Page 109 of Finding Jack
I turned to see what she needed.
“You don’t have to do this. Most people can’t. Talk to the volunteer coordinator and let her know that you want to finish your volunteer term in a different department. It happens a lot. No one will think less of you for it.”
“I would,” I said quietly.
And I went to find my next patient.
I’d find Sharon later, not to request reassignment, but to thank her for her work in coordinating. But that wasn’t the only thing I needed to take care of.
I owed Jack another apology, a true apology now that I understood what I was apologizing for, even though there weren’t any words that could make it right.
Chapter 41
“Sean?” It was Saturday morning, and I had stumbled out of bed to find him at the stove. “When are you getting your own place?”
“Why? You getting sick of me?”
“No.” I sniffed the air. French toast. “I don’t want you to leave. I get tired of making my own breakfast.”
“Thanks, but Shep and I are kind of over living on your couch. I’m trying to work out a roommate situation that’s maybe going to be perfect, then I’m out of here.” He pulled down a plate and slid two pieces of French toast onto it. “These are yours. I’ll make myself more.”
“Roommate situation? I know I probably don’t need to remind you of this, but don’t go with a Craigslist rando. And whoever you move in with, check all their references. If you don’t, you might end up living with someone like Ranée. I should have asked more questions.”
“Ha,” he said dryly. “Thanks, but this is someone I know. Should be fine.”
“Oh good.” I buttered my French toast and decided to skip syrup. I’d had Sean’s French toast before. It needed no drowning. “Have you talked to Jack lately?”
He paused in dredging another piece of bread in batter and looked at me in surprise. I hadn’t asked since he’d gotten here. “Yeah.”
“He’s okay?”
“Yeah. I think he’s doing well, actually.”
Because I was a terrible person, that made me sad. I wasn’t doing well. I missed him every day, and it hurt that moving on wasn’t as hard for him. Then again, maybe it was easier when the person who walked out on you had been thoughtlessly cruel the way I had. But all I said was, “I’m glad to hear it.”
I opened Facebook to Tate’s page again, hungry for crumbs of information about him but also terrified to see what the newest update might be.
Instead, I found a new picture of Tate in a hospital room I didn’t recognize. His dad stood on one side of him and a smiling doctor giving the camera two thumbs up stood on the other. It was timestamped from the night before and captioned, “New doctor, new treatment, new hope.”
“Holy…” I muttered, scrolling through the comments for an explanation.
“What’s up?” Sean asked.
“Remember that picture I showed you of that kid Tate?”
“Yeah?”
“I think things might be turning around.” I found a comment from his mom, explaining the unexpected picture.
“We applied for a clinical trial for Tate that we knew was a long shot. We didn’t tell him or anyone else because we didn’t want to get his hopes up, but yesterday morning we got the call. Dr. Bhandari accepted Tate into a clinical trial at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. This is a highly targeted stem cell and chemo protocol that has shown incredible results in pediatric cases. Lucy needs me home, so Derek’s amazing boss is allowing him to work remotely from Cincinnati while Tate undergoes treatment. They already checked in, and Derek sent this picture this morning. We’ll miss them, but knowing we’re finally going to deliver the knockout punch to this illness makes it much easier for Lucy and I cheering at home!”
“I can’t believe this,” I said, looking up at Sean. “Look at this.”
He read through her comment and smiled up at me. “That’s a good sign. This doctor wouldn’t have taken him on if the little guy didn’t have a decent shot.”
I accepted my phone from him and read through the two newest posts where Tate’s mom described the details of the new treatment plan and a picture of Tate playing Minecraft.
The photo made my eyes sting. I googled the name of the hospital. The whole first page of results showed that it was the top-ranked hospital for pediatric cancer treatment according to several prestigious surveys.
