Page 80 of The Scientist

I spun to see Lex standing there on the steps below me. “What’s wrong?” he asked, his eyebrows pinched together.

I looked down at my arm encircled by his hand and thought of how just a few days ago this would have sent chills down my spine… but I felt nothing.

“Hadley…” His voice was rough with impatience, his eyes pleading with me.

“It’s my mom,” I said without a single ounce of emotion in my voice. “The chemo stopped working. The doctor said there isn’t much else he can do.”

“Fuck,” I heard Stuart say from behind Lex.

The devastation in Lex’s eyes matched mine, and I felt like I was looking at my own reflection as I stared into their depths. A sharp stab of despair shot through me, momentarily breaking through the numbness as I looked at him, but it dissolved as quickly as it had come on.

I pulled my arm away and said, “You need to get to work. I’ll talk to you guys later.”

I turned without looking back at either of them and walked into my home. I wasn’t ready to face the pain, so I pushed it down and tried like hell to make it through the rest of the day.

???

Over the next week, I spent every second of my free time searching for different treatment options that might help my mom as well as other doctors who specialized in her type of breast cancer. I begged her to let me take her to MD Anderson for a second opinion, but she flat-out refused. I went throughcyclical phases of either being extremely angry or completely numb.

Since I was staying over at my mom’s most of the time, I didn’t see much of the guys even though they both called and texted often to check on me. Lionel and Sarah also offered to help in any way they could, but there wasn’t much anyone could do.

It was a Thursday right after lunch when things took a sudden, unexpected turn. My cell phone started ringing, and I hurried to pick up the call from my mom. She never called when she knew I was at work, so I was instantly filled with panic.

“Mom?” I breathed.

“Hadley, Dr. Gremillion’s office just called. They want me to go there right away. They didn’t say what it’s about. Do you think you can come?”

“Of course!” I stood, hurrying to gather my things. “I’ll be right there.”

We made it to the office in less than ten minutes and waited anxiously for him to come into the room. My mind was going through every possible scenario of what he might tell us, most of it grim.

He finally walked in, his face unreadable.

He pulled the rolling chair closer to his body and sat down in front of my mom before his face broke into a wide grin. “I’ve got good news, Ms. Olivier.” My pulse quickened at those words.“A spot has opened up in the drug trial. I’d like you to start today. The sooner, the better.”

My mom and I looked at each other with twin looks of shock.

“H-How?” my mom asked, her voice shaky.

“A great stroke of luck,” he said, smiling. “Here’s the paperwork I need you to bring over to the cancer center. I’ve called ahead, so they’re already expecting you.”

“Thank you so much,” my mom said, her voice cracking at the end.

My heart continued pounding in my chest as he went over what she could expect with this new drug and warned us not to get our hopes too high since this was not a proven drug. It was impossiblenotto feel hopeful though as we made our way to the cancer center together.

I gave the paperwork to the front desk attendant as my mom got settled in at one of the treatment suites.

“Ms. Olivier!” It was Nurse Amber, who walked over excitedly and wrapped her arms around my mom in a tight hug. “I was so worried,” she said. “When you didn’t come on your normal treatment days, I called Dr. Gremillion’s office to see what was happening. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, of course not. That was sweet of you to worry,” my mom said, patting her hand.

“I can’t believe this happened. Thank god they were able to expand the trial.”

My mom’s forehead wrinkled. “What do you mean?”

“Dr. Gremillion’s drug trial,” she said, sounding confused. “Didn’t they tell you? They expanded it. We were able to take on ten more patients, including you.”

“We were just told a spot had opened up,” I said, just as confused.