I put my fist together to cheer, but the look on his face shows me that he isn’t celebrating. “So what’s the bad news?”
“The bad news is that the insurance company totally shot it down. It’s still in the clinical trial phase, according to them, even if it’s FDA approved.”
“There is no way they can afford that,” I tell him, and he just nods his head.
“I’m going to check with the foundation,” I say. “We can’t just not give her the drug even if we don’t have the money to save her.” I shake my head and feel someone near me. I don’t have to look up because his smell surrounds me.
“Jack is going to visit Evie,” he says, and I turn to look at him, and his blue eyes are a bit darker now.
“Okay,” I tell him and watch him walk away.
“Are we going to have to discuss this?” Steve says, and I turn to look at him.
“What do you mean?” I ask him, and he raises his eyebrows at me. “Nothing to say,” I tell him and then look back down at the charts before he reads whatever is in my eyes.
I get my phone out and send an email to Karrie and Allison, asking for the fund details from our foundation. I follow up on a couple of patients who are in remission as they start their cancer-free lives. When I look up at the clock, it’s almost three o’clock.
“I just checked Jack again; he’s back to normal,” Mallory tells me. “He’s in with Evie.”
When I walk to Evie’s room, I find Shirley sitting with the kids as Zack and Janet sit talking to each other.
“Dr. Denise, we are watching Trolls,” Jack says while he sits next to Evie, who has an IV in her arm and a little hat on. “Evie doesn’t feel well, so we can’t move a lot,” Jack whispers.
“I promise not to move Evie,” I say. “Mallory told me that you are good to go home,” I tell Jack and then turn to Zack.
“That sounds great,” Zack says and then he looks at Jack. “Why don’t we let Evie have some time …” He doesn’t finish because Evie sits up as a man comes in the door.
“Daddy,” she says, and he just walks to her and bends down to hold her in his arms as he quietly sobs. I watch them, stepping away from the bed, and feel a hand around my shoulder. I know it’s Zack. We watch Janet go to them, and the three of them hug, then her brother joins them. Shirley leans over and grabs Jack, bringing him to us.
“We should give them some privacy,” Zack says, and Shirley walks out. Jack and I follow, his arms still around me.
“What do you want to eat for dinner, Jack?” Shirley asks him, and he looks at her with a huge smile.
“SPAGHETTI!” he yells, and we all kind of groan.
Shirley puts him down on the bed, and Zack turns to me. “What time do you finish?”
“Now,” I tell him.
“Good, then you can come home with us,” Zack says and looks at Jack. “Denise is coming to our house for dinner.”
“Yeah,” Jack says, “it’s a party.” He giggles, and it fills my heart. I turn to look at Zack, who smiles also, and I know at this moment I’m more gone than even I knew.
Chapter Eighteen
Zack
I sat there talking to Janet and listening to her story. It broke my heart. She hasn’t seen her husband in over a month, and the insurance company is almost ready to pull the plug on all payments for treatment, basically calling it a lost cause.
It was all too much to take in, then looking over to see Jack look at Evie and them talk about the needles that they get. They are fucking five and six; they should be getting scrapes on their knees, they should be falling while running for the bus, not this.
When Evie’s father finally came in the room, everything came to light. I have a son who has cancer, who I will fight for with every single breath that I have, and I really, really like his doctor. Like a lot. The rest will work itself out.
I didn’t give Denise a chance to cop out of dinner, so I made sure to tell Jack. It was a low blow probably, but guess what? I didn’t give a shit anymore.
“Do you have to call the car service?” my mother asks while she puts on Jack’s shirt.
“No, I bought a truck, and they delivered it about an hour ago,”
I tell them, and Denise looks at me.
“You’ve been here all day,” she says.
“Yes, and I have a phone and internet, and you would be surprised what you can do.” I smirk at her as she rolls her eyes.