Chapter 39
867 Words
The four men stared at her. Dean was thunderstruck.
“She – what? How can she have cancer?”
Liv shrugged. “She just does.”
“For how long?”
“She got the diagnosis just over four months ago.” She met his eyes. “She got it the day that you two first met at Shooter’s.”
“She – I…” Dean stammered. “What?”
“She’s sick. I mean, she’s really sick.”
Dean did not understand one single f*****g thing that was going on right now, and he was getting pretty pissed off about it.
“Why didn’t she tell me?” he asked Liv angrily. “We’ve been sleeping together for over three months. Why the f**k did she keep this from me?”
Her beautiful brown eyes flashed. “That’s why, Dean. That, right there.”
He paused. “What?”
“What you just said, those words you used. You said that you two have been ‘sleeping together’. Not ‘seeing each other’, not ‘dating’, not even ‘going out’. Definitely not ‘in a relationship’.”
He flushed. “Well, yeah… because that was the deal. Just sex.”
“OK, fine. Great.” Liv stared up at him. “But you don’t get to have it both ways. You don’t get to f**k her without strings or commitment, and then get all pissed off at her now because she didn’t confide in you. She didn’t even tell you her last name, so do you really expect her to have told you about this? About the fact that she’s dying?”
The men were very still.
“She’s – she’s dying?” Chris said. “Like, really dying?”
“She’s fighting like hell, but she’s not winning. So, yes, she’s really dying.” She stared into Dean’s horrified eyes. “And just what would you have done if she’d told you that? Would you have been there for her, Dean? Would you have held her hand through the four rounds of chemo that she’s had? Her hair’s falling out now – will you tell her that she’s still beautiful? If she can’t get a matching stem cell donor, will you be there in six months when she takes her last breath?”
“I – I…”
“No. No, you wouldn’t have and no, you won’t, and that’s OK. You and Emma were always a fling and on a clock, and time has now run out. I’m pretty sure this isn’t how she wanted it to end, though. I know she never had any intention of telling you about her illness.”
“She wasn’t going to tell me?” Dean said. “She was going to – what? Break it off one day and just disappear?”
Liv shrugged. “Wasn’t that the agreement between you? And really, would you have even noticed a week later? You’d just go on as if Emma had never been in your life at all. You still can.”
“That’s not fair,” he said, stung at her curt dismissal. “Things have changed between us, Olivia. If she’d told me, I’d have been there. I swear.”
She shook her head. “There’s no need to say that, Dean. I know you feel badly about what’s happening with Emma, but I see no need to fake feelings you don’t have. It’s OK.”
“Liv!”
They all turned to see Jenny outside Emma’s door.
“She’s awake,” Jenny said.
Dean took a step towards Emma’s room but Liv blocked him. He had half-a-foot and easily ninety pounds on her, but she stood up to him like he was no more threatening than a kitten.
“No, Dean. You need to leave.”
“I can’t even see her to make sure she’s OK?” he said quietly.
“She’s not OK. Not even close. But you’re not responsible for her. She’s not your wife or girlfriend – she’s a woman you slept with off-and-on for three months.”
He flinched. Liv saw his confusion and she softened.
“I’m not trying to be cruel, I swear. I’m just trying to explain to you… you can go now. No guilt, no judgment, no bad feelings. Not from any of us, not even from Emma.” She smiled. “We love her and we can take it from here. We’ll be with her through it all – right to the end, if it comes to that. So relax, Dean…you’re off the hook. You don’t need to do anything you don’t want to, you have no ties to any of this. Go get on with your life.”
Liv turned and walked down the hall to Emma’s room.
Dean stood frozen, staring after her. He just couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. He turned to his friends who were all standing there watching him closely.
“How the f**k could I not know? Why didn’t I –”
He fell silent, shaking his head.
Chris stepped forward. “Come on, man. Let’s go. Nothing more to do here.”
- Writer
