“I know it’s been hard,” Alix breathed. “Today was good news though, wasn’t it?”
She expected Ross to break into a smile and giddy laughter, but his face remained neutral. Guarded. Careful. He’d never been a serious person before, but the summer had re-shaped him. Remodeled him into the version of him she thought she’d always like better. It was painful to find that she didn’t. She didn’t at all. She’d much rather be with the Ross who poked fun at her, who once cut off one of her braids just because Chance had cut off the other. Who bugged her unmercifully. Who was vile and sometimes vulgar, who made her the brunt of jokes. She missed that Ross, the Ross who gave Chance a run for his money where being an annoying, asshole big brother was concerned.
“I hope so.” Ross scrubbed at his face again and when he pulled his hand away, he looked even more exhausted. “I just- it came back once before. She’s not out of the woods yet. I feel like cancer is like what they say about addictions. It’s always there, even when you’re not drinking or whatever.”
“She’ll have to go for regular checks all the time?”
“Yeah. Her life isn’t ever going to be the same. It wasn’t after last time either. That’s why they were able to diagnose this so fast. If it was anyone else, they probably would have passed it off as something else and sent her home and told her to take some OTC medication and some chicken noodle soup.”
Alix winced. She had her vitamins and the can of soup sitting on the kitchen counter at the moment. It felt silly now. All of it. She had no idea why she’d ever told Ross to come over.
“I- well- if you want to shower… if not, I’ll make up the guest bed. You can sleep for as long as you want here. You look like you need it. No, you do need it.”
“Thanks. You’re making me think I should sniff myself again.”
“Did you ever think that your mom sent you over here so you’d get out of the house and have a break for an afternoon, not because you’re really fevered or sick?”
“I sent myself over here. She was protesting the whole time.”
“My guess is that she gave in pretty quickly without too much of the whole normal motherly protesting that she would have done.” Alix stepped closer before she knew what she was doing. She reached up and swept her hand over Ross’s forehead. Her knuckles came away warm, but not overly hot. “You said she said that you were burning up?”
“Something like that…” His voice was off. Strained. There was something in it that she’d never heard before. It made her lungs burn and her breath felt like a wrecking ball in her throat.
“I think she wanted you to go have a day for yourself. She’s your mom. All she has to do is look at you to see that you’re not holding up well. Even a good night’s rest would probably satisfy.”
Ross huffed out another ragged sigh. “You’re right.” He glanced around the small entrance to the house, like he felt out of place for the first time in his life there. Like he didn’t quite know what to do with himself. Or her. Or any of it. “So- the unicorn bath bombs? Do you have any?”
“No.” Alix let out a gasp of laughter, and even that felt good in the suddenly strained, charged silence. “I do have the regular kind though. Just purple fizzy ones. They smell like lavender.”
“What the hell is that? Who would want to smell like a dog?”
“A dog? You think lavender is a breed of dog?” This time the laughter, when it came, bubbled up and exploded from her throat. “It’s a flower, you dork.”
“Well, how should I know?”
“You’re a billionaire now, Ross.”
He almost grimaced. “What does that have to do with it? It’s not like my tastes became magically high class overnight. I took a gamble on stocks. It paid off. It doesn’t change who I am and that I don’t go around sniffing flowers or dogs and I’ve never purchased women’s perfume or any type of bath product in my life.”
“Right. Well, okay. I’ll get the bath set up, the sheets changed, and I’ll bake those cupcakes. Because you look like you could use one. I’ll give you the spa day that most women could only dream of.”
Ross couldn’t help himself. He grinned and it was the old, smirking, beautiful grin that she knew and remembered and loved so much because it belonged to him. She let out a sigh of relief. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed seeing it, but it was like the sun coming out to shine on her after days and days and days of endless rain.