“Yeah, I’ll make sure of it, and believe me, this won’t happen again. I’m sorry for the mix-up.”

She nodded. “No biggie. It might only be cancer,” she teased, but he didn’t laugh and that made her more nervous.

“We will see. I’ll see you Monday.”

“Okay,” she agreed before saying goodbye and hanging up the phone. Sitting on the barstool, tears gathered in her eyes. Her body felt like it was tingling everywhere and she couldn’t catch her breath. Things had been looking so good, and like she thought it would…

The other shoe dropped.

Her hand was shaking as she reached for the phone to call Karson. Wiping away a tear that had rolled down her cheek, she bit into her lip as she waited for him to answer the phone. It took a second, but it felt like eternity. Finally, he answered, and when he did, she knew something was wrong.

“Hey,” he said in almost a whisper. “Hold on.”

“Okay?”

She paused as she waited for him and finally he said, “Hey, sorry, I’m at the hospital.”

“Why?” she said, panic lacing her voice. “Are you okay?”

“Did you not watch the game?”

“No, only the first period. My dad wouldn’t let me do anything but listen to their crap. But that doesn’t matter, are you okay?”

“Yeah, baby, I’m fine, I promise.”

“Okay, then why are you there?” she asked, her heart slowing down a little bit.

“JT shattered his leg in the game tonight,” he said sadly and her heart dropped.

“Oh no, is he going to be okay?”

“They aren’t sure if he’ll play again, but he will walk. It’s bad though. He’s laid up right now, stoned out of his mind.”

“Oh my God, what happened?”

Karson explained the play and how it was one of the scariest things he had ever seen. Lacey’s heart broke not only for JT but also for Karson. He was understandably upset; the guy was an asshole, but he was Karson’s asshole. And, she guessed, hers as well. “He was trying to hold in his pain, but man, Lacey, his leg was laying a whole different way. It was bad.”

“That’s so scary,” she cried and she almost laughed. Who would have thought that she would be crying over Jordie Thomas? When she met him a month ago, she would have never thought this moment would come, but it had. Jordie was family. “Are you okay?”

“I’m shaken up. Worried about him and I’m dog-tired, but yeah, I’m okay. Hearing your voice makes it better.”

She smiled and knew she couldn’t tell him about her appointment. He was already worried about his friend; she couldn’t add her own issue on top of that. Especially when it was probably nothing. She was fine. It wasn’t cancer, and there was no reason to have her husband worked up over nothing. She’d have Rachel go and everything would be okay.

No reason to worry at all.

But when Monday came and Lacey sat on the little bench in Dr. Bellows’s office, she was bursting at the seams with worry. After a weekend of ultimate hell trying to think where the cancer could be because she didn’t feel any different, she was basically freaking the hell out. She spent most of Saturday self-diagnosing herself and then Sunday debunking her diagnosis. Some people really needed to stay off WebMD, and Lacey was one of them.

Every time she talked to Karson, she wanted to tell him, but he was so worried about his friend. JT had surgery, but then they flew him back to Nashville for another one while the guys headed to Arizona. Because he was so worried about JT and then playing well, she hadn’t told him, even though she knew she should have. Hell, she wished she had, and now she sat in the doctor’s office with Rachel driving her insane.

“This is nerve-racking,” Rachel said for the hundredth time.

Lacey nodded. “Yeah, you’re not making it any better,” she said with a forgiving smile.

Rachel giggled nervously. “Sorry.”

“No biggie He’ll be in soon, no big deal.”

“It kinda is. Like, why isn’t Karson here?”

Lacey bit the inside of her cheek before taking in a deep breath. “He has a game tomorrow and his friend is hurt. He has a lot going on.”

“But you’re his wife, you trump everything.”

“I know,” she said, not wanting to admit that she hadn’t told him. “But there was no reason to get worked up. There is nothing wrong.”

“If there was nothing wrong, we wouldn’t be here,” she muttered and Lacey glared.

“Thank you, Captain Obvious. If you don’t want to be here, you can leave,” she snapped, but it was all her nerves. She didn’t mean to be so brusque, but Rachel was stressing her the hell out.

“I’m sorry. I’m just worried,” she said, not meeting Lacey’s gaze.

“I am too,” she whispered, tears gathering in her eyes. When her phone signaled a text, she hit the screen to see it was Karson.

Karson: Busy?

Lacey: Yeah, I’ll call you in a bit.

Karson: Okay, I love you.

Her lip wobbled as the tears streamed down her face. She didn’t want to have cancer again. No one did, she knew that, but she had so much to live for. She just got Karson back. She didn’t want to lose him and put him through that kind of pain. Biting into her lip and reminding herself that she was just fine, she wrote him back.

Lacey: I love you more.