Yes, Sweetheart

Chapter 12

No.

"What?!"

My screech was loud enough to draw Levi's eyes from the road briefly.

Josh's head snapped back into the backseat as he muttered an 'ow-what-the-hell'.

"Kari?"

A sigh on the other end.

"The doctor said so far it's just on my arm, they're going to try to just remove it since it's not entirely internal."

"Ok, alright. Well, I mean, that's good, right?"

"Yes, I'm hoping it is. The doctor said it could be metastasizing, but I'm going to beat that shit. No one's got time for that."

That startled a weak chuckle out of me.

"Alright. I believe you."

"You're at that beach house with the boys, right? Ooh, are you going to the beach?"

"Right now, actually."

"Good, you enjoy that! I'll talk to you later, ok? Bye, Aria!"

I tried to say goodbye, but she hung up.

As soon as the phone lay disconnected in my hand, I burst into tears.

There was no way, there couldn't be. They doctors must have mixed up the sample with someone else's, they must be wrong, it can't be metastasizing, it -

"Hey, Aria, stop. Take a breath, ok?"

Hands covered my own.

Levi.

His face dipped into view as he lowered his head to meet my eyes, his tangled curls falling into his face.

It was blurry, and I pulled my hands up to rub the tears out of them.

No. It couldn't be true.

"It's....well, she, just - "

"Stop."

Levi rested one hand on my thigh.

"Tell me later. Just pull yourself together first."

I sucked in a ragged breath, looking around. For the first time, I could see that the car was parked on the edge of the beach. Josh was sitting in the backseat, and raised an eyebrow at me.

"What's wrong?"

Josh stiffly questioned me, arms crossed. It didn't seem as though he meant it, though he had made it this far without, say, jumping out of the car.

"Kari, she....well, she has a spot on her arm."

"Ok?"

"The doctor says it's cancer. It's back. And it, well, it could be metastasizing, he doesn't really know, he isn't sure but Kari's being very strong about it but I - "

I shook my head. I was still processing, and it was hard to think about without having a meltdown.

Both brothers were silent. There were no words for something like this.

The hand on my thigh tightened, and I met Levi's eyes.

They were shining, looking a bit wet like mine.

"Kari can beat it. You know how strong she is, she's likely to be done with it by the time we're back home."

His words comforted me somewhat, because I was aware how much Kari would keep a clear head in order to beat the cancer.