The Summer Proposal

“No, because I was drinking lemon drops.”

“Shit, that’s right.” She chuckled. “That was sugar around the rim, not salt.”

“Can I ask you something, Mags?”

“Anything.”

“Do you think Max is in love with his ex?”

Maggie’s face scrunched up. “Where did that come from? You’ve never even mentioned an ex of his. Did he have a serious relationship recently?”

“No, not recently. He dated a woman for eighteen months, a couple of years back. But I’ve been trying to figure out why he wouldn’t give me a reason he didn’t want to try. The only thing that makes sense is that he didn’t want to hurt me. Sort of like you not telling me about him showing up at the office yesterday. When you care about someone, you don’t want to hurt them unnecessarily. So maybe he’s in love with someone else.”

Maggie frowned. “I’m not sure why he won’t be with you. But I do know one thing. He lost the best thing he’s ever had.”

My eyes welled up. “Thanks, Maggie.”

CHAPTER 28

* * *

Max

Ten years ago

“You boys have got to be kidding me.” My mother walked into the doctor’s office, took one look at me holding bloody tissues to my nose, and shook her head.

I pointed to Austin. “He started it.”

Austin looked at Mom with sick-kid puppy-dog eyes. “I don’t have the energy to start a fight.”

“Oh, honey.” Mom rubbed Austin’s back. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m the one with the bloody nose!”

Austin grinned at me from behind my mother’s back. Such a dick.

Dr. Wallace walked into the office, carrying a chart. “Sorry to keep you all waiting.”

Mom took the seat between Austin and me. We’d flown out to California a few days ago for a second opinion on Austin’s aneurysm. I’d tagged along to keep Austin company, even though Mom had taken over managing things after I’d finally got him to tell her what was going on.

“Thank you for seeing us on such short notice, Dr. Wallace,” Mom said.

“Of course.” He sat down behind his desk. “Why don’t we get right into it, since you’ve come all this way, and I’ve already kept you waiting. I reviewed the files your doctor in Boston sent over, along with the scan taken last month and the one you took just this morning.” Dr. Wallace looked directly at my brother. “I’m afraid I agree with Dr. Jasper’s findings, son. That aneurysm should come out.”

My brother frowned. “What happens if I don’t want to have surgery?”

Dr. Wallace opened his drawer and took out what looked like a straw with something dangling from it. He smiled. “Excuse the low-tech demonstration. I find the minute I take out an iPad and start showing actual anatomy, patients get overwhelmed. Sometimes old-school simplicity works best. I get these straws from McDonald’s. They’re nice and thick, so it’s easy to thread my balloon through.” He held the straw horizontally, with a small piece of red latex dangling from a tear in the middle. He pointed to it. “This is the artery leading up to your heart.” He pointed to the latex peeking out. “This is an aneurysm.” He held one end of the straw closed and brought the other end to his mouth. “My breath is our blood flowing.” When he blew into the straw, the small piece of balloon sticking out of the slit began to grow. He pinched off the air when it was the size of a raisin. “This is normal blood flowing through. But here’s what happens when you start moving around and raise your blood pressure.” He blew into the straw with more pressure, and the balloon grew to the size of a golf ball. “Eventually, this balloon gets stretched too thin, and it can pop. Then you’re left with nothing plugging the hole, and blood leaks into the surrounding space of your heart chambers. I’m not trying to scare you, but if it bursts on its own, it’s messy, and your chances are not nearly as good as if we remove it cleanly.”

“Will it definitely burst?”

“That we can’t say for sure. Some people walk around their entire life not ever knowing they even have an aneurysm. Much of it depends on the size and how fast it’s growing. If yours was small, I might advise you to wait. But yours is not. It’s very large. And in the month since you had that initial scan, it’s gotten bigger, son.”

Austin looked at Mom. “How big was Dad’s?”

She frowned. “I don’t know.”

He looked at the doctor again. “How long is the recovery?”

“You’d be in the hospital a few days. Most people can resume regular activities within four to six weeks, but it takes two to three months to fully recover.”

Austin took a deep breath. “What are the risks?”

“The biggest ones are bleeding and infection. There’s always a small risk when you go under anesthesia, but for someone in good health and your age, the risk is pretty minimal these days. We do a lot of these surgeries.”