A Heart Healed

*************

If it wasn’t for the fact that it was for Nate, Naomi would never choose to meet inside one of these themed restaurants. Barry’s was the name that stood right in front of the building with a cartoon character above it acting as the mascot. She should have expected that kids would like this place, but as soon as she opened the door, she and Marc were hit with a wall of noise.

All kinds of kids of different ages were all over the place with their parents and guardians seated at the variety of tables to the side, all looking like they’d rather be anywhere but here. The staff seemed to have this emotion tenfold as all of them looked about as tired as she was at the end of the day.

“Welcome to Barry’s,” a teenage boy with bright red hair and glasses greeted them with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. It wasn’t very much. “Name’s Dan. Table for how many?”

“Four. My brother and his son should be coming soon if they’re not here already.”

Naomi scanned around and there were honestly way too many kids running between the tables and the play area to spot a specific child. It was probably better to check the tables. She did until she spotted her brother sitting in the back corner.

“Got him. I found my brother,” she said to Marc. “Let’s go.” Dan and Marc followed after her to the corner where she had spotted Julian. She shouted his name out and the man turned his head before he got up to his feet and practically tackled Naomi into a tight hug.

Marc watched the two siblings reunite as they seemed to bounce questions on how they were doing and what they’ve up at a speed that he really didn’t feel like keeping up with.

“Anyway!” Naomi exclaimed before grabbing Julian by the hand and pulling him forward as if presenting him. “This is Marc Hewitt. Marc, this is my older brother Julian.”

“Charmed,” Julian said as he stretched a hand out towards Marc. The two shook hands quickly before Naomi sat them down at the booth they’d gotten. “Nate is somewhere playing. He’ll be back soon enough. Luckily, the security for the kids here is pretty decent so he can run around and be himself, you know?”

“Like we could contain him anyway,” Naomi laughed.

“So, Marc,” Julian started, his expression a little more serious than it was a minute ago. “What do you do for a living? Do you work at the hospital as well?”

Marc glanced at Naomi who just shrugged. So, it was an interrogation then. “No, I have a few jobs. My main one is as a CFO.”

“So, you’re a rich man then? You’d be able to take care of my sister then?”

Naomi butted in. “Julian, Marc doesn’t need to take care of me.”

“I’m just checking,” Julian said to her before turning his attention back to Marc. “So, which is it? Yes or no?”

Marc just let out a sigh. “We hadn’t talked about any of that. Your sister is more than capable of handling herself, but if she wants help, she knows she can always ask.”

Well done, Naomi thought with a pleased smile. Julian was far from done, however. His interrogation went from Marc’s family to his spiritual beliefs, all of which Marc answered in a cool and calm manner that eventually made Julian give in. Somewhere in the middle of it, Nate had run back to their table to tackle Naomi with enthusiasm before he spotted Marc and told his father he was going to play again before Julian started again.

“Are you done now?” Naomi asked her brother.

“One last question and this is for the both of you,” Julian said. “How are you going to handle people’s reactions when they see the two of you together? You already see how they look at me for being a single father.”

Naomi didn’t know. It wasn’t something she had worried about their first date. Sure, she was asked by a number of people at work why she was dating him. Racism wasn’t really something she was inexperienced with anyway.

“It’s not their business,” Marc said suddenly. “Even if people decide to spend their time bad-mouthing people who just want to be happy on their own terms, it doesn’t matter because what she thinks is what matters to me.”

Julian looked around the room at the people before nodding his head. “Then you better be careful because we all know how people can’t keep their mouths shut for anything.”

Marc looked at Naomi, slipping a hand into hers and giving it a quick squeeze. She knew exactly what her brother was talking about. It was going to be a struggle, but they would figure something out and they’d be able to work on it. He turned back to Julian as Nate ran back to their table, happily telling his father about the friends he was making in the playground.

As much as she wanted to keep her focus on her nephew, she couldn’t help but notice some of the stares and whispers of the people around them. She had to admit, it was a little unsettling the more she looked at it, but maybe it was just paranoia.

Why would other people care so much that the people around there weren’t very orthodox? They were just as capable as any other family. Maybe Julian did have a point. What would they do if someone decided to start something?

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

**********

That evening, after a good day with her brother and his son, Marc brought Naomi out to the hospital for her night shift. He knew that he’d only be seeing her later again, so they had parted in the car, taking a bag that she packed earlier with her scrubs and coat inside.

Luckily, she had managed to wash and stuff it in the dryer before she had to leave home because Marc was probably the greatest of distractions sometimes. Naomi walked through the hospital to the ladies changing room, pushing the door open to encounter some of the nurses who had arrived for shift change at the same time it seemed.

“Evening, ladies.” She greeted them with a nod before she passed by them to a bench on the far end as she tried to tune out the other ladies’ chattering so that she could be ready for work. This was usually why she was dressed before getting to the hospital. It was good to have the moments to mentally prepare herself.

There was no guarantee what kind of patients or procedures she would be dragged into, only a guess on which ward she would be assigned to for the day. Naomi would likely have to head to the board in the break room to check, but she had a feeling it was going to be a long day again.