Sweet Iced Tea

Chapter 32

Thursday, October 23rd

"Hold still. It will only take a minute." One of the nurses says calmly, after they help Josh settle into the CT scan's bed. I say bed. It looks more like a plank.
This has to be the strangest room in the entire place, and that is saying a lot. The whole building is filled with blindingly white-walled rooms, the place is filled with brightly colored and extremely detailed posters of tumors and all things cancer related. 
In this room, however, there is a very large machine, the CT scan. It looks like a big white donut with a bench set to slide into it. 
"How is it?" I ask, trying to break the nervous and chilly atmosphere of the room.
He gives me a thumbs up before the nurse stands back and he slides slowly into the donut shaped thing, red light patterns sweeping over him as he goes further in. 
I gulp. I hate it when he goes into a place where I can't see him. My heart starts to pound, and I grip the arm of my chair hard, digging my fingernails into the rough, scratchy, material.
Joshua's dad puts his arm around my shoulder. "Relax, Leah darlin'. He'll be out soon."
I nod and struggle to regulate my breathing, clenching and unclenching my fists in a rhythm of torturous, unreasonable fear. Breathe in. Out. In. Out. 
I can hear the doctors chattering at their computer screen, deep in a debate, complete with words foreign to my uneducated ears.
I watch in deep concentration as the bed slides back out, and he swings his legs over the side, then walks toward me and Mr Hart, smiling cheerfully.
"You okay, Agapé?" he helps me to my feet and plants a kiss on my temple.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Are you okay?" I search his eyes earnestly, fighting back a dizzy spell from getting up too fast.
"Perfect." 
"When will the doctor tell us about it?" Mr Hart asks as we walk along.
"He didn't say. I'm going to guess they will when they come to a conclusion."
Mr Hart nods slowly, chewing the inside of his cheek thoughtfully.
"How long will that take?" I query, dodging a nurse carrying a clipboard who almost walks right into me, "Just a guess?"
He shrugs. "Probably later today." 
We walk down the hallway and step into the waiting room. 
After we got to Tulsa, we didn't stay the night in the clinic. They just gave him a checkup and sent us on to our hotel, so we don't have our own room to wait in. Instead, we sit in this waiting room with a mother and her two little girls. They look like identical twins, same blond hair, big hazel eyes, button noses. The only difference is their hair. One's hair is long, the other's is barely long enough to cover her ears.
I sit down and smile at them, waving gently.
The short haired one waves back, smiling in a very friendly way, then whispers something into her mother's ear. Pulling out of the arms that hold her, she smiles at us again and skips over, her ruffly green dress fluttering.
"Hi," I say.
"Hi," I'm surprised that she is so friendly. There isn't the slightest bit of shyness in her demeanor.
"What's your name?" I lean forward and prop my elbows on my knees, then rest my chin in my hands.
"I'm Riley. That's Macy." she points back to her sister, then looks back to me with questioning eyes. "What's your name?"
"I'm Leah, and this is Josh." he turns around when I say his name.
"What?" He glances between us. "Oh. Hi. So dad-" he goes back to talking to his dad about something.
"Why are you here?" She sits down in the chair next to mine, swinging her legs off the end.
"They think that Josh might be really sick." I say it as calmly as possible. Breathe in. Out. In. Out. "Why are you here?"
"Oh. I'm here for a checkup, so the doctors can see that it isn't coming back." She swings her legs harder. "I used to have cancer."
"I see." 
"But now it's gone, so we have to come here for a checkup."
"Oh really?" Her mother sends me an apologetic glance, but I just smile at her. "It's fine." I mouth.
My phone starts to ring, the sound of my mom's ringtone blasting through the small room.
I pull it out and slide my finger across the screen to unlock it.
"Hi Mom."
"Hi sweetie. How are things?"
"Pretty good, I guess. He just got out of the scan, so now we're waiting for news." I pause. "How are things at home?"
"Fine. I think Cora has enjoyed helping Luke take care of the horses. She is always talking about them." Thinking about Hunter makes me want to go home. "We're going to be coming up tomorrow, to stay for a while."
"Okay." 
"Bailey is coming too, so you won't be lonely."
"I'm not lonely." I chuckle.
"I miss you."
"I miss you too."
"Well-" she pauses, and I can hear someone yelling in the background. "I'll call you tonight, Grace just slapped your brother. Bye, baby girl."
"Bye," I look down at my phone, but she's already hung up.