Made To Love You - Megan Smith Page 0,1

to smile but it doesn’t work. I can’t find my words either so I just nod.

The receptionist jots down a room number and hands it to us with a smile. “I’ll buzz you through the doors, go straight down the hall to the next set of double doors and then make a right and the elevators are right there.”

“Thank you.”

We follow her directions, step into the elevator, press the number six and then Cooper pulls me to him. I wrap my arms around his waist, rest my forehead against his chest and take a deep breath. The smell of sex is still lingering on his skin mixed with his cologne. It’s amazing how these two smells calm me. No matter what curveball life throws at me I know without a doubt that Cooper will be there to catch me.

“It’s your mom,” Cooper softly whispers.

All the air rushes from my lungs and it’s difficult to take a breath. I should have stayed with her tonight, I should have been the one who took her home but I wanted to stay with Cooper. I’m so damn selfish, great daughter you are, Jay. “I guess she still wasn’t feeling any better,” I swear. “I knew I should have forced her to go back to the doctor. She probably has pneumonia or something now.”

“Babe, it’s not your fault,” Cooper consoles me.

I rest my cheek against his chest listening to his heartbeat. “She still had that nasty cough causing her to keep having terrible headaches. She hasn’t been eating all that well either.” The elevator door dings and the doors open. “I noticed last night at dinner how much weight she’d lost.”

Cooper and I walk down the hall hand in hand. “I noticed it too but I thought it was just because I don’t see her all that often with being gone all the time.” We turn left and spot Hunter leaning up against the wall outside of a room. His ankles are crossed, head down, and he’s drumming his fingers against the railing. He must hear our footsteps because he turns his head in our direction.

The anger he has towards me is long gone and in its place is hurt and worry. A little knot in the pit of my stomach is forming as we stop in front of him. Hunter refuses to look at me, instead, looking at Cooper.

“Mom’s in there.” He nods with his head towards the door. “But, uh…before you go in we need to talk about what’s going on with her.”

Cooper pulls me in front of him, protecting me, or maybe even forcing Hunter to talk to me and not to him.

“What the hell is going on?” I demand.

Cooper locks his hands around me like a seatbelt protecting me from an impact.

My brother’s eyes that are normally so bright and so full of life are darker now as he looks at me. The pain that I’m met with causes that knot in my stomach to intensify and suddenly every muscle in by body is strung so tight.

“Mom’s sick, Jay.” He blinks and turns his head. He doesn’t say anything for another minute then he clears his throat and lays it out for me. “She’s got cancer.”

Cooper’s arms tighten around me or maybe it’s him catching me as my knees buckle. My eyes close, a sweat breaks out over my body, and I start to shake. I feel Cooper kiss the side of my head. “I’m so sorry,” he murmurs.

I open my eyes, looking at my brother who is wiping his eyes with the back of his hands. “Hunter,” I call his name hoping he’ll look at me.

His arms drop to his side and his shoulders slump in defeat. I take a step forward gauging his reaction before I wrap my arms around him. It’s sad really that this is what our relationship has become. Thankfully, he doesn’t try to push me away so I hold on a little tighter. I need the security of my big brother more than anything in this moment and he needs mine even if he’s disappointed in me. Hunter wraps his arms around me, tightly, and together we allow ourselves to cry and comfort each other and let all of our other problems take a backseat to be, I’m sure, resurrected another day.

Our mother, who raised us to be the people we are today, now has cancer. We don’t exactly know the details just yet but cancer is one hell of a thing to battle