A Million Reasons Why by Jessica Strawser

Author:Jessica Strawser [Strawser, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

* * *

Caroline handed her a glass of water—full, cool to the touch—and Sela held it between her shaky hands. She’d managed to move, with Caroline’s help, to the small basement couch and sat now in the cool, humid quiet with her sister, who’d shooed the children up the stairs, saying Sela needed only space, some air, though of course she had no idea what Sela needed, seemed even more baffled than her children were. How many ounces did this glass hold? Sela would retain it all, yet her mouth had gone sandpaper dry. She took a small sip.

“Sela? Talk to me. What is it?”

“I’m all right,” she managed. Another small sip. “Just got a bit short of breath.”

“Short of breath?” Caroline looked worried. Walt appeared behind her, phone in hand, and the bolt of terror that he was about to call an ambulance forced Sela straighter against the couch cushion, though her body cried out to double over, to curl up.

To disappear.

She tried to smile. “Turns out Captain Miss America … maybe can’t scale … half flights of stairs … like a runway.” Another small sip. Good God, this was mortifying.

“But Sela, I have to tell you…” Caroline turned to Walt. “She says she’s short of breath.” It wasn’t a question, but she was searching his face for some confirmation. He nodded once, brusquely, and her gaze swung back to Caroline. “My dad, I mean, our—he had a heart attack last month. Shortness of breath was his main complaint. If you’re saying the same we need to take it seriously. There’s family history.”

Sela shook her head. “I’m not having,” she gasped, “a heart attack.”

“I know it sounds unlikely at our age, but this isn’t normal. Look at you—you’re gray. You look as if you’ve run a marathon.”

How to explain that it was normal, without really explaining it? “She’s right, Sela,” Walt cut in. “If not the hospital, we at least have to go to urgent care.”

Sela looked from one to the other. Their faces did not change.

Up to this point, she could almost honestly claim that the subject of her health just hadn’t come up. That she hadn’t lied by omission; she merely hadn’t gotten around to explaining yet. But not telling them now would be deceit. If she was going to remain in their lives, this would come to light eventually, and what then?

What had been her plan, anyway—beyond the short term of surviving this weekend, testing the waters?

She hadn’t had one.

“No, we don’t,” she said softly. She took the deepest breath she could manage, steeling herself. “I already know what’s wrong.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.