Page 87 of Fall Fake-Out

Once we get into town, it’s a short drive to the doctor’s office. The clinic looks exactly like every small-town Vermont building: a little worn, red brick, and permanently stuck in 1998 when it was first built.

Inside, Pam Vasser, the receptionist, looks up and immediately lights up when she sees us. “Well, if this isn’t fortuitous. Linda Tolman told me this morning that you two caused quite a stir at the mayor’s birthday party last night. She said you’re an item, but I didn’t believe her. I mean, I saw you at church, but still. I thought she was spouting fun rumors like she always does.”

“Yep, here we are.” Wade smiles back at her while I’m actively falling apart next to him. He grabs my fingers, swinging our joined hands back and forth in front of the desk. “And you can tell Linda we’re not just a fun rumor. We are officially boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“Hi,” I cut in, sick of this small talk. “I need to be seen. Urgently.”

Pam’s attention shifts to me, slower than I’d like. “I bet everything feels urgent with Landrie’s wedding coming up so fast. We just got the invitation in the mail the other day. They make the most handsome couple.”

“I need a doctor.” My words come out a little too quickly, annoyed that, even on my deathbed, I have to talk about my sister’s wedding.

“Well, then.” She straightens, typing slowly. Painfully slowly. I think she’s doing it on purpose. If I were Landrie, she’d have a stretcher out here by now. “What seems to be the issue?”

I hesitate. Wade is right here. Two other moms are in the waiting room with their small children.

I lean in. “Um…there’s blood…in my…stools.” I roll my shoulders back, pretending like saying it out loud doesn’t embarrass me. “Quite a bit of it.”

Her expression shifts just enough to count. “Okay. Have a seat. I’ll let the doctor know.”

Wade sits beside me in the waiting room, far too calm. “You’re going to be fine.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I feel like I’d know if you were actively dying.”

“You’re not a doctor.”

“No, but I’m observant.”

“That’s not comforting. Not even a little bit.”

When the nurse calls my name, I practically bolt, following her down a long hallway, leaving Wade back in the waiting room. The exam room is small and too bright. She gets my vitals and a brief explanation about why I’m here then says she’ll let the doctor know I’m ready.

Ready for what?

Death?

Because that’s not true.

I’m in a downward trend in life, moving back home and⁠—

My train of thought halts because, since I’ve moved home, life hasn’t been as bad as I anticipated. I think about my students. My friends. This town that’s like its own side character in my life. I think about Wade and our fake-dating arrangement that’s actually been kind of fun. And somehow, things don’t seem so bad after all. I feel like my life is trending upward.

And that’s when death gets you.

Right when things are looking up.

A knock on the door, and then Daryl Harper steps in. I forgot that Rosie and Emma’s dad worked at the doctor’s office.

“Hello, Ari.” He smiles like this is a backyard picnic.

“Hi.” I try to sit like a normal person, but the paper on the table crinkles every time I move.

“How’s your family? Everyone excited for the big wedding coming up?”

I close my eyes briefly. “Yes.”

“I think the whole town’s excited about that one.”