honey. It isn’t good.”
She sat on the sofa and pulled Annalee into her arms. Then for more than a minute the two clung to each other. Finally, Annalee eased back. She locked eyes with her mom. “Tell me. What… what is it?”
Her mother shook her head. “They… found a mass on your… chest wall, baby.”
No. Annalee released her mother’s hand. She wouldn’t sit here and listen to this. How could the doctor tell her mom that? She had a… what was it? A mass on her chest wall? “My chest feels fine.”
“It isn’t.” Her mother’s tears fell harder. “With your blood results and the scan… they think it might be non—” She put her hand to her face.
“Mom… they think what?” Annalee’s heart was racing now. “Tell me.”
Her mother took hold of both her hands. “Lymphoma.” The word was barely loud enough to hear. “Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Stage 4.”
If it was non, then it couldn’t be that bad, right? Annalee stood. She could feel herself getting faint. But stage 4? “Is… that serious?”
“Yes.” Her mom was on her feet, too. “Annalee… it’s cancer.”
But before Annalee could hear another word or draw another breath, she ran to the stairs. This wasn’t possible. She was tired, not dealing with… She couldn’t think it. Couldn’t say it. She was halfway up the stairs when she heard her mom call to her. It wasn’t her mother’s fault, but Annalee couldn’t stand there and talk about this.
Not when it felt like the worst possible nightmare.
She reached the top of the stairs, darted into her room and slammed the door behind her. How could this be happening? Annalee flung herself on her bed and buried her face in the pillow. How could she have cancer? All of life was laid out before Tommy and her.
They were going to college and then they were going to help rescue trafficked children. She was going to make an app and market it till all the world used it to stop crimes against kids. And Tommy was going to help lock up the worst of the worst in society. That was his plan, the one he had told her about after he returned home from New York City.
And somewhere in the middle of that he wanted to marry her.
So she couldn’t be sick with… whatever the doctor said. She was tired, that’s all. A little rest and she’d be fine.
Her mother opened the door and stepped into her room. “Annalee…”
“Don’t. Please, Mom.” She rolled over and stared at her. “Don’t tell me anything bad.”
“Honey.” Her mother’s voice cracked. “I’m so… so sorry.”
And in that moment Annalee felt her world begin to collapse around her. Not because she fully believed the things the doctor had told her mother, and not because she really thought she was sick. But because her mom was white as a sheet. She looked like she might pass out.
Suddenly Annalee knew. The doctor’s words must have made sense to her mother. Because her mother clearly believed the news.
She crossed the room and sat on the edge of Annalee’s bed. Her mom wasn’t crying now. She looked too scared for tears. “Come here, sweetheart. Please.”
All Annalee wanted was to run. Leave the house and get in her car and drive to the airport, maybe. She would take the next flight to Thailand. And Tommy would meet her there and they would get married at the little church in Phuket and no one… no one would ever mention her being sick again.
Instead she sat up and slid her legs over the edge of the mattress. As she did her mother wrapped her arms around her. For a long time they stayed there, her mom hugging her the way she used to when Annalee was little. A minute or so into the hug, Annalee understood why her mother wasn’t saying anything.
She was crying again.
Her mom finally released her. Then she stood and pulled three tissues from the box on the dresser. With her back to Annalee, her mother dried her eyes. She might’ve thought she looked more composed when she turned around, but she didn’t. Annalee had never seen her mom look so upset.
“What else?” Annalee wanted to know everything now. If it was real and it was serious, she needed answers. “Tell me.”
And then in words and ways Annalee understood, her mother told her. How her cancer was serious and she’d have more tests tomorrow, and how treatment had to begin right away. Wednesday. Two days from now.
When it was