Once Upon a Wine Read Online Free PDF Page B

too long since we were all together.”
    Cammie struggled to regain her footing in the loose gravel. “You bought a vineyard?”
    â€œYes. Isn’t is fantastic?” Ginger spread out her arms to encompass the sky, the vines, the soil.
    â€œCouldn’t we have just rented our usual beach cottage for the summer?”
    â€œI’ve passed the beach cottage stage of my life,” Ginger decreed. “It’s time to think bigger.”
    â€œBut
why
? What’s going on? Kat said—”
    â€œKat didn’t say anything,” Kat interjected with a quick glance at her mother.
    â€œThis isn’t like you,” Cammie finished.
    â€œOh, but it is.” Ginger smiled serenely. “This is exactly who I am. This is what I’ve always wanted. I just didn’t have the courage to go after it. And then when I saw the doctor—”
    Cammie lifted her chin, dark suspicions mounting. “What kind of doctor?”
    â€œUm.” Ginger started up the fluffy white clouds. “An oncologist.”
    â€œWhy did you see an oncologist?” Cammie’s chest tightened.
    Kat was staring down at her sneakers as fixedly as Ginger stared at the sky. “You have to tell her, Mom.”
    â€œTell me what?” Cammie demanded.
    â€œJust a little scare.” Ginger’s voice was almost frantic. “No big deal.”
    â€œYou were sick? Why didn’t you tell me?”
    â€œI wasn’t sick. They
thought
I was sick, but doctors don’t know everything.” Ginger sounded supremely smug.
    â€œWhat?” Kat couldn’t contain herself any longer. “You were totally sick. You had pancreatic cancer!”
    Cammie clapped her hand to her heart.
    â€œI barely had pancreatic cancer,” Ginger insisted. “It hardly even qualified.”
    Kat, perhaps sensing that Cammie was on the verge of passing out, hastened to explain. “I know what you’re thinking, and yes, pancreatic cancer is usually bad.”
    â€œTerrible.” Ginger didn’t sound quite so smug anymore. “A death sentence.”
    â€œBut they caught it super early.” Kat crossed her arms, her expression both exasperated and relieved. “Mom had surgery. They got it all out; she’s fine now.”
    â€œI’m better than fine. I’m living the dream.”
    â€œYou had surgery and you didn’t tell me?” Cammie wrappedher arms around herself. “You had
cancer
and you didn’t tell me? How could you?”
    â€œIt all happened so suddenly, sweetie. I went in to urgent care one night because I had a stomachache that wouldn’t go away—”
    â€œThey thought that might have been her appendix,” Kat chimed in.
    â€œAnd they ended up sending me to the emergency room for a CT scan. That’s when they saw it.” Ginger lowered her voice. “A little dark spot on my pancreas.”
    Cammie stopped breathing for a moment. Her aunt patted her arm.
    â€œThey weren’t sure what it was, so they decided to take it out. And it did turn out to be cancer, but it’s gone now. We caught it in the nick of time.”
    â€œYou are so lucky you had that stomachache,” Kat said.
    â€œIt’s a miracle.” Ginger tugged at the hem of her caftan. “Want to see the scar?”
    â€œNo,” Kat said firmly.
    â€œWhen did all this happen?” Cammie couldn’t disguise the hurt in her voice. “Why didn’t anybody call me?”
    â€œIt happened a few months ago. I didn’t want to worry you until I knew what I was dealing with.” Ginger squeezed Cammie’s hand. “You’ve already been through so much with your mother.”
    â€œEverything I’ve been through with my mother is why I need to know the minute either of you even thinks you might have cancer!” She turned to Kat. “You knew about this? You knew and you didn’t tell me?”
    â€œShe