“June,” Neenee called.
June broke away from me.
“Group two for the win,” I rasped, fist held out.
“Group two for the win,” she said back and bumped my fist. I cupped her face and kissed her lips, then watched her walk to the doc’s room with her mama and daddy flanking her side.
“You wanna sit?” Emma said and patted the seat between her and Chris on the couch. I shook my head. My body was a live wire, waiting for June to be told what all of us in this room had.
“She’s got this, you know?” Chris said, but I didn’t look to my friend. I kept my eyes locked on that door, hearing nothing but white noise as I stayed suspended in time, ready for when my girl came back through.
I didn’t know how many minutes had passed when June left the office and came down the hallway. I held my breath, heartbeat slamming in my ears. But then she turned my way, and a euphoric smile etched on her lips. I didn’t wait for her to enter the room. Instead, I ran right into the hallway and picked her up. I held her tightly, her feet dangling off the floor. “It’s working?” I asked, pulling back enough to see her face.
“It’s working,” she repeated, and I kissed her.
I kissed her and kissed her until Mr. Scott jokingly pulled us apart. But June’s parents’ smiles were huge. Relieved.
The treatment was working. We were going to get through this. And I had my Junebug by my side. Life was only getting better. And it was going to be cancer free.
When the chapter ended, goose bumps had broken out all over my body. June’s arm was still linked with mine, but by her sudden stillness, it was clear she knew I’d finished.
“You’re so talented,” I said, and gently closed the notebook.
June exhaled, then said, “I want that to happen for us all. I want Dr. Duncan to give us all that news.”
“You’ve written it,” I said, “so itmusthappen. Right?” My voice held humor, but I wished for it too.
June smirked. “I’m not sure it quite works like that, Jesse.”
“You never know. Your pen might have special powers, a direct line to God or the universe.”
June rolled her eyes.
“Keep going,” I said, dropping my teasing. “I want to know what happens next.”
“You do?” June asked. She clearly didn’t understand her talent if she had to ask that.
I was hooked. I covered her hand with mine. “Show me our future, Junebug. ’Cause it looks kinda amazing from where I’m sitting.”
“Okay,” she said, relief in every breath. She cuddled in beside me.
The countdown was on for those results she’d written about. I stared up at the stars and replayed her words over and over in my head, trying to feel that joy that I’d felt as I read that we’d all responded to the treatment and our cancer had stopped spreading.
June laid her head on my chest, listening to my heartbeat. If it all worked out like we wished, she would be listening to my heartbeat, just like this, for many, many years to come.
It sounded like heaven.
CHAPTER 10
June
A few weeks later…
“You’ve already finished?” Chris asked, mouth agape.“Impossible!”
“Guess that’s the perk of being a nerd, huh, Chris?” Emma said sassily, and I laughed as Chris batted her hand to shoo her away. It looked like he and Jesse still had several pages of the assignment to go.
As I passed Jesse, he held out his hand and took hold of mine. “Come here, bookworm.” Jesse pulled me in and tilted his head up for a kiss. Our lips pressed together and only Emma pulling me away by my other hand broke me from Jesse’s mouth.
