“Of course, that’s fine. Just not if one of them is sick, okay? Otherwise, there are no restrictions. Doing the things and seeing the people that make you happy are important.”
There was a brief silence, and Lauren waited for additional questions.
“I have one,” Mrs. Bishop said. “Can Andrew…um, that is…is it safe for him to, you know,” she lowered her voice. “Be with a woman? Intimately?”
The sudden eruption in the room was startling.
“Oh my gosh, Mom.”
“Did you really just ask that?”
The only sound from Jeni was the slap of her hand across her mouth.
“Mom!” Andrew was the loudest. His face flushed beet red.
Lauren told herself to stay calm, despite the fact that thinking about Andrew and sex sent her heart into a dangerous rhythm. She was a professional, and she’d been here before. “It’s common to ask about sex during chemotherapy—”
Andrew cut her off. “Do not answer that question. Please.”
“Andrew, I wasn’t born yesterday,” his mother protested. “You’ve been with Caroline for months now, and you need to kno—”
“No, I don’t.”
“Andrew…”
“Stop.”
“It’s completely natural—”
“Caroline and I broke up, okay?”
Four sharp gasps told Lauren this was something Andrew hadn’t yet told them.
“You did?”
“When?”
“What happened?”
“If she dumped you because of this, I’m gonna punch her in the ovaries.” Jeni’s jaw was clenched, her eyes positively murderous.
“Can we talk about this later?” Andrew bit out. “All that matters right now is that we don’t need to talk about sex while I’m on chemo. Okay?” He turned pleading eyes on Lauren. “Can we move on?”
“Sure, um…I’m all done, if there are no other questions.”
Mrs. Bishop crossed her arms.
The two sisters standing against the wall watched Andrew.
Jeni stared straight ahead, not looking at anything in particular, hands fisted tightly in her lap.
Andrew was the only one looking at Lauren. His eyes scanned her face and stopped at her mouth for a second before returning to her eyes. “I’m good. Thank you, this was helpful. It’s nice to know what to expect.” He smiled then, a wide, beautiful smile that exposed straight white teeth and transformed his face into something even more glorious than before. Which was really saying something.
Lauren couldn’t look away. Without conscious thought, she felt her own lips widening to return the smile, like a flower might stretch its petals open to the sunlight.
“Yes, thank you, Lauren,” Mrs. Bishop’s voice broke in.
Lauren shifted her gaze. “You’re very welcome.” She stood, careful to look anywhere but at a smiling Andrew. “I’ll send Kiara in, and she’ll walk you out.”