Sara absently accepted the mug being offered to her, her attention too occupied on something else.
"What's going to happen to him?" She asked softly.
Catherine turned to see what had her so transfixed and smiled at Maverick chewing contentedly on a squeaky duck.
"Lindsey's always wanted a dog. She can walk him for you." She answered blithely. "She'll be delighted at the prospect."
"No," Sara corrected sombrely. "What's going to happen to him if I don't make it?"
Catherine stilled, her eyes seeking out Sara's face.
"You're going to be fine." She said, swallowing hard.
"You don't know that." Sara retorted calmly. For the first time, Catherine saw a flicker of something that until now Sara had been doing a good job of hiding. Despite all her bravado and stubbornness, she was afraid.
Placing her own drink down on the table, Cath dragged her friend into a tight hug.
"You're right, I don't." She mumbled against her ear. "But I have to believe it."
Pulling back, she saw that tears had started to creep down Sara's pale face and she wiped them away with the pad of her thumb.
"Will you keep him?"
"Sara..."
"Please?" Sara begged, seeking out the scruffy little dog again. "If I can't?"
Catherine sighed.
"Will you agree to stay here?" She bargained.
Sara looked back towards Maverick, whose ears had now pricked up and who was staring back at her with love-filled brown eyes.
"Okay." She agreed quietly.
"Alright. If you can't keep him, then we will." Catherine squeezed her arm gently.
"I'm scared." Sara confessed quietly, pinning her hands between her legs in an attempt to disguise the fact that they had started to shake.
"I know." Catherine exhaled, her eyes welling up despite her best efforts. "I'm scared, too. But that's precisely why you're here."
Sara looked at her, not quite understanding the declaration, causing Cath to offer a sad smile.
"It terrifies me to think about what you're going through, honey. I wish I could fight this for you, but I can't. You're the only person who can beat this thing, and you're going to fight it with everything you've got. That's all I want you to think about right now – I want you to put all your energy into getting better. Everything else, you leave to me."
"Everything else?" Sara questioned, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
"Your appointment schedule, your medication, making sure you eat, that you get enough rest. It's all in hand. I don't want you to have to worry about any of it."
"Cat..."
"No arguments." Catherine pressed a finger to her lips to silence her. "I can't heal you, and I can't take the pain and the fear away. But I can organise. I can mother – just let me do that, please?"
"You've got Lindsey..."
"Lindsey will be fine." She waved a hand dismissively. "When she finds out about Maverick, she'll never want you to leave."
Casting a glance at the clock sitting on the mantel, Catherine suddenly straightened up.
"Speaking of, I need to go pick her up. Are you going to be alright on your own for a little while?"
"I'll be fine." Sara smiled tightly, glancing around the place. She had been in Catherine's house before, but never unsupervised.
"Okay." Cath leant over and pecked her cheek lightly, before standing up. "I won't be too long. Just help yourself to whatever you want, okay?"
Sara nodded, although she knew that that was not going to happen. Somehow, she wouldn't feel comfortable snooping around a colleague's home in their absence, even with permission.
Instead, once Catherine had left, she sat forward and called Maverick. He scampered over, parking himself obediently at her feet.
"Well that's the last time I leave you in charge." She noted sarcastically, scratching his ears. "I was gone for a couple of hours and you get us evicted."
x X x
Lindsey spotted her mother's car in the crowded parking lot and headed over with a final wave to her friends.
However, as she got closer, she was surprised to find her mom was not sitting in the driver's seat waiting for her, but loitering at the front of it, seemingly lost in her thoughts.
"Mom?" She called, startling the woman.
"Hey," Catherine smiled brightly. "Good day?"
"I guess." Lindsey shrugged, opening the back door.
"Hey, hang on." Catherine pushed it shut again and took Lindsey's arm, tugging her closer. "Just come over here for a minute."
"What's wrong?" Lindsey asked knowingly.
"Nothing's wrong." Cath pursed her lips, guiding her daughter towards a nearby bench. "I just need to talk to you about something."
"Is it grandma?" The child guessed, continuing to appraise her mother warily as she sank onto the bench.
"No, it's nothing like that." Cath cleared her throat. "You know Sara, my friend from work?"
Lindsey nodded, a small frown settling on her face. This is not where she was expecting the conversation to start.
"Well, she's not very well at the moment." Catherine explained gently. "She has cancer."
She paused, giving the girl a moment to process this. At 12-years-old, she was smart enough to understand the seriousness of this, while still innocent enough to not fully understand the implications of it.
Lindsey stared hard at her for a few seconds, before glancing away.
"Is she going to die?"
It was asked in the kind of blunt way that only children can pose questions and Catherine recoiled instinctively at the words.
"No, honey. At least, I hope not." She amended, taking her hand. "Aunt Nancy's treating her at the hospital. But she's going to be quite unwell while the treatment takes place and she can't really care for herself at the moment. So, I thought it would be best if she came to stay with us for a while. Are you okay with that?"
Lindsey nodded, sinking her gaze into her lap.
"Is she going to lose her hair?"
Again, it was a blunt question, but she supposed that was the most striking symptom of cancer and it was probably the only way a child Lindsey's age would know how to identify a cancer patient.
"No, baby. She's not having that kind of treatment." Catherine explained. "But it is going to make her very tired. She's going to need a lot of rest and I'll have to spend a lot of time looking after her. Are you alright with that?"
Again, she nodded, seemingly nonplussed by the suggestion.
"Maybe I can help you look after her?" She asked earnestly and Catherine smiled at the sweet suggestion.
"Yeah, maybe." Cath nodded. "You know what you can do to help, if you want. Sara has a little dog, and he's going to be staying with us too – maybe you could look after him instead?"
This time, Lindsey's face lit up, all thoughts of cancer treatment and death momentarily forgotten.
"Yeah!" She agreed eagerly.
"Yeah? You'll have to walk him, and feed him and clean up after him..."
"I can do that." Lindsey nodded fervently. "What kind of dog is he?"
"Well, I don't know exactly. You'd have to ask Sara." Cath laughed softly. "He's a little terrier. He's called Maverick."
"Maverick." Lindsey turned the name over in her mouth, apparently trying to decide whether she liked it or not.
Satisfied that the girl was okay with the new arrangement, for the time being at least, Catherine nudged her.
"Okay, come on. We need to swing by the grocery store and pick up a few things for our new guests."
Lindsey hopped off the bench and set off towards the car.
"Can we have pizza tonight?" She asked optimistically.
"I suppose we can." Cath agreed, slinging an arm around her daughter's shoulders.
"And maybe a movie?"
"Sure." Catherine smiled, unlocking the car and opening the back door for Lindsey to climb in.
"You and Sara could have wine." She continued blithely.
"I don't think Sara's allowed alcohol with her medication."
"Oh." Lindsey frowned for a moment, but her expression quickly brightened again. "We could have wine?"