Lauren was torn, the girlfriend part of her wanting to do nothing but assure him all would be well, and the oncology provider part of her wanting to prepare him for every possible outcome. She went with a mixture of both.

“Of course not. I think it will be perfect.” She prayed for it every day. “But it’s possible you’ll need more chemo. It’s a small possibility, but it’s there.”

“I can’t think like that. I’ve focused on today for months, knowing this would be my last one. I’ve kept this to myself, and saying it will probably piss you off, but chemo sucks. It really sucks, and I don’t want any more of it.”

“You’re right. That does piss me off.” Lauren clenched her teeth. “Let us help you, you big, stubborn man!”

Andrew smiled at her. “You’ve helped me more than you’ll ever know, my beautiful girl.”

His words and the soft expression in his eyes made Lauren’s knees go weak. But he didn’t stop there, and the next sentence out of his mouth made her heart seize up, but not in a good way.

“You’ve been the perfect distraction during this miserable process and taken my mind off the worst thing I’ve ever been through.”

Lauren felt like she’d been punched in the stomach, and all the air left her lungs. She blinked. “Is that all I’ve been? A distraction?”

Andrew’s expression turned horrified. “That’s not what I—”

“Stop.” Lauren put her hand on the door handle. “I need to get out of here and talk to Kiara. There’s no telling what she thinks we’re doing in here.”

Andrew stood up. “Wait—”

“No. Not right now, we’ll talk later.” Lauren slipped through the door and shut it behind her. Her hands trembled, and her eyes filled with hot tears.

Not now. Keep it together. Focus on what happened before he called you a distraction… You can deal with that later.

Lauren dreaded facing Kiara and felt like she was walking straight toward a firing squad. As she feared, when she entered the workroom, Kiara and Emma were waiting, the room otherwise empty. Both were unsmiling with arms crossed in front of their chests, eyebrows raised.

Lauren opened her mouth to speak, but Emma cut her off. “Are you insane?” She turned to Kiara. “Also, I told you so.”

Lauren’s eyes widened at that last comment. “What do you mean, ‘you told her so?’ How long have you known?”

Kiara’s head whipped toward Lauren. “How long has there been something for her to know about?”

Lauren lifted a hand and rubbed her forehead, trying to ignore the sensation of a knife in her heart. She needed to deal with what Kiara saw before processing what Andrew had just said.