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“Sophie,” he scolded her. “I feel a lump.” Her eyes shot to his face. “When was the last time you did one?”
She thought back to the last time she examined her own breasts. She sighed. “Twelve months ago, at least probably while showering.” That was usually when she examined her breasts.
“You didn’t feel a lump?” He took her hand and placed it on the lump.” She could feel the spot about the size of a pea.
“Nope,” she replied. “Should I be worried?”
He shook his head at her. “I’m going to try to get you in today for a diagnostic mammogram.”
“But I have places to be. Josh is expecting me back at the office.”
Ben cut her off. “Sophie, this is important. Josh will understand. His business takes care of our property here and at my community where my home is. I see him frequently. I know him. Your health would be his priority,” Ben informed her.
The thought of Ben and Josh discussing her flitted through her brain and made her uncomfortable. She pushed it to the back of her mind and scowled at Ben’s back.
“He’s probably the only reason that you actually made the appointment today.” He was gazing at her now.
She glanced at his worried face. “Nope, not more important,” she agreed contrite because he was right. Josh had pushed her into this.
Ben turned away from her and Sophie sat
up clutching the paper gown around her. It’s probably nothing, she told herself. A cyst. Her friends had cysts before. They were nothing. Too much caffeine. She drank a lot of coffee in the morning. She would have to cut back on her coffee, most likely.
Cancer didn’t run in her family. Breast cancer ran in families, right? She would ask Ben, but he was trying to schedule her mammogram. Doctor Hillard sat at his desk and picked up the phone. He dialed a number while Sophie’s arms wrapped tight at her waist holding the gown closed.
She half listened to him speaking to someone, trying to get her mammogram scheduled today. He was concerned, why wasn’t she? Because Sophie was good at putting things off and burying the obvious. She needed to be more diligent about her health.
**
Sophie got in the landscaping truck and called Josh to let him know that she would be later than expected. She was almost relieved when he didn’t answer the phone.
“Hey babe, I have to run over to the Imaging Center. Ben wasn’t happy with me because it’s been more than a year since I’ve had my mammogram. He pulled a few strings and got an appointment for me. I’ll be back as soon as possible.” Then she hung up. She wasn’t going to answer if Josh called back. Sophie didn’t want him to hear the concern in her voice. She didn’t want to worry Josh.
The center was five minutes from Doctor Ben’s office. A quick turn out of the Professional Building parking lot. A mile down the street and a left and she was there. Her heart felt like it was in her throat. At the Imaging Center, changed out of her top, shoving it and her bra into the locker with her purse. She had to wash off her deodorant. Then she closed the hospital gown and was about to shut the locker door and pocket the key when her phone dinged.
She grabbed it out of the locker and glanced at the message from Josh. He wanted to know if she was all right. She contemplated whether to respond. The phone was in her hand. She was staring at the screen. He would worry a little, but he would worry a lot if he knew that Ben had found an actual, lump and had rushed her to the Imaging Center for a diagnostic mammogram.
She ignored him for now. Sophie didn’t want to worry Josh until she had to. The lump was most likely nothing. She had convinced herself that Ben was overacting between his office and the center.
Sophie shoved her shoulder-length, black hair over her shoulder and stepped out into the hallway. She was nervous, clutching the gown around herself.
The young tech who was going to do her mammogram had light reddish-blonde hair with a beautiful smile and freckles on her nose. She was as wholesome as Sophie was dark and mysterious in her looks. Her hair was pulled back tight in a ponytail that swung when she walked. She was sweet and perky and young.
Sophie rolled her eyes and tried to not be disgusted. She was a cheerleader at one time, Sophie was sure of it. How did she know? She was one too, over twenty years ago.
Her name was Kaylee. She kept smiling at Sophie, trying to be encouraging. “Ready?” She asked.
“As I will ever be,” Sophie replied trying to not sound exasperated with this process. It wasn’t Kaylee’s fault she had to do this or that she was now grumpy.
“We’re just down the hall.” The young woman was probably only a few years older than Heath. Twenty-four or twenty-five. She wore the typical, light green scrubs of the hospital that was associated with the Imaging Center.
Sophie didn’t know a woman who enjoyed this test. Didn’t find it uncomfortable. There had to be a better way to determine what was going on inside a woman’s breast than smashing it between two, plexiglass plates. Sophie rolled her eyes while following Kaylee down the hall and into the imaging room.
The tech was kind and understanding considering she didn’t have a clue what was about to happen to Sophie. “Will I know something today?” Sophie asked her.
“Dr. Hillard will call you with the results. He asked for a rush on this,” Kaylee explained while she did something on the computer and Sophie stood around, staring at the machine.
“I don’t have breast cancer in my family,” Sophie mumbled. She was beginning to worry again, probably for nothing, she reminded herself.
