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Every evening after work, on her own in her new room, Esther practiced stories to tell Anna the next day. Then she’d venture out into the living room, tell Naomi the story, and they’d discuss it. Each discussion deepened their relationship, sending down roots that were watered with lashings of love and laughter.
Her visits to Anna were Esther’s daily highlight.
“Are you ducking out again at lunch?” Sue asked one morning before Esther had called in her first patient. “Where do you go, anyway?”
“Up to palliative care.”
“Oh.” Sue’s eyes widened. “I would have thought palliative care would be the last place on earth you’d want to visit.”
“It is confronting,” Esther said. “But I’ve been visiting one of my chemo acquaintances.”
“It’s always difficult to know what to talk about in those
