“I was about to start college, but it was really hard. I was angry at the world. My aunt and uncle did so much for me, helped me get through that and through my first year of college.”
He gave her a long look, his lips thinning. “If both your parents died of cancer, do you worry…about yourself?”
Chapter 12
He watched Hayden’s face. “Yes,” she said. “I mean, I did.” She dropped her gaze to her hands briefly. “Truthfully? I was terrified. But I’ve had genetic testing to see if I’m carrying the BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations.”
“Fuck,” he muttered, rubbing his face.
Thinking about Hayden having cancer…Christ.
“Both my parents had the testing done too, after their diagnoses. They wanted it done for me.”
“How did them having the testing done help you?”
“If they had the mutation, then they could pass it on to me. My mother did, but not my father. So when I was tested and I was negative, we knew it was an unequivocal negative.”
He swallowed. “So that’s good.” Relief loosened muscles that had suddenly become tense. His gut still felt tight.
“Yeah. It was actually an amazing gift. I was a bit of a mess after they died, but knowing that at least put that fear to rest. My risk of cancer isn’t much different than the general population. I do the things we should all do—I don’t smoke, I eat healthy, I use sunscreen. I work out…well, I haven’t lately. I’ve just been so busy. But I used to go to the gym before work a few times a week. I need to get back to that.”
“Right.” He pulled in a long breath. He could tell from the way she talked about her parents and the trips they’d taken that she loved them. That fucking sucked, to lose her parents at such a young age.
Unlike him, who’d lost his parents even though they were still alive.
“My brother died.” He closed his eyes briefly. Did he really just say that? He never talked about his brother.
“Oh no.” She covered the hand that was holding hers with her other one. “How?”
“In a skateboarding accident.”
“Oh my God.”
“Yeah. It was a stupid thing. He’d gone to this old stadium that was being torn down. He was with some friends. They wanted to skate down the ramps…really long, concrete ramps. He just got going so fast, he lost control and crashed. He had a massive head injury.”
“Oh no.” Her fingers tightened on his. “Oh, Beck. How old was he?”
“He was fourteen. I was twelve.”
“That’s awful.” Her voice quivered with emotion.
“Yeah. It was.” For so very many reasons, which he was not going to get into. He wasn’t sure why he’d even told her that. Maybe her story about losing her parents had made him want to share that he’d lost someone too. Aidan was probably the last person he’d cared about. Until he’d become friends with Marco and Cade.
Normally he’d make a joke about something, to cover up how much he still missed Aidan, but right now he had nothin’.
Hayden’s doorbell rang and they both lifted their heads. Their eyes met. He smiled and gave her hand one last squeeze, then rose off the couch. “Sounds like the food’s here.”
He paid the delivery kid with cash, throwing in a good tip, while Hayden carried the bag of food into her kitchen. He joined her there a moment later.
“Everything we need.” She handed him a pair of chopsticks. “Even extra hot sauce.”
He arranged his fingers and expertly waggled the chopsticks. “That’s good,” he said. “I like it hot and spicy.”
She grinned and gave him his bowl. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
The flutter of her eyelashes revealed her reaction. Heh. He liked getting a reaction out of her.
They sat on her couch and dug into their meals, eating in companionable silence for a few moments. The song playing from her speakers was “Break on Me.” “You like Keith Urban?”
“Who?”
He grinned. “He’s singing this song. He’s a great guitar player.”
“Oh! I don’t really know much about music.”
“Where’d you get the playlist?”
She shrugged and picked up a shrimp. “It’s a streaming music website. They suggested it.”
“Oh man.” He heaved a dramatic sigh. “More things we need to educate you on.”
She popped the shrimp in her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “You’re an expert on music?”
“I like music.” He lifted one shoulder. “My parents made me take piano lessons when I was a kid.”