Lauren perked up. Her first thought was Andrew’s here? followed by What happened with Zeke? Zeke was a forty-year-old man with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and was the first patient she’d seen when she’d started in Dr. Patel’s clinic. He’d completed his chemo regimen and gone into remission, and without the need for medication, Lauren hadn’t been involved in his follow-up visits. But she thought about him often. He was a farmer and had always been accompanied by his parents, and all of them had been such kind, soft-spoken people.

She technically shouldn’t ask what was going on, since she wasn’t part of Zeke’s care team anymore, but it was hard not to care. She’d followed him for months. Thankfully, Emma seemed as surprised as Lauren was and voiced the question in her mind.

“Why?” Emma asked.

“His surveillance bone marrow biopsy came back. His disease relapsed.”

Lauren felt the word relapse like a punch in the gut. “Oh no.”

Emma’s face was stricken. “He was doing so well, I really hoped…”

Dr. Patel nodded solemnly. “Me too.” She took a deep breath. “We’ve still got options for him, that’s the important thing. But I’m worried about how today will go. I called him with the results yesterday, and he was very upset. He refused to speak to me, but his mother called back. I asked if she thought he’d come talk about his options in person, and she said she’d try to get him here.”

The room was quiet for a few seconds, and Dr. Patel looked at Emma. “All that to say, I’ll take that one and you see Mr. Bishop. He’s here to follow up after his first chemo two weeks ago and will get day fifteen today as long as there are no issues.”

“Of course.” Emma turned back to her computer. “Did he get labs done?” she asked no one in particular.

“Yes,” Kiara said as she reentered the room. “They’re good. Want me to print a copy to take in there with you?”

“Sure.”

Dr. Patel stood up and left as Kiara went to the printer to retrieve the papers. She handed them to Emma, while Lauren did her best to focus on her own screen.

Suddenly there was a loud bang in the hallway, like a door had swung open and slammed into the wall.

“I don’t believe you,” a deep voice bellowed.

Lauren and Emma looked at each other with wide eyes. They both went to the doorway. Lauren stepped into the hallway to find Zeke a few doors down, standing with his fists balled at his sides. His dark hair was in disarray, and even from several yards away Lauren could see his eyes were bloodshot.

His parents came out of the exam room, but he moved away from them. “Don’t touch me,” he yelled.