Rotten Fruit

Katrina Rose knows there are two things cancer patients can't laugh and date. She tries to challenge both assumptions at every last turn. When she finally undergoes surgery to remove her tumor, she tries to return to a normal life, but still finds herself going to the all-women therapy group for cancer victims and survivors every week. After an aggravating discussion that threatens to shatter her devotion to the group, Carmen walks in and completely changes her goals.

Carmen Sykes is a tall, beautiful woman who just lost her girlfriend to cancer. She teaches at the local university and is also the curator at the local museum. After Carmen argues with a woman about cancer’s perception in the mainstream media, Kat knows she has found her intellectual -- and physical -- match.

The two immediately start an overwhelming affair that lasts into the last days of autumn. They go shopping for forbidden fruit in the local farmer’s market, talk about myth and art, as well as cancer as they stay in bed all day. But soon Kat realizes Carmen's hiding something she can't quite recognize or name. When a figure from Carmen’s past turns up, the truth about what’s really growing in Carmen’s garden may surprise Kat -- and also relieve -- her of all her worries.