Opposite of Always(81)
“Franny? Crying? Hard to believe he cares enough about what I do to cry behind it.”
“Did you know he wrote you a hundred emails while you were locked up?”
He stares at me. “I never got a single one.”
“Because he never hit Send.”
“Why would he do that? Why would he write emails he never sent?”
“Because he was afraid you wouldn’t write back. I suppose not hearing from you at all was easier to take than reaching out to you and you not reaching back.”
“That’s stupid,” he says, but I can tell by the way he says stupid he doesn’t mean it.
“Did you know Franny chose basketball even though he’s better at football because he remembers growing up watching you play at the park?”
“He remembers that?”
“Franny still has this Post-it note from you. You probably don’t even remember it, but you scribbled a few words on a green note and stuck it onto Franny’s brown bag lunch before school. Franny still has it. It’s in his sock drawer.”
“No way.”
“It’s true. He brings it out when he thinks I’m not looking.”
And I know I’m betraying Franny all over again, revealing his deepest truths.
But sometimes you’re wrong for the right reasons.
Doctor, Doctor, Give Me the News
“What exactly are these injections, anyway?”
“Zinc-finger nucleases.”
“And she needs both injections?”
Dr. Sowunmi nods. “Without both, she’d eventually regress back to her original condition, yes.”
“I see.”
“Is that a problem, Jack? Kate receiving both doses?”
“No,” I say. “No problem.”
“Because it’s the third or fourth time you’ve brought it up. If you’re worried about payment, I’ve already told you that you’ll—”
“It’s not the money. It’s just that, you’re certain there’s no way to speed up the second injection?”
“Not without considerable risk, Jack.”
“You know this because you’ve tried it?”
“I haven’t tried it, no,” he admits. “But based on the research . . .”
I lean forward. “Doctor, whatever happened to leaving room for miracles?”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, science is obviously what you do here, right, but, like, don’t you need faith, too? Some hope?”
“Faith and hope play their part, certainly, Jack, but if you . . .” He stops himself. “Faith and hope are important, sure.”
“I have faith in you, Doc.”
Dr. Sowunmi studies me across his desk.
I press on. “So, you’ll take her on as a patient?”
“I’d like to meet her first. Get to know her before we even consider treatment.”
“Fair enough,” I tell him. “But let me warn you. If you get to know her, then you’re definitely going to treat her. There’s no way you know Kate and don’t want to help her.”
Dr. Sowunmi folds his hands across the front of his desk. “How long have you known Kate?”
Well, Doc, we’ve technically known each other for over a year now but at this moment in our history I’m a complete stranger to Kate because I seem to be caught in a time-traveling loop and rather than stick things out all over again, like the coward that I am, I opted to run the other way, so . . .
“Actually, we don’t exactly . . . uh, the thing is . . . it’s sort of a weird situation but . . . I mean it makes sense because sometimes you don’t have to actually know someone to know them, you know what I mean?”
“Jack, are you telling me that Kate has no idea who you are?”
“I wouldn’t say no idea. Not exactly.”
“Really,” the doctor says. “Then how would you describe your relationship with Kate?”
“Complicated.”
“Complicated,” Dr. Sowunmi repeats, smiling for the first time since I stepped into his office. “I wish I could tell you it gets easier when you’re older, but as a doctor I’ve sworn to do no harm.”
“Glad to know I’m not the only one who sucks at love.”
“So,” he says, his face already back to its take crap from no one expression. “If Kate doesn’t know you, how will you convince her to see me? And to let you, a stranger, pay for it?”
“I have a plan.”
No, I don’t.
But then I do have a plan.
Just remember, I never claimed it was a good plan.
“Hello, is this Mrs. Edwards?”
“Who’s calling?”
“My apologies. My name is . . . uh . . . Thurgood Marshall Thomas the second. I’m on the Whittier board of trustees. But we can get into all of my, uh, credentials later.”
“Is something wrong with Kate?”
“Huh? I mean, uh, how do you mean, Mrs. Edwards?”
“I know her grades have slipped a bit. She’s been in and out of the hospital more this past semester, but I can assure you she’s fully dedicated to her studies.”