Kate cut her gaze to the window, grateful she’d asked Andrew to keep the blinds shut before he left that morning. The sun was out in force today, or at least that’s what the weatherman had said during the morning news. Kate hated sleeping with the sun on her face. It wasn’t so much trying to nap under the sharp glare. She never had problems zonking out at the beach.

It was just a reminder of what she was missing.

Kate closed her eyes, visualizing the rebellious microorganisms in her body dying a slow, terrible death. Her brother, the motivational speaker, had told her that if she meditated on attacking the disease, she could cure herself without the need for medicine or surgery. He’d guided her through countless meditations. Yet she was still on a boatload of medications and had had over a dozen surgeries in the past five years. Still, she loved her brother and believed in him, so she kept trying. Maybe someday it would all come together and she’d rise from her sick bed and go skydiving. Or at least out to a nice restaurant with Andrew.

“Thoughts are physical, sis,” her brother had said over and over. “If you concentrate on your intentions with a pure heart and clear mind, you can manifest anything.”

“If the answer to life’s woes is so easy, how come so many people are sick?”

“Who said it was easy? The Buddhists say it can take many, many lifetimes to even come close to mastering this.”

“So you’re saying I have no chance. I mean, it’s not like I have a clear mind,” Kate had said.

There was Ryker with his perpetual smile. “Maybe in previous lives, you’ve been working toward kicking some serious booty in this one. For all you know, this is your final exam.”

“I flunked my finals in school.”

“That’s because you were always goofing around instead of studying.”

“Well, I have plenty of time to study now, don’t I?”

“That you do.”

Part of her felt it was all a load of crap, and perhaps that’s why it didn’t work as well as it should. She sabotaged herself.