Free I Can't Die Alone by Regina Bartley

anywhere but at work. Uh… Not to mention the trying on. Just the thought of it made my head hurt. 

Two Hours Later…

    I was back at Bo’s house and back in the bed. The stores weren’t too bad and I managed to find myself some boyfriend style jogging pants in three different colors. Loose was better. I found some tee shirts, a new bra, and several pairs of new underwear. I also bought a dress and some sandals. I wanted to be prepared if I got asked out to dinner again. After checking out at the final store I was exhausted. I couldn’t even tell you what all I purchased at that last place. The pile was large because I was ready to leave. I just threw random stuff inside my cart and checked out. 
    Back at the house, I spent some time reading one of the books I found on a shelf in the living room. Either I was far too tired to read, or the book was boring on an epic level, because when Bo woke me up the book was resting on my chest. 
    “Did shopping wear you out?” He asked. The bed moved as he sat down next to me. He was dressed nicely, same as he was every day. 
    “It sucked.” 
    Glancing over at him, I watched as ran both hands over his face roughly. 
    “Are you okay?” I asked him. 
    “Yeah, just worn out. It was a long day. One of the new guys quit, and we have this huge sale going on this week. I spent most of my time outside.” 
    Bo was a salesman. He sold cars. We’d talked about it over dinner last night. About how he hated his job and his boss, and how he couldn’t wait to go back to school. He really wanted to be an architect, but he’d said that this sales job sort of fell in his lap and he needed the money at the time. He talked so passionately about architecture that it was easy to see it was his dream. 
    I knew when he received the money that I was going to leave him that he’d be able to go back to school, and he could quit his crappy job. It was an amazing feeling knowing that I’d be able to help him. All of that money would be used on great things, and he’d be able to follow his dreams. 
    Reaching across the bed, I placed my hand over his. Something in his touch seemed to ease the tension inside of me, and I only hoped that my touch would do the same for him.
    He gripped my fingers in his palm as we sat there in the silence of the bedroom. I tried hard not to think about all the things that were weighing heavy on my heart. Letting my body relax wasn’t easy for me, but being there with him and touching him was just what I needed. Under the glow of the lampshade I could see his body relax. It was working. The silence and our hands together was what he needed too. 
    “Can he ask you a question?” He said to me.
    “Yes.”
    He paused before asking, “When you found out that you were dying,” he said hesitantly. “Did you make a list of things you wanted to do and see before it happens?”
    I shook my head no. “Not really a list,” I replied. “In my mind I knew that there were things I wanted to do before it happened, and I guess I’ve been crossing them off as I go, but I haven’t made an actual list. There would be so many things that I couldn’t do that it would probably disappoint me.” 
    “I think you should do it. I think that you should write down a bunch of things, and let me help you cross them off your list.”
    “Oh really,” I countered. 
    “Really,” he smiled. “And we’ll only put things on the list that are physically possible.”
    “I don’t know,” I groaned. The idea of it sounded good, but I wasn’t sure I’d be up for it. It seemed unrealistic, and impossible. 
    “Come on. You don’t want to spend your time watching television and eating takeout do you? There are a ton of possibilities,” Bo pleaded.
    “You know, I’m the queen of Netflix, so television watching doesn’t sound too bad.” 
    He nudged my arm jokingly. “I’m serious. We’ll take it easy, and there just might be a few things we could do that we won’t