All this fighting couldn't be good for Dawn, especially since she's not taking her chemo drugs, so I let the topic pass. Thankfully, Dawn's dinner arrived just in time. Catherine carried it in with a separate brown bag.
"This is for you, Lucas. It's a smoked salmon sandwich. I didn't pay for it, don't worry. Dr Jones found me carrying Dawn's dinner for her and she got me yours so I can deliver it to you without making the additional trip. She says it's for 'your courage', whatever that means."
She must have told me to eat this and ask her, but now this felt more like a type of consolation for my failure of persuading her. "Tell her thanks, but I already tried. As for the result… Just tell her to guess. She'll know what I mean by that."
I smiled bitterly and Catherine nodded. I could tell she will tell Dr Jones what I'd said but doesn't understand the full meaning. Of course not, she doesn't know any of the contexts, but I knew Dawn will understand what I mean and Dr Jones was the one who suggested I start the conversation we spoke a bit early on.
After Catherine left, I took the bag on the side of Dawn's tray. Inside, there was that sandwich, a few napkins, and a protein drink. The drink pack had a post-it note on it: 'Hope you succeed where others failed.'
I smiled and Dawn asked, "You look a bit sad. Is it because of the chat we had?"
Dawn read me much too well; sometimes I wish I could hide my face behind a mask for something. "Yeah. The thing Catherine mentioned is the talk I had with Dr Jones. She was the one who told me about your viewpoint and hoped I would have the "courage" to talk to you about that."
"Oh." That was all she said. No additional remarks whatsoever.
"She didn't tell me to tell you after dinner, but I think she didn't consider the possibility of the timing coming to me on its own."
"That's why you suddenly breached that topic. I didn't know why you suddenly talked about that."
I chuckled lightly and bit down the sandwich little by little. Dawn began eating and we were silent until Dr Jones barged in, out of breath.
"Lucas, when did you tell Dawn-" She stopped, noticing Dawn and me both eating. "Okay, I'll wait here till you finish. By the way, Dawn, this visit has nothing to do with you. I won't be here for any check-ups until the end of your resting period."
I finished my sandwich soon and poked in the straw for the drink. "Please, go on."
"When did you tell her about that? I thought you needed to make up your mind or something if I was not mistaken."
"Yeah, but the timing simply rolled in on its own. It was too big of an opportunity to miss and I didn't know how to begin this talk later on."
"You've got good reasons. That's why I just can't seem to say anything against your decision. Then the sandwich and drink must have felt like consolation or something like that."
I nodded and added, "Yeah. I thought I may be able to win, but I forgot Dawn's supernatural pigheadedness."
Dr Jones chuckled and looked at Dawn. She pretended not to hear us and was drinking the Arnold Palmer I got for her. "I was just here to soothe you, nothing else. Also, I put that protein juice in there because you haven't had that much protein. An unbalanced diet is the worst for your health, you know that."
I smiled and thanked her. I was thinking of buying a bottle of protein milk because of that very same reason, but now it isn't necessary.
Dr Jones left and Dawn placed the cup down and questioned, "How did you get so close to her?"
"While working for my uncle. I met her a few times and said hi around the hospital as well."
I didn't tell her Dr Jones was the reason why I dreamt of being a doctor. She was the one who thought I had an ear infection(otitis media if you want the medical term) and felt like my godmother in some ways. It was probably because my mother and she were on close terms and she babysat me quite often to be considered "normal". (She knew the possibility of an ear infection because she was on the path to becoming an ENT.)
"She was the one who told me about the cafe. The drinks for you are free, but I have to pay for mine since I don't work here. Officially." I spoke and finished the juice. It was surprisingly tasty so I planned to get this in the future instead of experimenting with other brands or types of protein stuff.
I then took my book from the seat I left it and began to read it. Before I went deep into the book, I told Dawn. "If you need to go to the bathroom or to clean up, just tell me and I can take you there."
"But isn't that your favourite book?" Dawn asked, probably worried she'll be interrupting my reading time.
"One of them, yes, but that also means I've read it multiple times. This book can wait and doesn't need any context to dive into it." I said, flipping a few pages back to find a more interesting spot to begin from.
Dawn nodded and out of the corner of my eye, I could see her taking out her iPad. I soon heard her typing something. I may have thought it was a blog of some sort before, but I don't think that it was. Perhaps it's the messages I may need to send later on to her contacts.
We were silent for a long time until Dawn spoke up and called my name.