Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 35876 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 179(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35876 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 179(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
My sister, who's finally stress-free...because she now happens to be cancer-free as well.
And for her to stay that way, I need to make sure I don't give Io anything to worry about.
Two
Me: I really need your help. I only have one week to "fix" myself.
Karen: You need the right mindset to start with. You have NOTHING to fix.
Me: You got me there. =/
Karen: It's okay. I've been in your shoes, obvs.
Karen: I know what it's like.
Me: I just got so used to spending every minute of my life worrying about my sister.
Karen: And now that you don't have to, you realize you don't remember how to live for yourself. Right?
Me: Exactly.
Karen: I know you're not going to take my advice on this, but I just have to say this for the nth time—-you need to let your family know what you're going through.
Me: I know. But...no. I don't want to make my sister worry about anything. There's a huge correlation between stress and cancer, and I just don't want to risk it.
Karen: You're being overly cautious, but...*sigh* I get it.
Me: You got over it, didn't you?
Karen: Yeah. Took a while. But I did.
Me: Did you ever tell your husband about your fears? Your worries?
Karen: Uh...no. LOL
Me: Knew it. :P
Karen: But I knew I should have!
Me: If you can't walk the talk...
Karen: :P
Me: Any other advice on how to become "normal" again?
Karen: I tried a lot of things, but honestly? You know what worked the most?
Me: Meds?
Karen: SEX.
Karen: There's honestly nothing like lots and lots and lots of sex to make you forget everything except what you're feeling.
NIK GLANCES AT ME WHEN I accidentally drop my phone.
"Sorry." I bend down to pick my phone up like everything's normal, and a friend from my online cancer support group hasn't just advised me to distract myself with sex.
"Everything okay?"
"Just Andie being Andie," I lie without missing a beat as I straighten back in my seat. "She texted me something again about her Daddy."
This has my companion wincing as expected, and he doesn't ask any questions afterwards.
Sorry, Andie.
While I'm totally supportive of Andie crushing on her dad's best friend, I'm also not above using the other girl's ongoing one-sided romance as a way to keep Nik from poking into my business.
Note to self: Let Andie know you owe her a favor.
But in the meantime—-
My gaze flicks back to my phone, and I quickly shut it off when I see the word SEX in all caps.
Seriously, Karen? Seriously?
Just as Nik's like my brother from another mother, Karen is like my...mother from another grandmother. I trust and look up to her is my point, but this is the first time her advice leaves me feeling rather iffy.
Karen used to work as VP in Finance for a Fortune 500 company. She was damn good at her job, too, but she had no qualms quitting when she learned about her husband's cancer diagnosis.
That's how love works, Karen once told me. You never know how much or how little you have time left with them. So if you can afford to stay with them, do it.
It took her husband three years to beat the Big C...while it took Karen double that time to remember how she used to be a fun-loving girl boss who had goals of her own outside helping her hubby overcome a life-threatening disease.
Suffice to say, she's my real-life hero, and while I know Karen can get sarcastic and snarky like I am, she never makes jokes when it comes to getting over trauma. So if she says 'sex' is the answer to my problems, then maybe it is?
I'm still chewing over it when we finally get to the marina, which Nik co-owns with Kyrillos Gazis. In the past, the one major thing both Greek billionaires had in common was their workaholic lifestyle. But now that they were happily married, Nik and Kyr mostly bonded over sailing, fishing, and maintenance work for their respective gigayachts.
And yes, there is such a thing, and since their gigayachts are apparently too big to dock just anywhere, Nik and Kyr decided to build their own "giga" marina instead. Boys and their toys, right?
Speaking of which...
I finally catch a glimpse of Lady Panda as it soars into view, and while it looks stunning as ever, what's not so stunning is the horde of paps waiting at the end of the gangplank.
Sigh.
Their cameras click nonstop as Nik and I stride past, and I keep my head bowed until I hear someone call out, "Yoohoo!"
It's Daria, of course, and she's waving cheerfully at us from one of Lady Panda's black-and-white decks.
Nik's wife smothers me with a hug as soon as I'm aboard. "I missed you so much, Leah-boo!"
"I missed you, too," I grumble, "but can you please stop calling me that?"
Daria only laughs, and the sound is so infectious that natural-born grumps like Nik and me can't help but smile.