Better Than None by Olivia Jake Read Free Book Online

be there with her even if I didn’t necessarily need to be. Marty encouraged
me to take the entire day if I needed to, but I came in early to try to make up
for it. And once again, Marty checked in on me.
    “I thought I might catch you here early.” He said as he walked into my
office. It was a little past seven a.m. so we were the only two people there.
    “I’m becoming a foregone conclusion?” I kidded and he shrugged as he
put down a coffee and pastry.
    “Marty, you didn’t have to do that.”
    “I know. I wanted to.”
    “I, I don’t know what to say. Thank you, Marty.” It must have been a
combination of all the worry and stress, but tears started welling up which I
blinked back furiously in hopes that he didn’t see.
    “It’s just coffee, Steph.”
    “And a scone.” I joked.
    “And a scone.” He paused and sat down. “How are you holding up?”
    I was starting to get used to Marty’s gentle prodding. Over the last
few weeks, I’d been to probably half a dozen appointments with Barb, so coming
in early and talking with Marty was becoming somewhat routine. Still, opening
up wasn’t second nature.
    “Resistance is futile, right?”
    “For such a bright young woman, you’re a slow learner in some areas.”
    I blushed at the compliment, back-handed as it may have been.
    “I don’t know. This whole process so far has been so surreal.
Everything’s happened so fast. And it seems like no one really has any answers.
And I worry about my mom. She just seems so scared, not that I blame her. I
just wish there was something I could do. I feel so damn helpless.”
    “If there’s anything I can do…”
    “Find a cure for cancer?”
    “Top of my to do list.”
    “Thanks, Marty. I really don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t so
flexible and understanding.”
    “You haven’t seen me in a yoga class. I’m the antithesis of flexible.”
    I rolled my eyes at his corny joke and tried to stifle my snickering.
He got up and started to walk out. He turned around and paused in my doorway.
    “I’ll be thinking good thoughts this afternoon for both you and your
mom.”
    “Thank you.”
    We smiled at each other before then he went into his office. I tried
not to worry about what I would have done if I hadn’t landed where I did. I
couldn’t imagine taking this much time off at my previous job. I also tried not
to worry about the feelings I was starting to develop for Marty. I knew
logically why I was feeling them. He was the first man who ever seemed to take
an interest in me, who seemed to genuinely care about me. He was also getting
to know me better than most anyone else, which scared the crap out of me. That
fear coupled with the fact that he was my boss was enough to keep my head on
straight about the line that could not be crossed.

CHAPTER 5
     
    Whatever conjecture, whatever lies we had told ourselves the last time we
were in Dr. Rosenberg’s office all went down the drain when we set foot in the
waiting room for the second time, and the stark reality hit us both. Waiting
rooms were rarely pleasant places, but the waiting room in an oncologist’s
office really took the cake. Most everyone there was a cancer patient, or that
patient’s relative or caretaker. More people than not were bald, wore scarves
or obvious wigs. Many had ports in their chests or Picc lines in their arms. The
sad reality was that whoever was in this waiting room, odds weren’t in their
favor.
    Even though we’d been there before, we were both stunned again when we
stepped off the elevator. Dr. Rosenberg’s practice took up the entire sixth
floor of the medical building, and the sheer size of the waiting room and
amount of people in it was staggering. Row upon row of chairs, and almost all
were taken.
    There were so many different ways of looking at what this room
symbolized. After we signed in and found two seats next to each other, I leaned
over and whispered, “It’s not just you, mom. I know it might not make