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Laura sighed. “I don’t want to interrupt you if you’re working.”
“Working? You know they don’t pay me for this, right?”
Laura laughed. “You should maybe look into getting compensated.”
“I’ll do that. Now stop stalling. What’s up?”
The silence stretched on and Cassie could hear the gears turning in her sister’s head. “Look, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m going to be blunt about it. Mom’s sick.”
Cassie felt dizzy and had to put a hand on the side of the house to steady herself. “What?”
“She found out a couple months ago, I guess. She made dad keep it secret, but I don’t think he could anymore. He told me and begged me not to tell you, but I can’t keep something like this quiet. What are they thinking?”
“Why didn’t she want to tell us?”
“You know Mom,” Laura said. “She doesn’t want to bother anyone.”
“Jesus Christ. She’d wait until we surrounded her on her death bed to tell us she’s dying.”
“Probably.”
“Is it bad?”
“She has a brain tumor.”
“You’re shitting me.”
Laura laughed. “Wish I was. She said she started to feel pressure behind her eyes that wouldn’t go away. Had some trouble seeing. She knew something was off, so she got checked out.”
Cassie’s entire body got hot. “Is she going to be okay? Are they worried?”
“They checked her out, and it doesn’t look like it spread anywhere else. They’ll need to do a biopsy to be sure, but it’s nothing to get worked up about.”
“Those sound like dad’s words.”
“Funny how he had to call me because he was worried but spent the next hour saying it wasn’t a big deal.”
“Parents are weird that way.” Cassie took a deep breath. “So, she’ll need brain surgery?”
“I guess so.” There was the hint of a tremor in Laura’s voice. “They have a couple more appointments to go to before they set up the big surgery, so they’ll have to get through those first.”
Cassie hesitated to say what was on her mind, but she had to ask. “Why didn’t I get a phone call?”
Laura blew a big breath into the phone’s mic. “I don’t know, Cass. I really don’t. Things have been strained between all of us.”
“I’m sorry—”
“I know you are. It sucked when you pushed us all away, but I get it. You went through all that trauma. I’m always going to love you, and I’m always going to be there for you, even if you don’t want me to be.”
Tears filled Cassie’s eyes and she sniffled. “Thank you. I want you in my life. You’re my sister.”
“You’re welcome,” Laura said. “But you have to do more than that.”
“Me? What do you mean?”
“It’s time to apologize to Mom and Dad. It’s time to repair things.”
“I’m not the only one—”
