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“I’m sorry to call so late. I guess I just really needed to hear your voice. I honestly didn’t think you’d answer.”
“Is everything okay?” I immediately sense that something is off.
“Yes.” He blows out a hard breath. “No.”
“What’s wrong?” I push up further in bed.
“I told you last week that my mom had a procedure done at the hospital.”
“The day you ran into Claire, I remember.”
“It wasn’t justsomeprocedure. It was to have a mass removed from her breast.”
My stomach instantly twists.
“Breast cancer?” I guess, my voice breaking.
“Yeah.” He blows out another hard breath.
“Abel,” I start, but immediately stop, not really sure what to say. We’ve been texting every day for over a week and while I knew something was going on with his mom, I never imagined it was cancer.
“When did she find out?”
“A week or so ago.”
“I’m so sorry. Are you doing okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Worried. But okay.” He pauses. “They removed the mass but there’s indication that it’s spread to outer lying tissue. She starts chemo this week.”
“Is that why your brother is in town?”
“Yeah. He flew in for the procedure but he couldn’t stay. I dropped him off at the airport earlier today.” He pauses. “Let’s talk about something else. Tell me what’s going on with you.”
“Nothing much. You know me, I’m pretty boring.”
“I don’t remember you being boring.” I can hear the smile in his voice and a warm sensation passes through my chest. “Read any good books lately?”
“A ton actually,” I admit, knowing that’s really all I’ve had to do–not that I much mind. I could spend my entire life reading books and be perfectly happy.
“I bought you something the other day.”
“You did?” I question, surprise apparent in my voice.
“I was at a book store with Andrew and I saw something. You probably have it already, but on the off chance that you don’t, I went ahead and picked it up.”
“Wait, you were at a book store?” I question, finding this picture hard to imagine.
“Andrew had to pick up some books for school on our way home from visiting Mom last week. Normally I would have waited in the car, but this time I decided to go in.”
“And do I get to know what it is that you bought for me?” I pull my bottom lip into my mouth to try to suppress the ginormous smile creeping across my lips.
“Yeah, when I give it to you.”
“That’s not very nice.” I huff.
“What isn’t?”
“That you tell me you got me something but I have to wait to find out what it is.”
