Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
“Of course. We’ll come too.” I looked to Lars, who was already out of his chair.
“Yes, whatever you need.”
“You don’t have to,” Annie whispered.
“We want to,” I replied. “And this way, we’ll be nearby if either of you needs anything.”
The worst part about situations like this was not knowing what was going on. Lars and I were in the waiting room as the ER doctors evaluated her and tried to see what was wrong. They’d taken her right in, and Sawyer had gone in a few minutes later. Now it had been over an hour and we hadn’t heard anything at all.
“I do not like this feeling,” Lars muttered.
“I know. No one likes to feel helpless.”
“Maybe she should not have come to dinner,” he said.
“She’s dying,” I said softly. “Her cancer is advanced and it’s spread. I think she’s afraid every one of these opportunities might be her last.”
He looked down at me. “It’s so bad? The cancer?”
I nodded. “She doesn’t want people to know how bad it is, so please don’t repeat it, but yes, the doctors only gave her about a twenty percent chance that she’ll make it two years.”
“Twenty percent…” His voice trailed off and he slid his arm around my shoulder. “I cannot imagine.”
“Me either.” I rested my head on his shoulder.
“Hey.” Sawyer came out a few minutes later, his face tight and drawn. “They’re going to admit her. She’s not just dehydrated, but possibly severely dehydrated, and maybe malnourished. They need to run a bunch of tests to see why she’s not able to keep anything down. It’s going to be a long night. You guys should go.”
“No way.” I shook my head. “We’ll stay at least until she’s settled. And if you have to stay with her overnight, we can go get you some things.”
Sawyer managed a tight smile. “I appreciate it. Really. But I keep a bag in the truck for exactly this kind of thing, since this isn’t the first time it’s happened.”
“We will stay,” Lars said firmly.
“I…” Sawyer nodded. “Thanks. I’m going to get back there but I’ll let you know once she’s in a room.”
He disappeared down the hall and I rested against Lars. “I feel so bad. I wish there was something I could do.”
“Cancer sucks,” he murmured, kissing the top of my head.
“It does.”
“Is this comfortable for you?” he asked. “Maybe you should sit somewhere with a better chair for your back?”
“I’m okay. But thank you.” His concern made my entire body tingle with happiness. Between my father taking off and so many years with Hugh, I’d begun to wonder if there was such a thing as a good, kind man. And now I knew there was.
We sat there until midnight and then I finally got up to stretch and walk around. Lars came with me as we paced the halls and sometime close to one in the morning, I looked at him.
“Babe, maybe you should go home.”
He shook his head. “No way. If you stay, I stay.”
“You have a game tomorrow and you’re very strict about your routine on game day. You need to rest. I’ll stay here until we get news about Annie and then I can Uber home.”
“No.” He met my eyes. “Not happening.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “This isn’t the same as when you sneak out while I’m sleeping. This is about Annie, and maybe even about Sawyer. Assuming it’s nothing more than dehydration, I’d like him to go get some sleep too, but I’m sure he won’t leave her here alone. Maybe if I stay with her, he’ll be able to get some rest so he can play. It really upsets Annie when he misses games because of her, so I’m trying to see if I can do something for both of them.”
He hesitated. “If Sawyer leaves, then I will go, but until then, I stay with you.”
I smiled up at him. “Have I told you lately how awesome you are?”
“Maybe.” The lazy-but-oh-so-sexy smile he gave me warmed me from head to toe. “But maybe you can tell me again.”
“You’re fucking amazing and I’m crazy about you.” I’d just wound my arms around his neck when Sawyer came back to us.
“Hey, guys. I’m so sorry it took this long, but she’s finally in a room.”
“Did you get any test results?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, she’s severely dehydrated and has already gone through two bags of saline. The good news is that she’s not really malnourished, just very underweight, so they’re going to try and give her some IV nutrients.” He let out a long breath and closed his eyes. “Sorry, it’s been a long day.”
“Why don’t you go home?” I suggested gently. “I’ll stay with Annie so she’s not alone and so there’s someone here to make sure the doctors are on top of things. She told me how much it bothers her when you miss games because of her, how you’ve gotten a reputation for being a prima donna because you’re supposedly out if you so much as stub your toe. But that’s not really why.”