Dr. Wang spreads his hands apart. “We were wrong. She’s had a remarkable response to the chemotherapy.”
My head is buzzing. I reach out to touch the scar on the right side of my scalp. My souvenir. “So what does this mean?” I ask.
“It means,” Dr. Wang says, “your cancer is currently in remission.”
Everything he says after that is a blur. He’s going to have the pathologist review the slides to see if they over-called my diagnosis. Maybe I was never stage four after all. If that’s true, I could have a major lawsuit on my hands. But I don’t care about any of that. I only care about one thing.
I’m not dying. I’m okay.
I can finally get my life back.
_____
We had already given Camila the evening off, so I cook dinner tonight. Nothing too fancy—just some spaghetti with tomato sauce. But while I’ve got it on the stove, Graham comes down to the kitchen and frets over me. Helooks down at the burner and frowns.
“Are you sure it’s safe for you to do that?” he asks.
I stick out my tongue at him. “I can handle boiling some pasta, Graham.”
But he still looks worried. “I better stick around.”
I keep the spaghetti in the boiling water for ten minutes. As I stir it with a spoon, I hum softly to myself. I can’t believe what Dr. Wang told me today.I’m not dying.It’s like I’ve been given a gift.
Maybe I should take a cooking class. I’ve always wanted to become a better cook. There would have been no point if I only had six months left to live, but now…
The options are mind-blowing. I could do anything.
Except for some reason, all I can think about is Harry Finch. Even though he’s long gone from my life. It somehow doesn’t feel that way. Now that I’ve got a new lease on life, he’s the one I want to spend it with. But that’s crazy. I haven’t seen Harry in years. He’s almost certainly moved on.
After ten minutes, I remove a single strand of spaghetti from the water. I throw it against the wall to see if it sticks. That’s a trick my mother taught me before she got sick. I’m going to use her spaghetti trick, but I’m not going to end up like her after all. Thank God.
“Two plates of spaghetti, coming right up!” I announce.
Graham smiles at me. “It looks delicious. I’ll get us drinks.”
I douse the spaghetti in a healthy amount of red sauce with big clumps of tomato. Okay, I’m not exactly JuliaChild. But there’s time to learn. There’s time for everything now.
I bring the two plates of food out to the dining table. Graham follows a minute later with two glasses of water. After the doctor’s appointment, he changed into jeans and a T-shirt, and I can’t help but think that my husband is pretty attractive. I can see why I might have fallen in love with him, even though I can’t technically remember it.
And now we get to spend the rest of our lives together like a real couple. I can make up for all the time he had to spend taking care of me and dealing with my business.
“How about candles?” I suggest.
Graham laughs. “Wow, you are in a really good mood.”
But he indulges me by getting out a pair of candlesticks from one of the drawers. We light them and then dim the overhead chandelier in the dining area. I love the atmosphere and the way Graham’s handsome face looks flickering in the candlelight.
“So what do you think of the spaghetti?” I ask him.
He twirls a few strands around on his fork and pops them in his mouth. “Delicious. Like in a restaurant.”
I giggle. It’s a sound I haven’t made in a long time. “I was thinking maybe I could take some cooking lessons.”
“Sounds good. I approve.”
I take a gulp of my water, then stuff more spaghetti in my mouth. I don’t know what it is, but this is the best meal I’ve had in years. Graham looks across the table at me, an unreadable expression on his face.
“Maybe we should do some traveling now?” I say.
