for several seconds.
“There’s something I’ve been hiding from you since your third round of chemo.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
Jeffrey slowly began unbuttoning his shirt.
The first button.
Then the second.
His fingers were trembling.
“Jeffrey, you’re frightening me.”
“Just let me do this. If I stop now, I won’t tell you.”
When he finally opened the shirt, I gasped.
Dark red lines wrapped around his ribs and stomach, and there were bruised-looking marks across his skin.
“You’re hurt!”
I reached toward him.
“What happened?”
He gently caught my
