Halfway to forever by Karen Kingsbury

gaze fell for a
moment. "The judge thought we needed a jury outside of Benson for a fair trial."
"Pretty big news to keep to yourself."
"Yeah." Tanner looked up again, his eyes narrowed as though
his heart was a million miles away. "I've had a lot on my mind."
There was a moment of silence between them and in the distant
background they heard the ringing of the office phone. Matt
softened his tone. "How's it going, really?"
"Good." Tanner shrugged. "I'm praying we get the right verdict
the first time around. Maybe we can skip the appeals process
if I can make a strong enough argument."
"Tanner." Matt blinked. "I'm not talking about the case." He
hesitated. "How are things with jade? You never talk about her.
Hannah and I are desperate to help, but we don't know how"
Tanner pushed back from his desk and leaned deep into his
chair. "She's fine. The doctor increased her medication, and she
has a full-time nurse in case she has another seizure."
Matt's 'mind raced, trying to make sense of everything his
friend was saying. "The tumor's grown, is that what happened?
That's why they had to increase her medication?"
"Yes." The look on Tanner's face was almost angry. "It's growing,
okay. But we're handling it just fine. Jade's nurse is taking care
of everything."
"Okay..." Frustration built in Matt and he leaned forward,
resting his forearms on Tanner's desk. He'd never seen his friend
so cold and shallow. It was like someone else had taken over
Tanner Eastman's body. "So bite my head off, why don't you?"
For a moment Tanner looked like he might snap back, but instead he exhaled long and slow, his shoulders
slumping in the process. "I'm sorry." He rotated his chair so he faced the window,
I50
H A L F W A Y T O F 0 R E V E R
back to Matt. His voice was hard to hear over the traffic nine
ties down. "You don't deserve that."
Matt sat straight again and studied his friend's back. "No. And
u don't deserve a sick wife, but that's where you're at. All I'm
g is, Hannah and I want to help."
Tanner was motionless for a while. Then without turning
~ound he began to speak, his voice quiet and broken. "It's hard
r her to have visitors. She's... she's slower than before. Her
peech, the way she walks...."
Matt's heart broke as Tanner turned around once more and eir eyes connected. Tanner's were dry, but only
because the fear
his face was stronger than the pain. Matt clenched his jaw and
took his head. "I'm sorry."
Tanner nodded. "The doctor says she should be back to normal once the baby's born and they can remove
the tumor. But for slow...
Their eyes held for a moment, and Matt didn't know what to say. No wonder he didn't talk about it much.