“Because your brother started losing his hair today, and since I can’t trade places with him, it was all I could do. Should I have asked for your permission?” He stared at her, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him. He swore he saw affection in those cold eyes of hers. He must’ve been kidding himself.
“I want to hate you. I want to hate you more than anything.” She said frustration weighing heavy in her voice. She lifted her gaze and stared into his eyes. Her hand was still clutching the fabric of his shirt. He looked down at her hand and took it into his. Slowly he pried her fingers off of him, one by one. He let his hand linger on hers for a moment before dropping it to her side.
“Careful sweetheart, I might start to believe that you actually don’t hate me.” He forced himself to turn around and without another glance or a second thought he walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him. She drove him crazy, bottom line.
Chapter Twenty-One
The days began to roll into weeks. One week he’d be fine, the next he’d be weak and feeling the effects of the chemo. He was in and out of the hospital much to his dismay. He hated not being able to go home after a dose of the drugs, but his reaction was so severe it was in his best interest to stay in the hospital afterwards. He was scheduled for one more dose, and then the first round of chemotherapy would be complete. The doctors would run tests and see how well his body fought the cancer; from there they would determine if he in fact needed a second round.
Cara prayed to any God who would listen, that once the first round was done they’d see improvement. She wasn’t sure if Jake would be able to stand another round, and the worse part of it, was that the doctors already warned the family he would be admitted throughout the duration of the second bout. She feared being confined to a hospital would break his spirit or lessen his will to live.
Alone in her thoughts, she could admit she was falling apart at the seams. Her fun-loving Jake was too ill most of the time to be himself to enjoy life. The light that danced in his eyes was dim and it crushed her heart. Still, despite feeling like shit most of the time, he put a smile on every day and tried anything in his power to make her laugh. He was relentless in making sure she was happy and not letting life pass by her.
She wanted to do something for him, and have it be something he was passionate about. She knew that before he was sick he wanted to go into business with Luke in restoring motorcycles and that’s what sparked her idea. She grimaced as she pulled into Lanza Automotive, she had been trying to avoid Luke. She didn’t want to deal with rehashing why she was perturbed with him and knew that he was one not to let go of things. She reminded herself she needed Luke to help her execute her plan, and with Nick there as a buffer she’d get through it.
She got out of her car and padded towards the garage. She saw Nick bent over the engine of a car he was working on. “Hey Nick.” She said a little louder than usual, so he would be able to hear her over the radio that was blaring.
He looked over his shoulder and wiped his greasy hands down the front of his already stained white shirt. “Cara, what brings you by?” Concern etched his confused face. “Is Jake okay?”
She smiled, and swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. She didn’t blame him for asking, it was hard not to assume the worse when you were at the mercy of a disease.
“He’s fine. Deb is with him. I wanted to stop in before I went to work. Is Luke here?”
She said as she scanned the garage looking for him.
“He’s in the office. I’ll go get him for you.” He said as he scratched the top of his head. His hair was starting to grow in unlike Jake’s. She smiled sadly and motioned toward his head. “Are you going to let it grow out again?”
“No. I was waiting for Jake to come out of the hospital so he could shave it off for me again.” He winked at her. “I like it. It took some time to get used to, but the ladies love it.”
She laughed, shoving her hands into her pockets. Nick knocked twice on the office door.
“Luke, Cara’s here to see you.”
“Well to see the both of you.” She corrected and watched as Nick stepped closer, crossing his arms against his chest.
“My ears are all yours sweetie.” He winked at her as Luke opened the door to the office and stared at Cara.
“What’s wrong?”
She took a deep breath, it was useless, it would always be the first question anytime someone saw her, she concluded.
“Nothing is wrong.” She said and her eyes drifted between Nick and Luke. “I want to do something for Jake.” She pulled out a piece of paper from her pocketbook and extended it to them. Luke grabbed for it instantly, and unfolded the paper staring down at the drawing.
“Jake drew this?” He asked as he lifted his eyes from the paper and handed it to Nick.