Page 12 of Before the Storm
Josie said it so matter-of-factly that Tara initially thought it was a joke. But the silence Josie let form afterward made it clear. This was not a drill.
“Oh, Josie.”
“I’ve been through the wringer,” Josie said. “Chemo and radiation. But there’s nothing left to do. It’s over.”
Josie was dying.
Tears filled Tara’s eyes, and her throat was thick with phlegm.It’s impossible. This isn’t happening. It’s a dream.But it wasn’t a dream. It was really happening.
Her sister was dying at forty-five years old.
“It’s cervical cancer,” Josie explained. “They said I have anywhere from three to six months.”
“But these doctors,” Tara sputtered, “do they really know for sure? I mean, there has to be something else they can do. Don’t they usually say to get a second opinion?”
“They’re at NYU Hospital,” Josie said. “I’m pretty sure they know what they’re talking about.”
“Nobody knows what they’re talking about,” Tara insisted. Already, she was on the stairs, speeding up to her bedroom to get her suitcase and fill it up. “Josie, come on. They always say to get a second opinion. There are always more people to talk to.”
Josie’s breathing sounded ragged. “I just wanted to call and tell you.”
“I’m coming to Manhattan tomorrow,” Tara shot back. “I’m bringing you back to Nantucket. We have a brilliant cancer research facility here. And a top surgeon moved here just this year from Atlanta. Bethany Sutton? Maybe you’ve read about her?”
“I’m not well-versed in surgeons,” Josie joked. “But I always thought we needed more women surgeons. So that’s a good thing, I guess. For the future of women. For the future of womankind.” Josie laughed to herself.
Tara was already throwing sweaters into her bag. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been to the city, but she knew it was violently cold in the wintertime. There was no reprieve from that wind. Layers were the only answer.
“I’m leaving tomorrow,” Tara insisted. “I’m coming to get you.”
“But what about the Christmas Festival?” Josie’s voice was small. “You’ve planned that thing every year since 2001.”
“Like I said, it plans itself,” Tara insisted. “And I have a few assistants who can take over.”
Usually, Tara didn’t trust her assistants to do much more than carry things from one place to another. But in her heart of hearts, Tara knew they were more than capable. They’d been waiting for Tara to give them a reason to show her what they could do.
“I won’t let you go through this by yourself,” Tara insisted.
Josie groaned. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll let you come visit me. But I reserve the right to send you away whenever I feel like it. You can’t just barge into my house like you did back in 2001.”
Tara felt the words like a knife through her stomach. We were best friends.Are we strangers now?
She wasn’t sure.
But right now, she felt just as Josie had back in 2001—ready to leap in her car, save her sister, and bring her back to Nantucket.
Chapter Four
July 2002
Nantucket Island
It wasn’t hard to find Tara at the Nantucket Harbor. Despite the crowds and the Fourth of July chaos, the stalls and parade floats, and the hundred-piece marching band, Tara was the only person there who was a little more than nine months pregnant. Everyone around her gave her a wide berth as she barked orders, adjusted her bright red dress over her stomach, and tried to maintain order at this year’s Nantucket Fourth of July Festival. Why Tara had agreed to plan the Fourth of July Festival was beyond Josie. Everyone knew Tara was about to be a mother. But Tara was unstoppable. She was too excited about her event planning career. She wanted to go full-speed ahead.
Josie ambled toward Tara, her arms full of decorations and supplies for the stalls, and felt a sharp spike of pain on her shoulders and neck. Despite the heat and the sterling-blue sky, Josie had been too busy to remember sunscreen. She was goingto pay for this. But when Tara spotted her and flashed her that big smile, pain evaporated from Josie’s mind, and she threw the supplies on a big table and hurried to hug her sister.
“Tell me how to help you,” Josie ordered.
Tara laughed. “Can you give birth to my baby, please?”
