Page 7 of Pulse of True Soulmates
I pulled out my phone. “I’m texting her right now. You know she’s gonna be right there.” My head popped up from my phone screen. “Um, are you making brownies too? I’ll get the stuff.”
“You don’t have to get nothing, lil girl. I already knew you were going to ask me.” He leaned over to look at the side of his desk where Midnite lay on his pillow. “Midnite, I got you something good to eat too.”
Midnite got up with a wagging tail. He had buttons in my father’s office, but not as many as we had at home. He pressed the button.“Thank you, Pop Pop.”
I loved the way my people loved my baby. There were days that I didn’t feel well, so my father would make me come and stay in his office with him. He had a very comfortable couch that pulled out into a bed. That was the reason there were buttons in here for my baby. I thought him having the couch-bed in his office would be a problem, but everyone was aware of my condition and how my father didn’t play about me. Sometimes it felt weird when I was out and I saw firefighters because they’dtell me “hi” by name. I didn’t know these people, well not all of them.
“Alright Daddy, let me get out of here. I have an errand to run, then I’m going home.” I’d already been here for over an hour. It was time for me to go.
When Vernon Blackwell tilted his head, I knew he was about to work my nerves like my best friend. “Aeon, there is nothing that important that you need to do right now in this heat. Take your ass home, lil girl.”
I rolled my eyes and waved him off. I pulled up the rideshare app on my phone to order my ride. There was one only five minutes away.Good!“Okay, Daddy. Come on, Midnite.”
My baby got up and came to my side. I said my final goodbye and walked out of his office, closing the door. I stopped at Susan’s desk to let her know what I planned to get from the store today. Her ass started to fuss too.I have to stop telling people about my moves.
It took about twenty minutes to get to the big box store. The heat sweltered outside, so I moved faster than normal to get inside of the warehouse.Maybe I should have listened to Fatima.I grabbed a cart to put what I needed inside. About ten minutes into my shopping, Midnite started to lean away from me as we walked. He did this when he wanted to help me be more stable while I walked or stood.
Halfway down an aisle, Midnite stopped walking and jumped up with his front paws on my thigh. He did it two more times before I addressed him. “Alright, baby. I’ll sit down.”
I pushed the cart a little further up, stepped back a few feet, then sat on the floor. I took my messenger bag off me, opened it, then pulled out my bottle of water and my pulse oximeter. Midnite watched me for a second. I knew he wanted to see if I would pull out my medication from my bag. I intentionally didn’t so he would be prompted to get it. I smiled when he dugin my bag with his snout then pulled out the pill bottle. “Thank you, baby.”
My pulse was 152 and my oxygen level was eighty-eight per my pulse oximeter.I need to get my heart rate down and oxygen saturation up, or I’m going to pass out.Midnite had already laid her head on my lap. I hurriedly opened my medication and took it then placed the bottle back in my bag. My blurred eyes let me know that my heart rate was not going down fast enough. “Midnite, I’m gonna lay down.”
He got up to give me room to lie down. Once I was flat on my back, I tapped my chest. Midnite used his body to lie across it. I tried not to use deep pressure therapy in public because people became overly worried. Lack of understanding caused them to immediately call emergency services, which was unnecessary most of the time. The weight from Midnite on my chest helped regulate my blood flow faster than if I just sat there and waited for my heartrate to slow.
“Ma’am, are you alright? Do you need me to call emergency services?” a deep voice asked from my side.At least he asked instead of just calling them.
My eyes were closed as I spoke. “No, I’ll be fine.” I rubbed my baby’s back. “Midnite’s got me.”
He said something else to me, but I really wasn’t listening. I prayed he took what I said and moved along. I was annoyed because I knew that once I got it together to get up, I more than likely would have to leave what I’d gotten so far here to go straight home. Fatima’s ass was going to curse me out, then when we got to my father’s house, he would curse me out. I didn’t feel like any of that today.I should have damn listened.I could be stubborn as an ox sometimes.
“Hey, baby. I know you told my son that you were alright, but I don’t feel comfortable leaving you here by yourself. Did you have a seizure?” Now it was a woman’s voice. I took a deepbreath. She said she was whoever the guy that spoke to me mother. The guy’s deepness of his voice didn’t give a kid, so I assumed that this woman was older.
I opened my eyes then turned my head with a smile on my face. “No ma’am, I’m not having a seizure. I have a condition called POTS. Sometimes I get overworked, and my heart rate goes up too much, so I have to sit or lay down.” I glanced down at my baby who minded his business with his head on my shoulder. I rubbed Midnite’s head, then said, “My baby here is trained to warn me so I can sit or lay down so I don’t hurt myself. Thank you for asking.”
I saw the confusion in her eyes. My attention moved to the man that stood beside her.Well, damn!This lady’s son was fine. He was dressed perfectly for the heat, with a pair of khaki shorts, a basketball jersey, and sneakers that complimented the colors in the jersey. His locs were up in a bun on the top of his head. You could tell that his lineup was fresh, and I appreciated the work of whoever did it.
I snapped out of my infatuation with this lady’s son when she said something I didn’t expect. “Ok, well, I still don’t want to leave you here by yourself. My son is going to stay with you until you feel well enough to get up.”Wait, what!“Declan, stay here and help her when she’s ready to get up. Give me the cart, and I’ll go get the stuff I need. I’ll be back.”
My eyes bucked as I watched this woman take the cart from her son, then walked off. What was really happening right now? My eyes shot back to her son whose name apparently was Declan. He looked uncomfortable as hell. “Um, so hi, Declan. It’s nice to meet you. My name is Aeon.”
He chuckled before he spread his legs a little, leaned back on the big shelf, then crossed his sexy, tatted arms across his chest. “What’s up, Aeon? Does this happen a lot?”
“Um, to this degree, no. Most of the time, all I have to do is just take a seat somewhere, but with the extremely hot weather and just moving around, I think I did too much,” I told him. I lifted my arms up to put my pulse oximeter back on my finger.My heartbeat is 101 and my oxygen level is 97.“That’s more like it. Midnite, I’m okay, boy.”
Like he was trained to do, he lifted his head and stayed on top of me for a moment to make sure I was alright. If he didn’t think so, he would have laid his head back down to let me know that he wasn’t satisfied yet with my heartrate. When he got off me, that was his okay for me to get up.
Declan took a step toward me. “Let me help you up.” He paused for a moment and glanced at Midnite. I understood the look of asking if my dog would react. After I told Midnite that it was alright to let Declan help me, he came to my side and extended his hand. “Come on.”
I grabbed his soft hands and let him pull me up. Midnite was right next to me. My baby was trusting to a point, but not that damn trusting. People often underestimated labradors because of their friendly nature. I’d admit that most were overly friendly, but as my service dog, he would protect me at all costs. Declan picked my bag up once I was on my feet. “Thank you so much for helping me up and staying with me.”
“Shit, my mama would have beat my ass if I didn’t.” Although he said it jokingly, something told me that it was not a joke at all. He peeked over at my cart. “Do you want me to help you get the rest of whatever you need?”
Hm, his help would be great.“I mean, if you have the time, that would be great. I don’t want to put you out of your way.”
He looked at the very nice watch on his wrist. “Nah, my mother still has a good twenty minutes of getting the things on her list and getting stuff that’s not but adding it to the list like italways was.” There was absolutely no smile on his face. He was serious.
“Oh, I think I have to use that method.” It may not have been funny to him, but it was hilarious to me. He pushed the cart while I walked beside him.He smells so fucking good. Will it be weird if I ask him what cologne he’s wearing?“Alright, I just need a few more things, then I can get my rideshare to get home.”
