Toa's actions slowed when he talked, so Paige was determined to keep him talking. "What makes thisgigso sweet?"
"Are you kidding me?" He gave her an incredulous look. "He's got his own office already. Only two years after finishing PT school. And he only sees six to eight patients a day?" He motioned to her with both hands. "Plus, he gets to work one on one with sexy women like you."
Paige's skin crawled, and once again she hated Gabe for standing her up.
"Do you work in the same office as Gabe in Pasco?"
"Only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He works the early shift, and I work the late one, but our afternoons overlap. I also work in the Richland office on Mondays and Fridays."
That explains why he's able to be here in Providence on a Wednesday.
"Gabe and I went to PT school together." His voice grew critical as he continued. "Talk about an over-achiever. He always got near perfect scores and raised the curve for all of us. He made those grueling three years look easy, but some of us actually had a social life."
Paige assumed Gabe was either very intelligent or hard-working. Knowing how good he was at his job and that he spent his weekends helping his mom and sister, she had a feeling he was both.
Toa continued to talk as they worked their way through her exercises, frequently speaking negatively about Gabe and other therapists in the offices where he worked and always painting himself as either a victim or a hero. Recognizing him for the narcissist he was, Paige did her best to tune him out.
Her irritation with the substitute physical therapist grew each timehe tried to change her exercises to a more "challenging version that would make her stronger."
She didn’t hesitate to give him a piece of her mind when the new exercises hurt her. Finally, deciding she'd had enough, she told Toa she needed to use the restroom.
Just before stepping into the dressing room, she looked at the clock then at Toa. "Lap swim will be starting soon, so I won't bother coming back out. And I have a dentist appointment, so I don't have time for you to work on me."
It was a lie, but she was glad she’d fibbed when a look of disappointment crossed his face.
And boy, was she going to give Gabe a piece of her mind on Friday.
CHAPTER 9
"What do you mean it's inoperable?" Gabe pitched forward in his chair, itching to crawl across Dr. Sumner's desk and wrap his hands around the man's neck until he changed his diagnosis. He felt betrayed by the man he'd known and trusted for over a decade.
"I'm sorry. I know this is difficult to hear." The oncologist's gaze shifted to Gabe's mom who sat between him and Grace. Except for the slight quiver of her bottom lip, her face was stoic. "Marisol, you know I hate to be the bearer of this kind of news. But your pancreas is riddled with tumors. As well as?—"
"Then remove the pancreas and give her insulin injections." Gabe's voice was sharper than he intended, but he didn't care. The news they'd waited on pins and needles for all week was unacceptable.
"It's not that easy. Your mother also has sizable tumors in her right lung, stomach, and liver." His voice turned even more serious. "It's in her lymph nodes, Gabe."
Tightness seized Gabe's chest as his stomach turned to lead. Each beat of his heart thudded in his ears, sounding slow and sluggish. He struggled to find his voice around the sudden thickness in his throat. "How soon can she start…chemo?"
The words felt like sandpaper on his tongue. He hated the thought of his mom going through that again. The nausea and vomiting, the sleeping all day, being unable to care for herself because she was too weak. But she'd have to in order to beat this.
And he'd do whatever was necessary to take care of her and Grace. Just like he did last time. He'd move home, even though it would add thirty minutes to his commute. He'd hire a maid and a chef, if need be. Not that Mom would be able to keep anything down.
"No chemo." Mom's words were quiet but filled with determination.
Gabe reeled back as though she'd struck him. His eyes burned. "Mom, it's the only way?—"
"She has stage-four pancreatic cancer, Gabe." Dr. Sumner's blunt words packed a powerful punch right to Gabe's gut, stealing his breath and making him want to vomit. "Chemotherapy wouldn't be effective. It would only make her weaker and more miserable."
Gabe shook his head so violently it started to pound. He couldn't accept that answer. There had to be something they could do.
I can't lose my mom.
He pounded his fist on Dr. Sumner's desk. "How did this happen? It's only been eight months since her last set of scans. They were clear. How did this get so advanced in such a short period of time?"
"Gabe, that's enough." Mom put a hand on his arm.
He would have considered her grip firm if he couldn't feel the tremor in her hand. Letting out a heavy sigh, he slumped back in his seat. As terrifying as this was for him and Grace, it was much worse for his mom, and his anger and denial weren't helping. He rotated his wrist and clasped her hand in his.
