Page 59 of The Bodyguard

Jack and Hank, standing right next to each other, let out matching sighs.

You’d never know they were mortal enemies.

The doctor gave some more details, pulled a privacy curtain while he examined the site, then reemerged, saying, “I almost forgot the most important thing.”

We all stood at attention. “What’s that?”

The doctor pointed right at Jack. “Can I get a selfie?”

ONCE HE WASgone, Connie Stapleton got down to business.

“I’m not going to ask you to stay for the radiation, Jack,” she said.

“Mom. I can stay.”

“It doesn’t start for eight weeks. You need to get back to your life.”

“Mom, I don’t—”

She shook her head, cutting him off. “But I am going to ask you for something else.”

Now Jack narrowed his eyes like he should’ve seen that coming. “What’s that?”

She paused.

We waited.

“It’s been a hard few years for us. For all of us. And I’d like some good time with you before you go.”

Jack nodded. “I’d like that, too.”

“So here it is,” she went on. “I don’t know how much more time I have left on this earth. Getting cancer really clears a few things up in your head, and after much soul-searching, I’ve decided there is one thing, only one thing, that I truly want right now, and I need you all to make it happen.”

“This sounds like a big ask,” Hank said.

“What is it, sweetheart?” Dr. Stapleton asked, leaning in.

That’s when Connie gave us the most irresistible, there’s literally no way you can possibly refuse me smile and said, “I want Jack—and his cute new girlfriend—to come stay with us out at the ranch until Thanksgiving.”