Chapter 19
About an hour later, Olivia was on her way home from the
clinic. The treatment had gone fine,
only lasting a few seconds. What had
taken so long was the preparation. Dr.
Avery had gone over her brain scans and had technicians shave away a small
patch of her dark, curly hair at the base of her skull. Then he had used a special marking pen to
draw little dots and lines on the bare part of her scalp that were used to make
sure the radiation hit the right spot.
Now that she had gotten that done, it would not need to be done
again for awhile, and her future treatments would just take a few minutes. She had scheduled appointments three times a
week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Today was a Friday, so she wouldn’t have to go back for another two
days.
When Olivia got home, her mother had baked her some cookies, just
like she had done in the days she had been a stay at home mom, when Olivia was
in elementary school.
As Olivia sat down at the kitchen table with a plate of cookies
and a glass of milk, she suddenly felt overcome with a mix of emotions. She felt happy and sad at the same
time. It was simple acts of kindness
like this that made life so wonderful.
“I love you, Mom,” Olivia said suddenly, feeling as if she could
burst into tears at any moment.
Melinda Caisson turned around and smiled sadly at her
daughter. “I love you too, baby,” she
replied.
As Melinda came over and wrapped her in a tight hug, Olivia could
not hold it in any longer. She began to
cry in her mother’s arms.
***
That evening, after her parents had turned in for the night,
Olivia wandered outside. Too tired to
take a late night walk down the beach, she plopped herself down in the sand,
just like she had done the night she had met Nick.
She smiled sadly as she remembered that night, only weeks
earlier. She and Nick had talked for
hours and shared all kinds of things with each other. She had been so happy then. She had no idea her tumor had come back.
Olivia longed to be happy like that again. She wished she could be sitting there with
Nick, staring up at the starry night sky or out at the waves of the ocean,
sparkling in the moonlight. But she was
all alone.
***
Nick glanced out his window to see a figure walking down to the
beach at the house next door. The
person carried a flashlight, and it gave off just enough light for him to be
able to see that it was Olivia.
Smiling, he got up and headed out to his porch, slowly walking
down to the beach, where she was sitting, staring thoughtfully out into the
ocean.
“Hey, Liv,” he said, sitting down beside
her. “What’s up?”
Olivia jumped at his presence.
“You scared me,” she said.
“Sorry,” he apologized.
“Whatcha doing out here?”
She shrugged. “Just
thinking.”
He nodded. “This is a
great place to think. I do it a
lot.” Olivia nodded in agreement. “Do you want me to leave you alone now?” Nick
asked, realizing how distant she was acting.
“No,” she replied. “I
don’t mind having you here.”
“Okay,” he said. “So… you
had your first radiation thing today?”
“Yeah.”
“How did that go?”
“Fine.”
“That’s good.”
They lapsed into silence.
Nick could tell Olivia didn’t really feel like talking about it. So he didn’t push her. Instead, he gently put an arm around her
shoulders and pulled her closer to him.
Her whole body felt tense at first, but slowly she began to relax
and cuddle up against him. Nick ran his
fingers through her hair and down towards her neck.
“Stop,” Olivia cried suddenly, pulling away.
“What? I was just-“
“I… I don’t want you to do that,” Olivia said, looking
uncomfortable.
Nick was confused. “Why
not?” he asked. She didn’t answer right
away. “Liv?”
Sighing, Olivia turned her head so that her face was away from
him, reached her hands back, and lifted up her hair. That’s when he saw it, the small bald spot
on the back of her head. The small
circle of pale skin contrasted from her dark hair, making it obvious when she
had her hair up.
“Is that from the radiation?” he asked. She nodded.
“Is it sore or something?”
“No. It’s fine.”
“Then why didn’t you want me to do that?” he asked.
“I… I just didn’t want you to notice it. I thought maybe you’d be grossed out.”
“Grossed out? Why?? It’s just a little spot. It’s not even noticeable when your hair’s
down.”
“Cause it reminds you that I’m diseased,” she said bitterly.
“Olivia, that’s not true.
You’re not ‘diseased’. You have
a medical condition. That’s perfectly
acceptable. I mean, I have a condition
too, and that didn’t bother you,” he said, referring to his depression, which
he had once been embarrassed to talk about with her.
Olivia gave him a small smile.
“You’re a great person, Nick,” she said softly.
Nick just smiled back and put his arm around her again.
***
