I Took a Late Night Driving Job and Found My Ex Waiting Chapter 10

I Took a Late Night Driving Job and Found My Ex Waiting Chapter 10

The first thing treatment did was take my hair—the hair I’d taken so long to grow back. I cried in bed, curled up, until Olivia walked in.

“Who’s this little beauty? Still gorgeous even bald?”

I stared at Olivia’s shaved head, stunned. “Liv?”

Olivia grabbed Nathan and pulled him in. “Check it out. Like the new look?”

I couldn’t believe it, both of them had shaved their heads.

Nathan’s buzz was prickly, nothing like Olivia’s.

“Trust me, a buzz cut is the way to go. You can wear any wig you want!” She dumped a pile of wigs on the bed—red, green, purple, blue, curly, straight. “Take your pick.”

I finally laughed. “You guys…”

But friendship couldn’t erase the pain of treatment. Olivia’s jokes stopped making me smile. Sometimes I could only force one to cheer her up.

No marrow match came. I coughed blood at night. Between the frantic beeping of machines, I finally broke down crying. “I want to stop… Please, just let me go… I’m begging you…”

“Emily, you’re delirious!” Olivia shouted from outside. “You have to keep going. We’re all here. You’re going to live to be a hundred…”

I didn’t know how I got through it. It happened again and again.

Sometimes I couldn’t tell if I was still in the hospital bed or if I’d already died.

In my dreams I sobbed, and when I woke, I was alone in a ward only staff could enter. Nathan was asleep on a bench outside, leaning against the glass.

This illness—in the final stages, you die alone. No family allowed inside. No one to hold your hand.

I stared at the white ceiling and smiled bitterly. That was why I’d wanted hospice. At least then I’d have human contact before the end. Even if it meant I wouldn’t live as long.

But I also understood Nathan. Understood Olivia. I closed my eyes.

What choice was truly best for everyone?