Page 31 of Baby with the Bossy Billionaire

“Remember, I was supposed to pick you up for dinner tonight. When I got to your place and you didn’t answer the door I called your phone probably 10 times and when you didn’t answer that either I started to worry. I knocked on your neighbor, Marge’s door and asked if she knew anything about where you were. She said she thought you had an emergency because she heard you tell your driver to take you to Mount Sinai Hospital. I figured it had something to do with your mother,so I came here.”

I never thought I’d ever be grateful for my nosy neighbor, but right now I could kiss that old lady in the mouth. “I’m so sorry. I totally forgot about dinner and I haven’t been paying any attention to my phone.”

“You don’t have to apologize. I completely understand.”

It’s at that moment that my mother’s doctor appears. My whole family gets up and crowds around him.

“I am afraid I have some good news and bad news,” Dr. Hunter says.

“What does that mean?” Dad asks.

“The good news is that Janice is fine for now. The bad news? The tests we ran show that she has liver metastases. Which means the cancer has traveled from her breast to her liver.”

Lily gasps beside me.

“What does that mean?” Matt asks.

“Actually, it’s not all that bad. Of course, this isn’t something we hoped for, but it’s not that severe. From the imaging we have it’s only one tumor. So we will recalibrate her chemo therapy to also target the tumor in her liver. If we are able to shrink it enough, then we can go in and get it through surgery. From all indications, everything should go well.”

“Would this have happened if she had chosen to do the double mastectomy?” Dad asks.

“There’s no way to know that,” the doctor says. “Would it have been highly unlikely? Yes, but I can’t definitively say that this wouldn’t have happened either way.”

I feel everyone’s eyes shift to me all at once.

“Thank you, Dr. Hunter.” I shake his hand, and then he leaves.

I move over to Dad and rub his back as he looks down atthe floor. A little while later he raises his head and looks at Travis. “And who is this?”

Well, I guess this is as good a time as any. “This is Travis Caldwell. He’s the boyfriend I mentioned.”

Everyone is silent until Matt blurts, “Dude, how old are you?”

“Matt!” Lily hisses.

“What?” Dad says. “That’s a legitimate question.”

“His age is irrelevant. All you need to know is that we are together.”

Travis steps forward and offers my dad his hand. “It’s so nice to meet you. Although I regret it’s under these circumstances.”

Dad sizes him up for a while then shakes his hand. “It’s nice to meet you too.” He then turns around and goes back to his seat and our little huddle breaks up.

When Travis and I sit he wraps his arm around my back and I cuddle into his chest and close my eyes. I breathe in the smell of his woody cologne that I have gotten so used to. I am so lost in him that I jolt when I hear my name.

I open my eyes and look up. Haley is standing above us.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t get away sooner. Fred’s out of town and it took a while for me to get a babysitter.”

I stand up and pull her into a hug. I had called her to let her know what was happening on my way to the hospital, but I hadn’t expected that she would actually come.

“I’m glad you could make it at all.”

When we pull apart she holds up four bags of takeout. “I figured none of you would’ve had anything to eat so I dropped by my favorite Chinese takeout place on my way here.”

Matt is the first one out of his chair. Hepractically tackles Haley and rips the bags out of her hands. Within a few moments, Dad and my siblings are eating.

“Haley, this is Travis…Travis, Haley. She’s my best friend.”

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