Imagine That Read Online Free Page B

he carried the plate into the living room. “Chocolate chip.”
    Nate’s mother glanced up from her easy chair and smiled. Afternoon sunlight poured in from the window beside her, highlighting the wispy tufts of hair sticking up on her otherwise bald scalp. Rachel Cooper would be fifty in a couple of months, yet illness had taken its toll. Her cheekbones seemed to have sunk into her skull in the last few days, and her skin was paper-thin. Her gray eyes still sparkled though, even if there was pain she would never admit to hidden in their depths.
    â€œWho said something about cookies?”
    Nate’s fourteen-year-old brother, Zach, lolled into the living room. Lolling seemed to be the only speed his brother operated at these days. Nate knew if he dug up pictures of himself at fourteen it would be hard to tell the two apart. Another couple of months and he and Zach would be the same height.
    â€œHow was school today?” their mother asked.
    A partial lifting of shoulders was the teen’s only response. He flopped onto the couch, his book bag landing on the floor with a thump. A hand reached out for the plate of cookies.
    â€œThose are for mom,” Nate pointed out.
    â€œOh, Zach can have some,” she said.
    Zach didn’t need further invitation. He swooped in like a hawk dive bombing a mouse and snatched a cookie from the plate, scarfing it down in one bite. Then his eyes bugged out. “Bro, what did you put in these?”
    Nate frowned and took a bite, gagging himself. “ Ugh … too much salt.”
    The corners of his mother’s mouth pulled up. “Poor Nathan, baking may never be your strong suit.”
    â€œI must have misread the recipe,” he muttered.
    She patted his hand. “It was sweet of you, honey.”
    â€œI’ll buy some at the bakery when I get off tonight.”
    â€œOh, don’t worry,” she said, with a flick of her wrist. “I probably won’t be able to eat them anyway.”
    A giant fist squeezed his heart, and the gag reflex threatened to choke him again. He wanted to fling the plate of toxic cookies across the room. It wasn’t fair. His mother had struggled most of her life after his father walked out. She’d handled the burden without complaint, only to come up against an even more frightening and deadly adversary.
    Nate knew the roiling storm reflected in his kid brother’s eyes simmered in his own.
    Zach jumped up and grabbed his backpack. “I’m meeting the guys at the park.”
    â€œZach!” Nate’s bark brought the teenager to an abrupt halt.
    Zach returned to the chair and kissed his mother’s cheek. She squeezed his hand and whispered something in his ear. Zach nodded. As he walked away, Nate saw his brother swipe a fist across his cheeks.
    A second later the door slammed shut.
    â€œYou’re going to be all right, Nathan,” his mother said. “You’re both going to be all right.”
    Nate swallowed but couldn’t conjure up any comforting words to support his mother’s assertion. “I have to get back to my office. Anna’s out doing a little shopping. You’ll be okay on your own until then?”
    She smiled. The same one she’d given him when he’d been sick as a little boy. The one announcing everything would be fine. “Of course. It’s a pretty good day, all things considered.”
    Nate kissed the top of her head. He inhaled and recoiled at the unfamiliar smell that had invaded his mother’s body as surely as the malignant cells. Antiseptic had taken over lilies and cocoa butter.
    â€œI’ll see you later,” Nate whispered.
    â€œI’ll pray for you today,” she whispered back.
    ****
    Nate made a detour on his way back to the office. He pulled into the near-empty parking lot of Covington Falls Community Church. He stared at the stained-glass windows marching along the side, the aged brick and enormous,