he hadn't even hesitated to call Pearl family and treat her as such.
Jesse supposed that was also what made 3 o'clock phone calls acceptable. Sam kind of reminded him of how he had been when he had been younger. Whenever he'd been struggling with something, he would call his dad. Night or day, the old man had always picked up the phone.
Jesse sighed.
There would always be a slight ache whenever he thought of his father. David Murray had been the only family he'd known for so long. And he really wished Sam had gotten to know him.
That was one of the last thoughts he had before drifting back to sleep.
Geschenke
-- Geschenk
erhalten Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein