Page 50 of Collateral Damage
Chandler is the first to speak. “What does that mean?”
It means the cancer is advanced, spreading, and in at least one vital organ. It means it’s deadly. It means she probably won’t survive this, and probably has limited time left. But I don’t say those words, because I can’t… not with this invisible thousand-pound rock on my chest.
I release Chandler’s hand and sink into myself. “You’ll fight it,” I demand. “You’ll beat it.”
Mom shakes her head, and Dad cuts in. “We’re looking into clinical trials. Anything we can do, we’re going to do. We’ll spare no expense.”
“It’s too advanced.” Mom lets out a bitter laugh. “Money can’t save me.”
What the fuck?
She’s already giving up?
Her eyes lock on mine. “I’m angry about this, too, but I can’t change it.”
She’s right; it’s not like this is her fault, and I can’t be mad at her. It’s the cancer I hate. How could this happen to her? Her lifestyle is so healthy. She doesn’t even eat sugar, and she attends Pilates classes religiously.
“We’ll have the wedding at Christmas,” Ethan blurts. “Sooner, if you want. Thanksgiving, even. Or fall break.” He turns on Sybil, panicked. “Fall break is in October, and we get an entire week off. We can make that work, can’t we?”
Two months to put together a wedding is utterly ridiculous, and I expect her to say as much, but she forces a smile. “Of course. I’ve love autumn weddings. We’ll do it here in the city.”
The world is spinning. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. There was supposed to be time. Time for the wedding.
Time for Mom.
Ethan hugs Syb, and everyone smiles through their tears, as if the rushed wedding is going to make this okay, as if this is a streak of sunlight on a dark night. It’s not. Mom will be gone soon. I understand why Ethan and Sybil want her at the wedding, but it’s not going to save her, and saving her is what we should be focusing on.
“You said something about clinical trials?” I turn to Dad. “Can we please talk about that?”
Mom frowns, but Dad nods. How I wish she were nodding along with him.
“Mom, please.”
She sighs. “I’ll do one if I can get in one, but can we please talk about the wedding? I want to focus on some happy news today.”
“Of course we can,” Ethan chimes in, shooting me a glowering look, as if I’m somehow making this day worse for Mom.
Sorry, but I’m not putting my head in the sand and ignoring the shit littered around me.
Sybil’s verdant gaze catches mine, and we stare at each other for a heartbeat. Can she see the heartbreak in my eyes? Does she know it’s for more than just my mother? That I think about her all the time? That her kiss has stayed with me all summer? Has haunted my dreams?
She tears her gaze from mine, and I’m not even surprised. She’s always the first to look away. That’s okay—we’re friends, and that’s all we’ll ever be. As much as the engagement hurtsmy heart, Mom’s diagnosis hurts my soul. She’s who I need to be concerned with right now. I get up and go to my mother, wrapping her tight in my arms and silently begging for her life to be spared.
Twenty-Two
Sybil
Present - Age 27
Cooper hurriedly opens the door to his penthouse apartment, which got approved for filming as soon as Cooper shared how much money this would bring to the building.
“I need your help in here,” he begs, ushering me inside. “I’m about two seconds away from losing it on this woman.”
I take in the movers carrying furniture and the petite middle-aged blonde woman with a Karen-haircut bossing them around. She reminds me of an orchestra director with the way her hands fly as she speaks.
“Did they get all your stuff out first?” I whisper to Cooper.
“Thankfully, yes. Half of it’s in storage and the other half one floor down in my temporary apartment. It’s a mess and needs to get organized, so there’s space for crew, but I’ll deal with that later.”
