Page 176 - In Five Years

Chapter Thirty-Three

Intraperitoneal chemotherapy and gardenias bring us into late November. The
former is a more invasive form of chemo, where a port through which drugs are
administrated is essentially sewn into the abdominal cavity. It’s more direct than

previous rounds, and it requires Bella to lie flat on her back during the
procedure. She’s nauseous constantly, and throws up violently. The gardenias
have somehow become our wedding flower—even though their life span is

approximately five and a half minutes.
I’m dealing with the flowers on the phone at work when Aldridge stops by
my office. I hang up on the florist with no explanation.

“I just got off an interesting phone call with Anya and Jordi,” he tells me. He
sits in one of my round gray chairs.
“Oh yeah?”

“I imagine you know what I’m going to say,” he says.
“I don’t.”

“Think about it.”
I rearrange a notepad and paperweight on my desk. “They don’t want to go
public.”
“Bingo. They’ve changed their minds.” He clasps his hands and sets them on

my desk. “I need to know if you’ve had any further contact with them.”
“I haven’t,” I say. Just that one dinner, in which I could feel Anya’s

resistance. “But to tell you the truth, I’m not altogether convinced going public
right now is the right move.”
“For who?” Aldridge asks.
“All of us,” I say. “I think the company, under their guidance, will grow

increasingly profitable. I think they will employ us now, because they trust us,