He frowned at me, a flicker of irritation in his eyes. "We're not even married, are we?"
"So don't call it 'ours' like it means something."
"Constance, quit stirring up trouble over nothing."
Naomi didn't say a word, head down, eating quietly, but her shoulders were trembling with barely concealed laughter.
I said nothing. I gathered my things and moved to the guest room.
Just a few more days. I could endure a few more days.
My flight was the day after tomorrow. Once I was gone, let's see who Naomi could get to operate on her.
I'd barely sat down when my phone rang.
It was Aaron Whitney.
"My dear lady, please tell me you haven't forgotten your Monday flight."
His familiar, irreverent voice came through the speaker. I always told him I couldn't stand him, but right now that voice felt like a lifeline.
"I haven't."
"Aaron, what if my condition really is bad enough to need surgery?"
A pause on the other end. "Constance, don't be scared."
"I've looked at the scans you sent. It's not as frightening as you think. The equipment here is more advanced. You can get retested once you're here. What if it's a misdiagnosis?"
"And even if the diagnosis holds, there are many treatment options. Surgery isn't the only one."
For as long as I'd known him, Aaron had been the unreliable kid who never seemed to grow up.
But hearing that steady string of reassurances, it hit me that the boy in my memory had quietly grown up somewhere along the way.
His words eased something wound tight inside me.
Not long after I hung up, there was a knock at the door.
It was Naomi.
She was wearing my pajamas, eyes bright with open provocation.
"Connie, I'm wearing your pajamas. You don't mind, right?"
I glanced at her coldly. "It's fine. If it's gone, it's gone."
Naomi's red lips curved upward, and she walked in with a smile.
"Constance, do you know why Leonard stood you up at City Hall?"
Leonard and I had set a date six months ago. It fell three days after Naomi came back.
That day, he was late. By the time he showed up, everyone at City Hall had already left.
He caught my hands, already talking. "Cece, I swear it wasn't on purpose. Someone rear-ended me on the way over."
"My phone broke too..."
He fished the shattered phone out of his pocket, looking pitiful, proving it really had been an accident.
I believed him.
"That day was the anniversary of our first time. He took me back to where it happened."
"Want to know where?"