Page 123 of Never Stop
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Easton
Icould count on my hand how many times I’d cried as an adult.
Today was one of those days.
I watched the nurse wheel Brooke away. When the doors closed, and I could no longer see the bed, I choked up. Tears dripped from my eyes, and I wanted to scream. Life had a way of grabbing you by the balls and dragging you around like you were its puppet. One minute Brooke and I were talking about having a baby, and the next her new surgeon was telling us he felt as though she had cancer. But Brooke was strong. She was stronger than me in so many ways. She could put on a front in front of everyone, but my heart was breaking, so I knew hers was too.
I gave myself a few minutes to gain my composure before I walked into the waiting room where I knew my family and friends were. When I stepped through the double doors, all eyes turned to me.
“How’s she doing?” my mother asked.
I gave a tight smile and walked over to sit in my seat. “Hanging in there.”
“They’re doing the surgery now?” Nicole asked.
“Yeah.” I swallowed hard.
“Let’s go grab breakfast. Surgery should be a few hours, right?” my dad asked.
“Yeah.” I really had no other words.
Cheyenne stepped over to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. “We need to get her red roses.”
I looked down at my baby girl. “We will, Peanut.”
During breakfast, I kept checking my phone to make sure the hospital hadn’t called. The gang and I had walked a few blocks to a diner, and I didn’t want to miss a call. I was told the surgery would be about six hours, but if anything were to happen, I wanted to be there waiting.
“So, you two?” Nicole asked and moved her finger between Bailee and Gary.
They looked at each other and then Bailee turned back to Nicole. “Us two what?”
“You guys a thing?”
They looked at each other again and then Bailee returned her attention back to Nicole. “We’re just friends.”
“Friends with—”
Avery cut his eyes to his wife and then nudged his head toward Cheyenne.
Nicole continued, “You know.”
Bailee and Gary both chuckled but didn’t answer. Their non-answer was the answer. There was more to their story, but I had my own to think about.
After we had eaten, we grabbed coffee to take back with us to the hospital. We still had at least four more hours before Brooke was due out of surgery. My parents were each reading, and the rest of us were on our phones. I tried to pass the time, but there was only so much Candy Crush I could play before I got bored. Cheyenne was watching a movie on her phone and I kicked myself for not remembering to bring my headphones to use with Netflix. Something to pass the time instead of me thinking about Dr. Simon cutting my wife open.
The day before we met with him to go over everything for today. He’d said he’d cut open her back and remove the tumor that way. Since it was touching ribs and whatever else, he couldn’t go in with a scope. Her situation was no longer minimally invasive, it was major.
“So I have something to tell you all,” I started but then stopped when I saw Brooke’s mom walk into the waiting room. She was with Stan, of course. All eyes turned to see who I was looking at.
“Sorry we’re late. We’re not used to all this traffic, and the taxi took forever from the airport,” she said.
I stood and gave her a hug, and then shook Stan’s hand. It was the least I could do. Brooke still wasn’t sold on her mother trying to be in her life, and I wasn’t either. That didn’t mean I had to be rude to them.
“You got in this morning?” Bailee asked, standing to greet her mother.
“We took a red-eye when Stan got off of work last night.” Everyone greeted each other and then Beverly turned back to me. “How’s she doing?”
