“Come see, come see,” Nurse Maria called, signaling to me as she lifted her phone.
She’d been filming the whole thing.
I stepped inside and froze.
***
In the clip, one by one, they popped into the room.
Coach Daniels bent down and bowed dramatically. Lily clapped, her thin hands trembling, her eyes shining in a way I hadn’t seen in months.
“You did all this?” I asked Aaron quietly.
He shrugged. “I’ve been asking around for a couple of weeks. Everyone said yes. They just wanted me to go first.”
I turned to Diane. Her arms had dropped to her sides, and tears were streaming down her face.
“I couldn’t say it on the phone,” she whispered. “I tried. I just kept thinking, look what your son did, and I couldn’t finish the sentence.”
Coach Daniels bent down.
“Diane,” I said, moving closer to my friend.
“I’ve been so jealous of him, Rachel. I sit there, I can’t do anything, and he just walks in, and she’s lively again.”
I pulled her into my arms right there in the doorway. She sobbed into my shoulder, and I held on tighter.
“We’re not rivals,” I said. “We’re in this together.”
***
Six weeks later, Lily’s scans came back, and a miracle had happened: the treatment was working!