Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Epilogue
1
Fifteen Years Ago
“Fart nozzle.”
“Knob jockey.”
Zoe Stein slid into a chair and met the gaze of a teenage girl with bright eyes, a pale complexion, and sunken cheeks. “Butt muncher.”
The monitors inside Midwest Medical’s Pediatric Infusion Center beeped as nurses went from patient to patient, checking vitals and starting IV lines.
The teen shifted, gingerly moving the tubing that connected her with the infusion pump and narrowed her gaze. “Ass fiddler.”
Zoe bit her lip and tried to maintain a blank expression, but she couldn’t hold back her laughter. “Ass fiddler? Brooke Jackson, you are truly the master of clever insults!”
The girl adjusted a cap covering her bald head and grinned. “I’ve learned from the clever insult queen herself.”
Zoe tucked her legs beneath her and settled into the hospital chair. “Today’s your last treatment, right?”
Brooke nodded.
Zoe high fived the girl. “Way to go kicking leukemia’s ass!”
“I couldn’t have done it without you, Zoe. You’re the only person here who treats me like a normal sixteen-year-old. And even though my blood work looks good, my parents are still freaked out. I’m supposed to start my junior year of high school in a few weeks. I just want life to go back to the way it was before all this.”
Zoe nodded. When her father, a prominent surgeon at the hospital, suggested she volunteer at Midwest Medical Center, she’d rolled her eyes. What was she supposed to say to sick people? She was a healthy eighteen-year-old who liked goofing around, sneaking a beer here and there, and writing stories in her journal. But after her first shift in the Pediatric Cancer Center, she was hooked. Many of the teenage patients needed a break from the constant stream of medical speak. These kids could tell you their red blood cell and platelet count at the drop of a hat. They could discuss their treatment plan and possible side effects like junior physicians. But what they wanted more than anything was to escape the world of monitors, pokes, prods, infusions, and charts.
That’s where Zoe found her calling.
Instead of asking about their illnesses, she’d talk with them about movies, books and, with the girls, hunky celebrity crushes. She’d always been that smart-as-a-whip, snarky girl with a pithy comment or sharp barb at the ready. Here at the hospital, that side of her actually helped people. That side of her allowed her new friends to escape the confines of their condition and spend a few fleeting moments feeling normal.
Zoe squeezed Brooke’s hand. “Your parents will chill out. And with every day that passes, things will get more and more normal.”
Brooke cocked her head to the side.
Zoe grimaced. “Oh my god! I sound like my zen-loving, yoga-obsessed mother! If I bring you a Buddha statue, you have permission to give me a swift kick in the ass!”
Brooke giggled. “Last time I saw you, you said your parents were going out of town.”
Zoe clapped her hands. “They leave tonight! They’re going with my brother to Arizona to meet his girlfriend’s mom. I’m pretty sure he’s going to ask her to marry him.”
“Have you met her?”
“Yeah, she’s nice. She’s wound a little tight, but then again, so is my big brother. I guess they’re a good fit. Something just seems…”
Brooke leaned in. “You don’t like her?”
Zoe chewed her lip. “No, I do like her. I just have this weird feeling.”
A beat passed, and Brooke’s pale cheeks grew a touch rosy. “Maybe it’s all that time you spend with the hottie friend of yours. He’s cute enough to make anybody’s thoughts go haywire.”
Zoe mimed a gag me gesture. “Please, do not tell me you’re talking about Michael MacCarron!”
“Yes! Remember, he came in last week and picked you up. All the girls in the Cancer Center were freaking out because he was so hot.”
“Girl, Michael and I have been friends since we were little. That boy has a zero chance of making me swoon. Seriously, he’s like a brother. I know him so well because he lives next door to my best friend.”
Brooke’s eyes went wide. “The famous violinist?”
Zoe smiled. Her BFF, Em MacCaslin, was a world-renowned violinist. Her parents were divorced, and while performing all over the globe, she’d divide her time between her father’s home in Langley Park and her mother’s in Sydney, Australia. But Em’s touring schedule had picked up significantly over the last few years, and Zoe had seen very little of her friend.
“Yes, she’s coming back to town. I’ve decided it’s my job to thoroughly corrupt her for the few days I get to spend with her before we both leave for college.”
“Your parents will be gone. Are you going to throw a party?”
Zoe frowned. “No, too risky. The neighbors would tell them when they got back. Most of the kids around here go to a place called Sadie’s Hollow to party. It’s way out in the middle of nowhere farm country. We usually camp there the entire night, so nobody has to drive.”
Brooke’s face fell. “Will I ever get to do things like that? Look at me, Zoe. I’m not pretty like you.”
Zoe had grown used to the rhythm of her visits with teens fighting serious illnesses. These kids had to hold it together ninety-nine point nine percent of the time. They didn’t want to burden their parents, who were often frazzled and frightened themselves. It was an honor and a privilege that Brooke felt comfortable enough to share her deepest fears.
Zoe put on her best mock-outraged expression. “Hey, twat waffle! Don’t even go there. This leukemia business is just a blip on your radar. You are going to be kicking ass and taking names any day now.”
“What about my hair?” Brooke’s voice cracked.
She held the girl’s gaze. “It’s going to grow back. And I’m going to be very upset if you don’t promise to dye the tips. You know, to be ultra-awesome like me. Now, what color should you pick? Your natural color is a little lighter than mine, right?”
Brooke brushed a tear from her cheek and shifted her attention to Zoe’s chocolate-brown locks ending in hot pink tips. “Yeah, your hair is a few shades darker.” She drummed her fingers. “I’ve always liked purple.”
“Purple it is. Are you ready to pinky swear on it?”
Brooke’s smile was back. “Only if you promise to make up a story.”
Zoe rubbed her palms together like she was cooking up something good.
During Brooke’s first week in the Pediatric Cancer Center, she’d suffered from terrible nausea due to her infusion treatments. She wasn’t talkative, so Zoe filled the silence with a silly story she’d made up by picking two random people in the unit and weaving a ridiculous tale. She hadn’t even thought Brooke had heard her until she showed up a few days later to volunteer and the teen had asked for another juicy work of fiction.
Zoe scanned the treatment area, and a wicked grin bloomed.
“What is it?” Brooke’s gaze darted around the room.
“Don’t be obvious but check out the nurses’ station.”
Brooke shifted slightly then squeaked with excitement. “Dr. Love and Nurse Naughty!”
Zoe pressed her hand to her mouth, holding back a burst of giggles. Dr. Love was actually Dr. Lipschitz, a lanky, nervous resident physician, while Nurse Naughty was the no-nonsense charge nurse, Anita Benson, at least thirty years his senior. In reality, Dr. Lipschitz stayed out of Nurse Benson’s way. But in Zoe’s stories, Dr. Love and Nurse Naughty had a secret love affair that stretched from a rendezvous in the supply closet to a steamy getaway in Cabo.
“Where
were we last time?” Zoe asked, composing herself.
“Dr. Love and Nurse Naughty were both on the night shift,” Brooke gasped, the words bubbling out.
“The night shift! That’s right!” Zoe echoed.
Brooke vibrated with excitement. “They just had their first kiss in Mexico, and now they’re back at the hospital.”
Zoe folded her hands in her lap dramatically then released an audible breath. She lowered her voice. “It was late, and Nurse Naughty had just checked on her last patient.”
“They’re going to kiss again! I know it!” Brooke chimed.
“Hush, you!” Zoe said, laughing under her breath. “I need to let the story flow, and if you knock that IV out of your arm, the real Nurse Benson will be over here in a flash.”
Brooke mimed zipping her lips shut.
“Okay, it was late, and Nurse Naughty had just checked on her last patient. All the children were fast asleep. The soft murmur of heart monitors beeped as she headed to the abandoned wing of the hospital to meet Dr. Love.”
Brooke pressed her hand to her chest. “I never knew there was an abandoned wing. Is it haunted?”
Zoe thought for a second. She made up all this shit completely on the fly. She’d never intended Dr. Love and Nurse Naughty to take a paranormal twist. But screw it! It was her story. “Yes,” she answered, trying to inflect peril into the syllable. “Tormented spirits dwell in the deserted corridor.”
“Oh, no! Is Nurse Naughty in danger?”
Zoe glanced at the old battle-ax just as Dr. Lipschitz skittered by her desk. “Her very life is at stake.”
“Will Dr. Love save her?”
Zoe leaned in. “Oh, he’ll do way more than just save her.”
Brooke’s cheeks grew rosy. “Have you ever done way more with a boy?”
Zoe waited a beat to answer. Brooke was only sixteen, and she needed to choose her words wisely. “Not way more, but high school boys never really did it for me. The important thing to remember is that you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Don’t let any guy ever pressure you, even if he’s as debonair and as handsome as Dr. Love. You’re sixteen. You have all the time in the world to figure that stuff out.”
Brooke bit her lip. “Have you ever been in love?”
Zoe tensed. She’d been in love for as long as she could remember, but she’d never told a soul. Not Em, not Michael, not her parents, or her brother. She released a shaky breath as kind, emerald green eyes and a slow, easy grin materialized in her mind. Her heart rate kicked up at the thought of broad shoulders and hands so large they could encircle her waist.
“Zoe?” Brooke asked, breaking into her daydream.
Zoe played with the hem of her shirt. “Loving someone is easy. Getting them to love you back is the tricky part.”
Brooke’s eyes shined, wide and expectant. “So, yes, you’re in love with somebody?”
Zoe gathered herself, crossed her arms, and gave her friend a sly smirk. “How many rom-coms have you watched this week? Are we going to need to start singing into hairbrushes and giving each other makeovers? Or, have you been reading Sweet Valley High books again? I’m detecting a very strong teen, love, angst vibe, little miss.”
There it was. The Zoe Stein special. Defer. Redirect. Deflect. She was the queen at being what others needed, but when it came to her own heart, she hid behind humor and wit.
And it worked. It worked every damn time.
What nobody ever realized was that she never revealed anything. She never shared her darkest secrets. No one knew her deepest desires. All that stayed locked inside, cloaked in jest, hidden behind humor.
Brooke turned a darker shade of pink. “Maybe I’ve watched a few rom-coms.”
“And the Sweet Valley High books?” Zoe prodded.
Brooke dropped her chin to her chest. “I’ve read one Sweet Valley University.”
“Aha!” Zoe cried.
“It was the only decent book available when the lady came to my room with the book cart.”
“That’s your story? It was the only choice on the cart?” Zoe asked, her shoulders relaxing. She’d expertly quashed any talk of her nonexistent love life.
Brooke’s eyes went wide in playful outrage. She parted her lips to reply but paused when her infusion pump beeped. The girls stilled and watched as the last few drops of medicine slowly trailed through the tubing.
Her treatment was complete.
Brooke’s gaze was glued to the IV in her arm as the last of the cancer fighting medications entered her bloodstream.
Zoe’s eyes blurred with tears, but she blinked them back. “What am I going to do now that the coolest kid in the unit is done with her treatments?”
Brooke looked up. “I’ll be heading back home to boring Nowhereville, Kansas. How will I find out what happens with Dr. Love and Nurse Naughty?”
Zoe pulled her journal out of her bag and ripped out a sheet of paper. “I’m going to give you my address at Gwyer College. I’ll be there in a few weeks.”
“That’s the school in Iowa?”
Zoe nodded as she scribbled the prestigious liberal arts college’s address. She’d memorized it the moment the acceptance letter arrived at her house. She ripped out another sheet and handed it to Brooke. “Write down your address. I promise, I’ll write to you—and you better write to me!”
Zoe glanced up as Nurse Naughty rose from her desk to greet Brooke’s parents and younger sister.
“My family’s here,” Brooke said, noticing them as well. “Just watch, my mother will be in tears before Nurse Naughty takes out the IV.”
“You know they’re just happy and relieved and so glad you responded well to treatment.”
“I know,” Brooke replied. Her serious expression warmed as a wobbly toddler pitter-pattered across the infusion center floor and crawled onto Brooke’s lap.
Zoe made the little girl laugh with silly faces. “This little monster must be Tessa.”
“Yep, my little monster with her heart on her cheek.” Brooke kissed a dime-sized, heart-shaped pink birthmark on the toddler’s left cheek.
Zoe took a closer look. “How’d she get that?”
“She was born with it because she knew we loved her so much. Careful, Tess,” Brooke said, glancing down at the IV.
“Brookie’s all done!” the little girl chimed.
Tears ran down Brooke’s cheeks. “That’s right. We’ll be going home soon.”
“Hey, ass fiddler,” Zoe said, holding back tears. “If you’re going to cry, I’m going to cry, and I totally don’t want to ruin my mascara.”
Brooke released a nervous chuckle and swiped a tear away. “Okay, I’m good.”
“You are good, Brooke. You are!” Zoe said, praying she was right.
“Excuse me,” came a woman’s gruff voice. Anita Benson—AKA Nurse Naughty—pressed a button on the infusion pump, quieting the alarm.
“Sorry.” Zoe moved out of the nurse’s way.
Nurse Benson removed the tape holding the IV in place and slowly withdrew the needle from Brooke’s arm. “Your parents are very excited, dear. They’re speaking with Dr. Lipschitz now. They should be over any minute.”
Zoe held Brooke’s gaze and tried not to laugh. Nurse Naughty and Dr. Love did know each other! A beat passed as the nurse looked between them, a perplexed expression on her face. But before either girl could say anything, Brooke’s little sister filled the void.
“Hey, ass fiddler!” Tessa blurted, smiling like a tiny idiot.
Nurse Benson put her hands on her hips. “What did that child say?”
Zoe and Brooke’s mouths dropped open.
Another beat passed, and Zoe was sure one of them was going to burst out laughing. Her chest tightened. The last thing she needed was Nurse Benson telling her father she was a disruption.
“Lass Fiddler is one of the new characters on some kids show, I think,” Brooke said with a nervous smile.
Zoe nodded. She could work with that. “
Yeah, I was up volunteering on the pediatric floor. I think you’re right. I remember seeing a character with a violin. I think she’s Scottish, you know, because of the lass part. That must be her.”
Nurse Benson’s gaze darted between them before landing on Brooke. “Your parents will be with you shortly, dear.”
Tessa parted her lips, and Brooke pressed her hand to her sister’s mouth. “Tess, you can’t say that. It’s a naughty word.”
“Naughty word!” the toddler echoed back.
Zoe shook her head. “At least it’s better than—”
“Don’t even say it!” Brooke said through a giggle.
Zoe looked over her shoulder. Brooke’s parents had finished with the doctor and were walking over. The teen was right. Tears streamed down her mother’s cheeks. It was almost time for Brooke to be the strong one.
Zoe crouched down and took her friend’s hand. “All right, butt munch, you’ve got high school plans to make, and you’d better keep in touch and tell me about all your adventures. You’ll be having Sweet Valley High romances before you know it.”
Brooke’s eyes shined with tears. “I will. I promise.”
“Darling, you did it,” came a woman’s shaky voice.
Brooke transformed and put on a brave face. “Yep, I’m ready to go home, Mom.”
“Butt munch!” Tessa squealed.
Zoe held Brooke’s gaze. Again, the girls bit back laughter.
Brooke’s father lifted Tess off Brooke’s lap. “It sounds like Tessa’s ready for a big lunch.”
Mrs. Jackson blotted tears from her cheeks with a tissue. “Thank you for keeping our daughter company, Zoe. We know how much she loved your visits.”
“It was my pleasure. You all have a safe trip home,” she replied. She wanted to get out of their way. They still had to speak with the doctor and go over her discharge orders, and for that, they needed privacy.
Zoe started toward the exit when she heard Brooke call out.
The teen stared at her with wide, expectant eyes. “What’s my story?”
The Complete Langley Park Series (Books 1-5) Page 106
