“I know. And I’m going to need a friend. I hope it doesn’t bring up a lot of sadness for you.”
She sat back and looked at me. “Lots of things bring back the sadness. I can’t avoid it. But I’m not trying to avoid it either. If I try to forget the pain, then I have to forget Derek, and that’s not going to happen.”
I nodded as what she said made sense.
“What can I do?” Emma asked.
“I need to make plans for when I’m in treatment.”
“I’ll help with the kids. I can take and pick up from school.”
I smiled because she was such a wonderful friend. “Brayden can probably take them.”
“Will he be taking a leave from work?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think he can leave all together.” I worked to not resent him for that. The business was his creation. It would be unfair of me to expect him to walk away completely.
“I suppose as the owner, that would be hard. I hope he’ll get some time off though.”
“He’s working on that today.”
“Good.” She pulled out a pen and notepad from her purse. “So, the kids’ school is decided. Meal times. You know you can order meal kits that all you have to do is heat them. They’re prepared.”
“You mean like frozen food?” I prided myself on being a good mom, including serving my kids healthy, homemade foods. The idea of giving them processed food revolted me.
“Not really. It’s like those meal kits you can get but these are already chopped and mixed. You just have to cook. Or you can hire someone to prepare meals for you.”
I wondered if Brayden would be okay with paying for that. We were financially well-off. We lived below our means. But the ghost of poverty always haunted him, and he was very nearly a miser.
“I just want to make sure everything is healthy,” I said.
“Of course.” She looked up at me. “What sort of treatment are you having?”
“Chemo to start. My oncologist is hoping to shrink the tumor so he won’t have to take too much of the breast during surgery.”
“You’ll need someone to help you through that. Take you to appointments and care for you after. If you need me, maybe Brayden is working, I can help.”
“I hate to put that on you—”
“Hey! You’re my friend. I want to be there for you.”
I wiped a tear. “Thank you.”
“Of course. In a few months or a year, we’ll be back here and all that will be behind us.”
I couldn’t imagine how she could say that. Her husband never got better. My mother never got better.
“I hope so.”
“Terra, you can’t hope so. You have to believe it. A big part of healing is attitude.” She frowned. “Has your doctor suggested that treatment won’t work?”
“No. He seems to be optimistic, but I need to be prepared for the worse. You know that. I need to get my house in order.”
She watched me and I almost felt like she was disappointed in me. “You can’t give up or give in.”
“Sometimes it doesn’t matter how much you fight.” I fiddled with the knife on my table wishing our food was there so I could legitimately put my focus elsewhere.
“It always matters. I would have lost Derek sooner had he not fought. I suspect you’d have lost your mother sooner too.”