I sat on a steel cot looking straight ahead of me. White ceiling, white walls, white floors, Brooke would say she needed to make it over. But she wasn't here. Only Nathan was here with me, but he wasn't in my room. My hands started to shake because I knew this wasn't normal. The door slowly creaked open and there my husband stood with his I-have-to-pretend-everything-is-ok half grin.
"Hey babe. What's news?" I asked him hopefully.
"Well they need to take you for some more tests, but you'll be fine, it's just procedure."
"What did they find?" I asked him and his half grin fell to non-existence.
"Nothing, sweetie. It's just a routine checkup."
"This isn't routine, Nate."
"I know."
"So tell me what they found." Silence. "Please Nathan. I'm going to find out soon anyway. Please just be the one to tell me."
"They found a lump." Silence. "It's nothing too serious, they don't think, but they need to make sure."
"Hence the tests." I said as a tear slid down my cheek.
"Yeah. Hales, don't cry. I'm sure it's nothing. They'll run some tests, we'll go out to a movie, they'll call in a few days to say nothing's wrong and we'll celebrate." He said, climbing onto the uncomfortable cot with me.
"Okay. Okay, it'll be ok."
"Okay."
"Can we not tell our friends?"
"We don't have to do anything you won't want to." He said, kissing my forehead.