Free Feel Like Makin' Love (Rock and Roll Trilogy #3) by Barbara Stewart Page A

said with a weak smile.
     
    ~ ~ ~
     
    Matthew and Andy went to the café to get coffee while Geni went to the solarium and made a few calls. She cancelled the flights Carlee and Matthew had made to go home for Christmas. She called Kimmy, to ask her to let the rest of the family know what was happening. She called Thomas and Brian… and she cried. When she figured the guys would be on their way back, she heard Carlee’s words in her mind, I can’t even think of any of this, can’t process any of it, if you can’t be strong with me! She darted in the restroom, washed her face, and touched up her make-up. When she came out they were waiting with the coffee.
    The nurse went to the solarium and told them they could return to the room.
    They came an hour later to take her for the CT scan and MRI.
     

 
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
     
    She was out of the room at lunch , and Andy knew she’d be hungry when she came back. He also felt the need for a diversion; his mind was racing, and he needed time to be alone to think. “I’m gonna run out and find us something to eat,” he said and headed for the door. Geni got the impression that he needed to be alone for a bit and didn’t offer to join him.
    “He’s struggling, I can see it,” Matthew said.
    “He’s scared.”
    “I am too, Mom.”
    Car lee was back in the room when Andy returned. “There’s a deli across the street. I got sandwiches: salami, ham and Swiss, and there are two turkeys and a roast beef,” he said handing her the bag. She looked in, took the sandwich she wanted, and passed the bag to Geni.
    “Thanks , Papa!” she unwrapped the sandwich and took a big bite. “Oh, soooo good!” She was wiping her mouth as a man in a white coat knocked.
    “Dr. Mark Lincoln,” he said, “I’m the neurologist. May I come in?”
    “Sure,” Carlee said, “just finishing some lunch.” She introduced everyone and asked, “Let’s just get to it. I kinda just want to know what’s going on so that I can figure out how we go forward.”
    The doctor smiled at her cut -to-the-chase tactic. “Well then, there is, in fact, a mass that we need to explore. The good news is that it’s localized; that’s really good,” he said with a smile. “Also good is that it has very clear, definite borders, most likely non-cancerous, but we can’t say for certain until we go in.”
    “Surgery…” Carlee said.
    “Yes. It’s most likely a meningioma. Sometimes we just monitor these tumors, but the location of this one is most likely why movement caused the severe nausea, and the fact that it can grow and press against the brain means it needs to come out. You’ve already had a nasty experience with it. We don’t want any more of that.”
    “I see,” Carlee said as the others looked on. “So we operate to remove it, then what?”
    “We send it for pathology and then figure out what next.”
    “And exactly what does the surgery involve?” she asked.
    Andy was watching her intently. Geni wasn’t sure he was breathing, and she was watching him to make sure he was OK. Matthew sat beside Carlee holding her hand, and she had a strong grip, showing him her fear. But her courage in that fear amazed him.
    “Because of its location, we will have to go in through the top of your head – a craniotomy. We will have to shave a place on your head to allow us clear access to where we need to go in.” He ran his fingers around an area on the top of her head to show her. “We’ll leave as much hair as we can, and then we’ll cut out an area of bone to be able to get in there.”
    Geni was amazed at the poise and strength Carlee displayed. She was still watching Andy out of the corner of her eye, seeing him watching Carlee like a hawk.
    “We’ll keep you on a good dose of steroids for now. I’d like to do the procedure early Wednesday morning,” the doctor said.
    “ Wednesday… yes, just get it over with,” Carlee said, quickly. She didn’t want to think about it. “I