Brooke’s eyes began to tear up. “Okay,” she whispered with a slight nod.
“The mass is near your right lung. We need to take a few more X-rays at different angles to see if we can determine the size.”
“So like lung cancer?”
“I’m not sure.” Dr. Sam frowned.
Brooke looked over at me. “Breast cancer?” My eyes started to tear up more, on the verge of spilling over.
“Again, we aren’t sure. We need to run a few more tests. After we get those back and the radiologist looks at all of them, we’ll determine the next step,” Dr. Sam said.
“Okay.” Brooke nodded, a single tear running down her cheek.
“I’m really sorry, Brooke. Your doctor should have found this months ago. I’m going to do my best to get you everything you need and fast. I’m sure Nicole will make sure of it.” She smiled a tight smile.
“I will, B,” I finally said.
Brooke nodded again. There really weren’t any words. None of us had expected this news.
“I’ll leave you two to talk. Nicole, take your time. I’ll have Kym cover your patients.”
“Thank you.”
Dr. Sam left, closing the door behind her. I looked to Brooke and we both started to cry. I held her in my arms as my heart ached for my best friend.
The alarm blared, waking me from my dream of Nicole. I was pissed, but then realized we had to get up and go to the airport. The only reason why I got out of bed and didn’t roll over to continue my dream was because I was going to the East Coast and closer to my girl.
I glanced at my phone.
Nicole: I need to talk to you. Can you call me when you’re not with Easton?
This couldn’t be good. My gut was telling me it was about Brooke. I didn’t tell Easton about Jared not picking the girls up. I needed to know his true intentions before I let him fuck with Brooke’s heart more. She was already having a hard time breaking off a four year relationship and I didn’t blame her.
I quickly dressed, threw all my shit in my suitcase, and then turned to Easton. “I’m going to go down and get us Starbucks. What do you two want?”
They rattled off their orders and I walked out the door, pulling my phone from my pocket and dialed Nicole.
“Avery—”
“What’s wrong?” I asked, stopping mid-stride in the hallway.
“You’re not with Easton right?”
“No. I left him and Cheyenne in the room so I could call you. What’s wrong? Have you been crying?” I could hear that her voice was different and I didn’t like it one bit.
I heard her start to cry again.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” I asked, looking over my shoulder to make sure Easton hadn’t opened the door down the hall. I started walking to the elevators to get out of his line of sight if he opened the door.
“I had Brooke meet with Dr. Sam today.” She paused, crying some more.
“Is it bad?” I hit my forehead with my hand. Of course it was bad. She was fucking crying!
“We took an X-ray and they found a mass near her right lung.”
“Oh God,” I groaned. “I’m so sorry, Baby. How’s Brooke holding up?” The elevator dinged and the door opened. I stepped in and hit the button to the lobby.
“She’s crying her eyes out in an exam room and waiting for me to get off work.”
“I wish I was there. I would hug you both.” I pushed the button for the lobby.
“I wish you were here too.”
“I need to tell Easton.”
“I know. She’ll want that. She’ll want him to call her, but can you wait until later? I’m getting off at five and I need to make sure she’s okay at home. Jared didn’t come home last night. I don’t know what he’s up to, but if she needs to stay at my place, I need to be there for her.”
“Okay, text me her number and I’ll give it to him. I’m not going to tell him until we get to New York anyway. I don’t want him to do something crazy until we get home.”
“Crazy?”
“Yeah, if he told me you had a mass and I wasn’t at least near you, I would lose my fucking mind.”
“Okay. I better go. I’ll text you. Call me when you get home.”
“I will, Baby.”
We hung up the phone and I started to walk next door to Starbucks.
What the fuck did they want again? Fuck!
“Have you heard from Nicole?” Easton asked as we walked towards our gate at the airport.
“Yeah, they made it back safely. Jared didn’t pick them up from the airport.”
“What? She’s just now telling you?”
“No, she told me last night while you were sleeping.” I wanted to tell him that she told me while he was at Dana’s grave, but Cheyenne was next to him and I didn’t want her to hear. He told me how he asked her for forgiveness and told her about Brooke. I was really hoping that his intentions were real because once I dropped the tumor bomb, shit was going to go down.
“Dad!” Cheyenne said.
“Yeah?”
“I’m scared, and I don’t want to go to practice.” I was relieved that all the attention was back on her. I wanted to tell him about the tumor, but it wasn’t the time or the place and having Cheyenne distract him, bought me time.
“Don’t be scared, Peanut. I’ll be there to help you.”
“I guess,” she said, pulling her phone out of her backpack.
“Text Nicole for Brooke’s number. I want to call her,” Easton said, turning his attention back to me. I was lost in thought, trying to figure out how I was going to tell him about the tumor and I hadn’t realized that he was holding two conversations.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, man. Brooke would have given you her number if she wanted you to call her.”
We arrived at our gate, taking a seat to wait for boarding.
“I don’t care. Give me your phone, and I’ll do it.”
“No,” I said, moving the phone out of his reach. I had the okay to give him her number, but I needed to tell him about the tumor first.
“Just do it, or I’ll tackle you right here and take it from you.”
“Daddy, I have to go to the bathroom,” Cheyenne said.
“Let me go with you. I don’t want you to get kidnapped,” he said, standing up.
“I won’t get kidnapped, I’m ten!”
“You never know. Let’s go.”
I’ve never kept a secret from Easton. He was my best friend and the more the minutes ticked by, the more I wanted to tell him, but there was no way I was going to tell him while he was trapped in an airplane. His nervous energy would get us a date with security when we landed at JFK. We didn’t have time for that.
“Did you get her number?” Easton asked. I was standing in line to board the plane as he and Cheyenne came back from the bathroom.
“No,” I lied.
“Do it!” Easton said, handing his boarding pass to the attendant.
“I’ll do it when we land. Nicole wants me to call her when we get to JFK.” I actually wasn’t supposed to call her until I got home, but if Easton had to wait more than the time it took us to fly to New York, I knew he would lose his shit.
“Fine, but you better call her as soon as we land.”
“I will, calm down.”
“Do it!”
“Jesus, let my phone boot up,” I groaned.
I texted Nicole just to tell her we landed and I continued my lie to Easton.
“Well?” he questioned when we arrived at the bagged claim.
“She…um, hasn’t texted me back.”
“Call her!”
“She’s at work. I’m sure that she will text me back when she goes on a break or something.” By the time we landed, I knew Nicole wasn’t at work any longer, but I just needed to wait until we got to his house and then I could tell him. Hopefully the drive home with his dad would distract him from Brooke.
Jimmy picked the three of us up and Cheyenne told him a
ll about her trip to California. By the time we’d arrived at Easton’s house, he’d calmed down—a little.
“I’ll see you at the gym at nine, and text me Brooke’s number when Nicole calls you back,” he said, tossing me my keys that were sitting on his breakfast bar.
“She did already.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, his eyebrows furrowed.
“Look, you need to sit down.”
“Why? If she hasn’t dumped Jared yet, I’ll be a man and deal with it,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the kitchen counter.
“That’s not it.”
“Okay?”
“You know how Brooke’s shoulder has been bothering her?” I sighed.
“Yeah?”
“Well…” I paused, took a deep breath, and started again. “Nicole made her go to the doctor today and they took an X-ray. They…uh…found a mass, dude.”
He stared at me for a beat. “A mass like a tumor?”
“Yeah.”
“Get her number for me now!” he yelled.
“Nicole said it’s not a good time.”
“I know it’s not a good time. She fucking has a tumor, Avery!”
“Dude, don’t shoot the messenger. We’ll go this weekend. You need to spend time with C.C. You haven’t seen her in a week, and today is her first softball practice. I’m going to go see if the bar is still standing, and tomorrow we need to go through the books and make sure everything went smoothly.”
“Fine. Give Nicole my number and tell her to give it to Brooke. Tell her that I want to talk to Brooke—no, tell her I need to talk to Brooke!”
“I will.” I had her number, but I knew that he would call Brooke right away. He needed to focus on Cheyenne.
I left in my truck, driving to Halo to make sure it didn’t burn down. How could everything change so quickly? Yesterday, I thought nothing could go wrong. Now, all four of us were going to deal with Brooke’s tumor. I would do anything for her because that’s what Nicole would want. That’s what Easton would want and they’re all a big part of my life now.
While Brooke took shots of vodka to calm her nerves after our dinner at Yogurtland, Jared came strolling in the door like nothing was going on. It wasn’t my place to tell him that Brooke was sick, but it was my place to give him a piece of my mind for leaving us at the airport.
“You have some nerve,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Look, asshole, I’m going to be straight with you. I don’t like you. In fact, I fucking hate your guts. You, motherfucker, left us at the airport yesterday. How could you forget that we were coming back?”
“I…” He looked to Brooke for help. She took another shot.
“No, don’t fucking answer that. I don’t care. You can’t tell me anything that will make it better. I told my boyfriend and he’s pissed. I’d sleep with one eye open if I were you.”
Brooke left and went to her bedroom. I wanted to tell her to come stay at my place, but when I went to open her bedroom door, it was locked.
“You leave her alone tonight.” I pointed at him. “She’s had a very bad day.”
“Don’t tell me what to do with my own girlfriend,” he said, pointing back.
“I’m serious, asshole. Leave her alone.”
“Nicole, get out of my apartment!” he yelled, pointing to the door.
“One eye open. Remember that,” I said, slamming the front door behind me.
I called Avery on the way home.
“Hey,” he answered. “Brooke doing okay?”
I smiled. I was pissed off, but knowing that he was concerned for Brooke made everything better. “As okay as she can be. I just left her apartment. Jared’s there, but I yelled at him and she locked herself in her room.”
“Is she going to be okay? I mean with Jared there.”
“Yeah, he’s a skinny fucker. He can’t break down a door to save his life.” I chuckled.
“Okay, how are you holding up?”
“Not gonna lie. I’d feel better if you were here.”
“I know. I wish I was there, too. If I didn’t need to work tomorrow, I’d be on my way to see you.”
“Aren’t you the boss?” I teased.
“Yeah, but being away for over a week leaves a lot of work to do. Plus, Easton needs to take care of Cheyenne and now Brooke. I can’t leave him to take care of the bar alone.”
“I understand.” I sighed. “I wish we weren’t four and half hours away from each other.”
“I know, but you need to be there for Brooke. How about I come there on Friday? That’s only three days away.”
“Okay, but that’s four if you count tonight and Friday during the day.”
“Let’s not count that. Three days sounds better than four.”
“True. Oh, did you give Easton Brooke’s number?”
“Not yet. I’m going to give it to him tomorrow. He’s going to be pissed, but he needs to focus on Cheyenne. If I didn’t think that you could take care of Brooke, I would have already given it to him.”
“Brooke’s probably asleep anyway.”
“Good. Now tell me, what are you wearing?”
The next morning when I arrived at work, Dr. Sam pulled me in her office. I was still tired from everything going on and just wanted to stay in bed.
“The radiologist confirmed that there’s a tumor near Brooke’s right lung. We can’t determine the size and I’ve talked to a surgeon. We think it’s best if she gets a CT. That should help us pinpoint the location and the size.”
“Okay.” I sighed.
“How are you holding up?”
“I’m okay.” I gave a tight smile. “I just want this all to be over with.”
“Like I said yesterday, I’m going to pull all the strings I can.”
“Thank you.”
I left Dr. Sam’s office and walked to the front to look at the schedule. Since our office was like a big hospital, all the calendars were linked together. There was an opening for a CT tomorrow, so I called and scheduled Brooke.
“I’m sorry about Brooke,” Jenna said.
“Thank you. Mind if I use the phone up here? I need to call her to tell her that she has a CT tomorrow.”
“No, not at all. Go ahead.” She smiled.
“Thanks.” I dialed Brooke’s work number. “Hey, it’s me. How are you holding up?” I asked when she answered.
“Better. Easton just texted me.”
“I see how it is. Hot men always win over yogurt. Sorry I didn’t cheer you up more last night.”
“Stop being a bitch.” She laughed. It was good to hear her laugh and not cry.
“Yay! That made you laugh.” I grinned.
“Get to the point. I’m at work, and you know Ian doesn’t like us to take personal calls.”
I sighed. “Dr. Sam talked to the radiologist and a surgeon. They want you to have a CT.”
“Okay, when?”
“Since it’s in-house and I work magic, I can get you in tomorrow.”
“Maybe I should just take the rest of the week off.”
“I’m sorry, B. Dr. Sam and I are pulling all the strings since you’re my best friend.”
“I know.” She sighed.
“Nicole.” I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Dr. Sam wanting to speak with me.
“Hey, hold on for a second,” I said to Brooke.
“Okay.”
“Sorry, I’m just using the phone to tell Brooke that I scheduled her CT for tomorrow,” I said to Dr. Sam.
“That’s okay. I thought more about it and let’s go ahead and get a biopsy scheduled for her as well. Let’s find out what we’re dealing with so we can get a better head on things.”
“Okay.” Dr. Sam walked away and I picked up the phone again. “Sorry, B. Dr. Sam just came in, and she wants you to have a biopsy done, too.”
“Okay, just schedule me for whatever.
” She sighed again.
I hated all this. I tried my best to be strong for Brooke but deep down I wanted to scream and throw things. “Okay, give me a minute while I call over to the correct department.”
I placed Brooke on hold then called the hospital where the biopsy would take place. Somehow they had a cancelation for Saturday. I didn’t know how it was possible. Usually they book up weeks in advance, but I didn’t wait for it to be filled. I scheduled Brooke and then returned to the line where she was waiting on hold.
“I scheduled your biopsy for Saturday,” I said.
“Saturday?”
“Yeah, it’s at the hospital, not here. That way, I can go with you.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. Someone up in heaven is looking down on you to make all this happen so fast.”
“Heaven, huh?”
“Or I really do know magic.” I laughed.
The rest of the week seemed to drag on. Nicole and I spent a few hours at night on the phone except for Thursday when I had to close the bar. We wanted to talk longer, but it seemed that the news of Brooke and everything else was making her tired. I didn’t blame her. I’d be exhausted too if it were Easton going through this shit; I’d be worried sick and not sleeping. The weird part was that Nicole was in bed by nine and getting plenty of sleep.
Brooke finally dumped Jared. Turns out that bastard was cheating on her while she was on the cruise. If Brooke wasn’t going through her tumor ordeal, Easton and I would have made a special trip to Boston to kick Jared’s ass. He sure as fuck needed an ass kicking, but we had more to think about than some loser. Brooke already had her CT and tomorrow she’d have her biopsy. I couldn’t wait to get to Boston and see the girls. I wanted to wrap both of them in a hug. They were both strong, going through everything on their own…well, together.
“You are to never give me shit again,” I said, taking a dozen roses from Easton. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that Easton was a changed man. Over the last week, he and Brooke had been talking. She didn’t know, but he was going to surprise her and hold her hand when she went in for her biopsy.
The One (The Halo Series Book 2) Page 9
