The Unseen Enemy Series

Chapter 14

Emma glanced at the clock on her desk. It was almost seven o’clock on Friday night and she was ready to just go home and get into the bath. She was exhausted. It amazed her that almost exactly one week ago at this time – give or take an hour or two – she’d been standing in Shooter’s with Dean. Briefly, she wondered where he was and what he was doing right then.

Probably at Shooter’s, picking up some other eager woman. Lucky thing… whoever she is, she’s in for a good time.

There was a knock on her door and she looked up. Helen Carrow was standing in the door and she had a stack of papers clutched in her hand. Emma almost crumpled to the floor when she realized that she had more HR forms to fill in.

“Hi, Helen,” she said, trying to sound welcoming. “Come on in.”

“I need these filled in ASAP,” Helen said brusquely. She put them on the corner of Emma’s desk and backed away. “I need to send them to the insurance provider Monday morning at nine o’clock.”

Emma closed her eyes and prayed for strength. “OK. I’ll bring them home with me over the weekend and drop them on your desk first thing on Monday morning. Alright?”

“Fine.” Helen turned to go, her shoulders tense in her brown blazer. She had never been a particularly nice woman, not to anyone, but Emma was taken aback at just how rude and cold she’d been since Emma had produced her doctor’s note describing her diagnosis. It was like Helen believed that Emma had gotten cancer for the sole purpose of inconveniencing Helen, and increasing her workload.

Thankfully, Helen was the exception in the office: every single other person had been nothing but supportive and helpful. Emma’s boss, Ned Granger, had been shocked and horrified, and had immediately offered to farm out her clients so she could take several months off, if needed. She’d gently refused, but had said that time off would be required for chemo and she’d provide him with a schedule as soon as she had it from Doctor Fife. Ned had looked at her a while and then nodded.

“Anything, Emma.” His face had been anxious and worried behind his glasses. “Anything at all. You know you have excellent medical insurance here, and we have more than enough staff on hand to divide up your client list. Take as much time off as you need, and when you’re ready to come back, we’ll hand hours to you as you can handle them. For right now? Just focus on getting well.”

She had smiled at him with tears in her eyes, and he had reached out to take her hand.

“Hey, Emma,” he said softly. “You’re going to be OK.”

Helen left her office now and Emma looked at the papers. God almighty. More of the same questions, and it looked like these forms needed to be updated every month. She sighed and stuffed them into her purse, resolving to forget about them until absolutely necessary.

Her cell rang and she glanced at the caller ID. Kat. Emma hesitated, then shoved the phone back in her bag. She didn’t feel like talking to anyone right now.

The truth was that it was just one week since she had come clean about her cancer, and Emma was already getting a bit weary of being handled with kid-gloves. Her friends were great – concerned and sweet – but they just couldn’t seem to think about anything except her AML. They jumped to their feet to get things for her, and even when Emma pointed out that she was perfectly fine to walk across a room to refill her coffee cup, they told her to sit still, then they asked her if she was sure that coffee was OK to drink when you had cancer. They took turns calling her every day and then again in the evening, checking on her. Emma often caught them looking at her with worry and fear and when she met their eyes, they’d start and chatter about nothing much.

And it wasn’t just her friends, either. All week at work, people had stopped talking when she’d entered a room or walked past. They forced smiles onto their faces, offered jokes, brought her cups of green tea. It was wonderful to be so supported, but already Emma was very aware of the fact that to everyone in her life right now, she was the woman with an aggressive form of cancer. Every relationship that she had – both personal and professional – was colored by that fact. She was going to have to figure out how to adjust to this new reality, she knew. But right now, she was too damn tired.

Tomorrow. I’ll be grateful for all the love and concern again tomorrow. Tonight? I want to be alone and quiet. Order Chinese food and watch ‘Legally Blonde’ and paint my toenails. Not talk about cancer. Pretend that I’m healthy and fine. Just one night off from being the sick girl, that’s all I need.