Page 46 of Indiscretion

She looked away, shaking her head. “Nothing.”

“Obviously there’ssomething, because I saw your face when I said Bailey’s name.”

She sighed. “I met her mom this morning at the coffee shop in town. We were in line and started talking. She was nervous about her daughter’s first day.”

“Because of her condition?”

Mom blinked a few times. “She told you about her condition?”

“It was kinda hard not to after that jerk Gleason ripped her hat off. Her hair is all patchy.”

Mom’s hand covered her heart. “Oh, that’s terrible. Miriam, Bailey’s mom, said Bailey didn’t want anyone to know. Apparently, at her last school, the kids treated her different, and it made Bailey upset. So she’d planned on keeping things quiet here. New school, new start. Kind of like us last year.”

“They treated her different because of her hair?”

“Well, I guess because of her illness in general. She was out of school a lot.”

“Out of school? I thought the only symptom was hair loss.”

Mom shook her head. “No, it can get pretty bad. Vomiting, weakness, exhaustion. The treatment destroys the bad cells, but it can damage the good ones at the same time, leaving you sick as a dog. Miriam said once she was out for such a long stretch that she had to start homeschooling her.”

“Wow. I had no idea. There’s a girl on TikTok with that. She’s bald, but she’s always dancing like she feels fine.”

“I’m sure everyone handles it differently, but maybe that person has finished with her treatments and her energy is back.”

I gulped more coconut milk and grabbed another Oreo. “What treatment do they give you for that?”

“Well, it could be a number of things—radiation, stem cells, immunotherapy… But I think it’s usually the chemo that makes your hair fall out.”

“Chemo? They treat alopecia with chemo?”

Mom’s forehead creased. “Alopecia? Bailey doesn’t have alopecia. She has cancer.”

Chapter 13

NAOMI

Friday morning, Dawson had a deposition, so it was quiet around the office. I had work to do, though, lots of it. This was just the end of my first week, but it hadn’t taken him long to figure out that he could hand me a task with minimal instructions, and I could run with it.

I stood at the copier, printing the attachments for a motion, when a deep voice came from behind me.

“Those are some heels.”

I startled and tossed the stack of papers in my hands up in the air. They floated to the floor as I turned with a hammering heart. “Will you ever learn to not sneak up on people?”

“I didn’t sneak up on you the night you belted me. I had no idea you were there.” Dawson smirked. “Besides, I said it from ten feet away so I wouldn’t have to duck.”

“Maybe next time you can just not scare the crap out of me.” I bent and swept the papers together.

Dawson squatted and joined me, grabbing the ones I couldn’t reach. “You have more makeup on than usual.” His eyes went from my face to my gaping shirt. “Pretty red lace bra, too.”

I pulled the papers against my chest and stood. “You’re an HR nightmare.”

“I know. That’s why I don’t have an HR department.” He winked. “They’d ruin all the fun.”

I chuckled. “You’re really an ass.”

“Speaking of asses…you look really nice. Got a hot date or something?”

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