He walked over and sat down next to him, exchanging smiles with Abby.
“Sure did. Haven’t seen you in a little while. Wanted to check and see how one of my favorite dudes is doing.”
He sat back and let Jack’s animated chatter wash over him until it slowed and finally stopped.
“He’s asleep,” he said to Abby. She’d been pretending to read her book the whole time they talked, but he’d noticed that she hadn’t turned a page.
“Yeah, the chemo takes a lot out of him.” She closed her book and smiled at him. “Thanks for coming by, though. I know he loved seeing you.”
He looked over at Jack, who looked even younger than usual, sound asleep and hooked up to multiple IVs.
“I loved seeing him, too, even though it’s tough to see him like this.” Tears jumped to Abby’s eyes, and he felt like an ass. If it was hard for him to see Jack like this, how did he think his mother felt? “I talked to Dr. Sullivan, though; she said his prognosis is good. She seemed very hopeful.”
Abby wiped the tears out of her eyes and smiled at him.
“She said that to us, too, but it’s good that wasn’t just what she says to parents. Thanks for telling me that. I know doctors tell one another the real story.”
He touched Jack’s head, careful not to wake him up.
“No problem. I was . . . I was pretty worried about him. I was very relieved when I talked to Dr. Sullivan, though—”
Abby closed her book and tucked it in her purse.
“I know, there are no guarantees. Thanks, regardless.” She looked at his hand, still on Jack’s head. “How’s your friend Alexa?”
He sighed. He should have anticipated that Abby would bring up Alexa.
“That bad, huh?” Abby said, as he looked for a way to answer. “Can I assume that she is . . . or was . . . more than a friend?”
He made a face at her, and she laughed.
“Like you didn’t already know that.” He sighed. “This is not a normal doctor-patient conversation, but . . . we hit a roadblock. Time will tell if it’s a bump in the road or more of a brick wall.”
She sat back in her chair and folded her hands.
“I’m guessing from the look on your face that you want it to be the former?”
He moved his hand from Jack’s head and looked her in the eye.
“More than anything. I just don’t quite know how to make that happen.”
She smiled at him.
“Oh, that’s easy. What does she want more than anything, even if she hasn’t told you? Do that for her.”
He let out a bark of laughter, checked to make sure he hadn’t woken Jack up, and kept laughing more quietly.
“That’s easy? Good Lord, what’s hard to you?” He glanced back at Jack. “Oh.”
Now Abby laughed.
“I wasn’t even going to play the kid-with-cancer card, but you did it for me. Look, if you want to be with her, which from the look on your face you do, find a way to be with her. It’s really as simple as that, once you clear away everything else.”