Page 25 of Somewhere With You

“And I can’t be there tomorrow. I called a car service to pick you up and take you.”

“Ok.”

“So that’s it… Ok? That’s all you got? That’s the best you can do?” Jack fumed.

Silent tears streamed down her face. “I’m sorry. Despite what you may think I really do wish I could be what it is you want me to be.”

“Yeah, well, the girl I thought I knew, she was always a fighter. Oh, how far the mighty have fallen. Your dad would be so proud.” It was a low blow, he knew. But what choice did she leave him?

She didn’t say anything else. Instead, she simply gathered her things and walked out the front door. And just like all the times before—Jack let her go. This time though, he knew exactly whom his inaction was benefiting. It’s always better to force ones hand where you could, and he knew that. It is, after all, hard to lose if you’re not given a say in the matter.

The following morning, Jack paced his apartment. He expected her… hell, he’d wanted her to walk out. But what he hadn’t planned for was what it was he would do once she did. Truth be told, he half expected that she’d come back, that she would change her mind. When she didn’t turn up, Jack felt anxious. He couldn’t let her go to that clinic alone, he realized. So when the car service he’d ordered showed up, he hitched a ride to the clinic. When he got there, he paced some more. No way could he go in that place. What would he say? He’d say that he was here, that he wasn’t a pussy, that’s what he’d say. He’d tell her that he didn’t agree with what she was doing but that he wasn’t going to leave her alone. That he held just as much responsibility for getting them there as she did.

Jack took a deep breath, opened the door, and scanned the waiting room. There was no sign of her.

“Can I help you?” a receptionist called from behind a glass window.

He looked from side to side. “Um…”

“Is there someone you’re here to see, young man? Is there something I can help you with?” the la

dy asked firmly.

“Yes. Amelie. Amelie Rose. I think she has an appointment today.”

“Is she expecting you?”

“Yes. I had to park the car,” Jack lied.

The woman peered at him over her glasses, nodded, and scanned a file on her desk. “They’ve already called her back. You’ll need to go through those doors over there. And to the right. The nurse will show you from there.”

Jack felt the blood drain from his face. He gripped the counter. “Is she… has she already…”

The receptionist seemed unfazed by his question as though this sort of thing happened to guys like him every day. “No. They’re just getting her worked up, now.”

Jack swallowed hard.

“You’ll hear the doors click as I buzz you in. Follow to the right.”

A nurse met Jack at the doors and motioned for him to follow her down a long hall. She finally stopped, opening the door to a tiny room, which was lit by blinding florescent lights. The nurse motioned for him to go in. Amelie was dressed in a gown, her head in her hands, sitting atop an exam table, centered in the middle of the room. Jack had never seen a more sterile place in all his life. Not even with all the time he spent with his mother in and out of the doctor’s offices and hospitals. This place was the worst of them all. At least with cancer there’s a chance, he thought. There was no chance in this place. What was done here, was done. It was final. This thought made Jack want to pick her up and carry her out right then and there.

She looked up then. “Jack.”

He noticed her eyes were swollen, like she’d been crying for a long, long time. “Please don’t cry,” he whispered, embracing her. “I’m here, now. And I’m so sorry,” he said, as he gently rubbed her back and felt her tears soak through his shirt.

“I don’t know what to say,” she finally said when the sobs had subsided.

“Sometimes there isn’t anything to say,” Jack said, after he pulled back and wiped the rims of her eyelids softly with the pads of his thumbs. He brushed the hair away from her eyes.

She searched his face. “Thank you for coming.”

Jack exhaled. “There’s no way I could’ve not come. I shouldn’t have pretended otherwise.”

A nurse interrupted then. “Sir, it’s time for us to take her back. You’ll have to wait in the waiting room. I’ll come and get you when we get her to recovery. It should be about forty-five minutes or so.”

Jack panicked. “I can’t go with her?”

The nurse glanced briefly at the chart then back at Jack. “No. I’m afraid not.”