Page 135 - In Five Years

I turn to him. His eyes are focused below us. I wonder what he’s thinking, if
he sees Bella the way I do.
“What do you love about her?” I ask him. “Will you tell me?”
He smiles immediately. He doesn’t lift his eyes. “Her warmth,” he says.

“She’s so damn warm. Do you know what I mean?”
“I do,” I say.

“She’s beautiful, obviously.”
“Boring,” I say.
He smiles. “Stubborn, too. I think you guys have that in common.”
I laugh. “You’re probably not wrong.”

“And she’s spontaneous in the way people aren’t anymore. She lives for
now.”

A ping of recognition in my chest. I look to Aaron. His eyebrows are knit. He
looks, all at once, like it’s just occurred to him, what that really means. The
possibility ahead. Ding ding ding. And then I realize it’s my cell phone that’s

ringing. It’s been in my hand, vibrating and tolling.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Kohan, it’s Dr. Shaw’s associate, Dr. Jeffries. He wanted me to call and

give you an update.”
My breath holds. The air stills. From somewhere in the distance, Aaron takes
my hand.

“We’re going to take a biopsy of her colon and abdominal tissue. But
everything is going according to plan. We still have a few hours ahead of us, but
he wanted you to know so far so good.”

“Thank you,” I manage. “Thank you.”
“I’m going to get back now,” he says, and hangs up.
I look to Aaron. I see it there, the love in his eyes. It mirrors mine.

“He said it’s going according to plan.”
He exhales, drops my hand. “We should get back,” he says.
“Yeah.”

We reverse the process. Elevator, door, street. When we get to the lobby of
the hospital, someone calls my name: “Dannie!”
I turn to see David jogging toward us.