Page 76 of Summer Reading

Interesting. In a world where everyone seemed to want to have their voice heard twenty-four seven—even when they had nothing significant to say and were very angry if they didn’t get their allotted fifteen minutes of fame—this was unexpected.

“Then I suspect she’s going to freak out when she finds out that you’re actually asking people about her and whom she might have been dating in 1989,” I said.

“Understatement,” he agreed. “But it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

Chapter Nineteen

Three voice messages and two texts were on my phone when I pulled it out of my shoulder bag after my trip to the grocery store the next day. They were all from Em. I called her back immediately, my fingers trembling as I held my phone and asked Siri to call her.

“The results are back,” she said. “From the biopsy.”

“And?” I unloaded my canvas bags onto the counter.

“Dr. Ernst wants me to come in,” she said. “She wants to talk to me in person. I got the message in the patient portal instead of the test results. What do I do, Sam?”

My heart dropped to my feet. This had to be bad. Really bad. As in, months-to-live bad.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” I bluffed. “She probably wants to talk to you in person so there’s no miscommunication.”

“Hmm. She could say, ‘You’re fine,’ on a voicemail. Why does she want to do it in person?” Em persisted.

“It’s probably just protocol,” I said. “Biopsy results are complicated, you know, all that sciency stuff. She’sbeing thorough.” I wondered if I sounded like I knew what I was talking about, because I was slinging more bullshit than a politician.

“You’re right,” she said. She sighed in relief. “It’s likely just standard operating procedure.”

We were both silent, praying that this was true.

“Will you come with me?” Em asked at the same time I said, “What time is your appointment?”

“Ten tomorrow morning,” she said as I said, “Of course I’ll go with you.”

We hung up a few minutes later. I waited a bit and then sent her a funny GIF of a hot male nurse taking temperatures. You do what you can.

When I picked up Tyler after robotics, I was standing by the car when he got out of class. The parking lot was mostly empty, so I figured this was as good a time as any to start teaching him to drive.

He looked at me quizzically, and I said, “Catch.”

I tossed him the keys. His eyes went wide but he grasped them in his hand.

“Now?” he asked.

“Why not?”

The pure joy that lit his smile made me laugh. “Easy there, Speed Racer. We’re going to take it slow.”

He nodded and jumped into the driver seat. Was he even going to wait for me? I ran around the front of the car and climbed in the passenger’s side.

“All right, what do you do first?”

“Crank the tunes!” He made a rock and roll sign with his hand and bobbed his head.

I made my face blank and lifted one eyebrow. “No.”

“Just kidding,” he said. “You adjust the seat and mirrors and buckle up.”

I let out a breath. The kid was in robotics and he played video games. Surely his hand-eye coordination and basic grasp of machinery would make this easy peasy.

He started the car. And he started it again. The car let him know it was displeased.

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