Page 21 of With You Forever

Lacey stares at Dr. Mayr. “It’s cancer,” she says before he has a chance to say anything.

Because it’s the only way this could work out. She’s half her mother and she and Sal rolled the dice to take on her story. Sal’s already had her bad shit in life.

Lacey wins this.

Dr. Mayr, his face sympathetic, nods. “It is.”

Cancer. A spark goes off in her brain. Setting the fuse, firing every doom cylinder in her mind. Her worst fear. This is how she dies. Like her mother. In pain. Alone.

A choked voice of anguish. “No.”

Lacey looks to her left. Seth shakes his bowed head like he can’t process the news. His fists sit clenched on the knees of his jeans. Fighting to stay seated, to not explode.

Sal’s gone pale except for the fierce flaming of her cheeks.

Dr. Mayr continues. “The thing is you have the best kind of cancer.”

Seth lifts his face, growls. “What the fuck does that mean?”

Mayr leans forward. “What you have, Lacey, is stage zero ductile carcinoma in situ. Basically, it means we caught it the earliest we can.”

She finds her voice, even as she sits frozen, one hand on her chest to calm her thumping heart. “And that’s good?”

“That’s great. That means we can treat it before it gets too aggressive.”

“Aggressive—what does that mean?” A muscle jerks in Seth’s sharp-edged jaw as if he’s heard the words but refuses them.

“It means it’s already too late,” Lacey whispers.

Sal shushes her. “Stop.”

Lacey squeezes her eyes shut. “It means you die.”

“Stop it,” Sal says.

“I understand this is scary, Lacey.” Mayr keeps his eyes on hers. “But your type of cancer has a ninety-eight percent survival rate. And it’s only in the one breast.”

“What’s the treatment plan?” Sal asks, pushing the conversation forward.

“We’d recommend a lumpectomy, which is a surgery that removes the cancer and other abnormal tissue from your breast. A lumpectomy allows you to keep the shape of your breast. It’s not as invasive as a mastectomy.”

Oh God.

Lacey’s brain fizzes, overheats as Mayr goes on to detail the procedure. The cold, clinical medical terms being hurled at her sound like gibberish. How can anyone do this? How did her mother do this?

“After the surgery,” Mayr says, and Lacey blinks herself back, “we’d do radiation. Possibly, we might recommend tamoxifen. It’s an oral medication that lowers the risk of recurrence.” Mayr pauses. “That is if you don’t plan on having children for several years.”

“I don’t—” Lacey’s shoulders sag as her mind wheels. Asking her to make decisions about her future, her body, when she doesn’t even know. “I—” Eyes wide, she looks at Seth.

His handsome face is stone.

Keeping his eyes trained on Mayr, Seth says, “Whatever it takes, Doctor. The best surgeons. Medicine. You give her anything she needs.” He looks at Lacey, clasping her hands. “I don’t care about kids. I don’t need ’em.”

Her eyes shutter at his heartbreaking words. She shakes her head slowly. “Seth ...”

“Princess, you get what you need.” He cups her face, turns toward her like there aren’t two more people in the room. Like her world isn’t ending. “Youare what I need, you hear me? Nothin’ else. You.”

Before she can say anything, Seth looks at Mayr, his expression fierce. “After the surgery, she’ll be okay, right?”

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