Читать книгу A Forever Kind of Love - Farrah Rochon - Страница 11

Chapter 2

A thick slice of sun slashed across the bed, warming her face and forcing one eye to open.

“Curtains, Gram. Curtains that close would be a nice touch,” Mya murmured into the pillow. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Someone had tried to paint over the brown water stain left from when the air-conditioning ducts had backed up, but Mya could still make out the faint edges. The stain had always reminded her of a bunny rabbit playing in the grass.

Mya reached for her eyeglasses from the nightstand. After sliding her feet into a pair of flip-flops, she didn’t bother to throw a robe on over her boy shorts and tank top. Now that Granddad was gone, there were only women in the house.

The aroma of sweet chicory coffee greeted her as she stepped into the hallway, along with the voices of her grandmother, Aunt Mo and her mother. Of course, Elizabeth was the loudest. Mya rushed through her morning bathroom routine and then headed straight for the liquid caffeine.

“Good morning,” she said as she entered the kitchen.

Aunt Mo was at the stove, stirring a pot of what looked like grits. Grandma and Elizabeth sat at the table. Her mother was dressed to the nines. Mya spotted a Christian Dior suitcase and a round hatbox just to the right of the door, and she nearly whooped with glee. She was more than ready to see Elizabeth board a plane back to San Francisco or Seattle or wherever it was she was living these days. Mya had stopped keeping track.

“You want breakfast?” Aunt Mo asked.

“No, thanks. The coffee’s enough for me.”

“You need more than just coffee,” her grandmother chastised.

“It’s better if she skips breakfast,” Elizabeth chimed in. “You don’t want to get fat. Right, baby?”

Deep breaths, Mya told herself. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

She grabbed a mug from the wooden mug tree and filled the cup almost to the brim. “Any sweetener?” she asked her aunt.

“I ran out of artificial sweetener last week,” Grandma said.

“Have you been eating sugar again?” Aunt Mo asked.

“Don’t start with me, Maureen.”

Her aunt plunked her free hand on her hip as the other continued to stir the grits. “That woman is too hardheaded for me.”

Mya winked at her grandmother as she walked past the table on her way to the smaller porch just off the kitchen. The morning was too pretty to take her coffee anywhere but outside. She sat on the wooden porch step and sipped her coffee, closing her eyes in pure ecstasy as the hot liquid slid down her throat.

“Thank God for coffee.” She sighed.

A motorized roar jolted Mya out of her relaxed, caffeine-induced bliss. She looked up to find Corey dressed in knee-length deck shorts—the kind with a dozen zippered pockets all over them—and a green T-shirt. He was pushing a lawn mower across the side lawn. He lifted his hand in a short wave, turned a tight corner with the lawn mower and headed back up toward the front yard.

“What the hell?” Mya muttered. She placed her coffee cup on the step and stomped across the yard.

“Corey!” she yelled.

He ignored her.

No, he hadn’t ignored her. Mya spotted the thin, white wires coming from his ears. She caught up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. The lawn mower sputtered to a stop as Corey let go of the handle. He turned, pulling the tiny speakers from his ears.

“Good morning,” he said.

“What are you doing here?”

“That question rhetorical?” he asked, motioning to the lawn mower. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d be on a plane by now.”

“I fly out this afternoon,” Mya answered. “Now answer my question. What are you doing here?”

He shrugged. “It’s Saturday. I always cut your grandmother’s grass every other Saturday.”

Wait. What?

He folded his arms over his green Gauthier High School Fighting Lions T-shirt and things started to click into place.

“You live here?” she asked. “In Gauthier?”

He nodded, a smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. Those eyes drifted a few degrees south and his smile widened. That’s when Mya remembered she was standing in the middle of the yard in boy shorts, a thin tank top and no bra. She crossed her arms over her breasts.

“When did you move back to Gauthier?” she asked.

Another shrug. “Last year.”

“Why?” She couldn’t keep the incredulousness from her voice. He’d retired from professional baseball a few years ago, but Mya knew Corey was still worth millions. Why would he choose to live in a small town like Gauthier when he could live anywhere he wanted to?

“It’s home,” he answered.

Before she could respond, a screech from inside the house stopped her.

“Mya!”

The panic in Aunt Mo’s scream caused instant fear to race down Mya’s spine. Corey had already taken off in a dead run for the house. She shook off her shock and followed, losing a flip-flop along the way.

Mya’s stomach bottomed out at the sight in the kitchen.

Her grandmother was slumped over in the chair, her mouth hanging open. Aunt Maureen had hooked her arms under Grandma’s, trying to lift her up. Corey was crouched on the floor in front of her, tapping on her cheek. Elizabeth was off to the side, wringing her hands and screaming uncontrollably.

“Would you shut up!” Mya yelled at her mother. She held her grandmother’s wrist to check for a pulse, enjoying a moment’s relief after finding one.

“She has these fainting spells, but never like this,” Aunt Mo said.

Mya leaned in. “Grandma, can you hear me?” The sickly sweet smell hovering in front of her grandmother’s face was all the answer Mya needed. “I don’t think this is a fainting spell. Mama, call 911.”

“What? Why?” Elizabeth cried.

Mya ran over to where her mother stood and pushed her aside so she could get to the phone mounted on the wall.

“I have a seventy-two-year-old female with diabetes,” she told the 911 operator. “She passed out and isn’t responding and her breath has a fruity smell.”

Mya rattled off the address. She hung up and ran back to the table, prying her Aunt Maureen from her grandmother. “Aunt Mo, get all of her medications. We’ll need to bring them to the hospital.” Mya took her place, slipping her arms underneath her grandmother’s armpits and holding her upright. She looked down at Corey who was still trying to get her to wake up.

He looked up at her and shook his head. Mya’s chest tightened.

“She’ll need her insulin,” Corey said. “Miss Elizabeth, look in the fridge. She keeps the insulin in a Tupperware container.”

How does he know that? The whirl of the ambulance sirens stopped Mya from voicing the question out loud.

Moments later, two uniformed EMS workers entered the kitchen carrying a gurney. Mya stood to the side, fear gripping her chest as they checked her grandmother’s vitals, then strapped her to the gurney. She felt warm, gritty arms surround her as Corey came up behind her, encircling her in his arms.

Mya could hardly comprehend the scene unfolding before her eyes. This could not be happening. She’d just buried her granddad yesterday. She was not staring at her grandmother on a hospital gurney.

But she was. This was real.

Mya snapped out of her trance and shook out of Corey’s embrace. “Aunt Mo, you ride in the ambulance. I’ll follow behind.”

They followed the gurney outside. Mya watched as they loaded her grandmother into the back of the ambulance, then she ran to her bedroom and stripped out of her shorts, pulling on a pair of jeans and a roomy T-shirt over her tank top. She was back in the kitchen in less than two minutes.

Corey was drying his hands on a dish towel. “You ready?” he asked.

“Uh, yes. Where’s Elizabeth?” she asked.

“She took Maureen’s car to the hospital. I told her I’d drive you.”

“Okay,” Mya said with a shaky breath. She looked around the kitchen, unsure of what she was searching for. Maybe there was something they would need at the hospital. Mya didn’t realize she was trembling until Corey caught her upper arms.

“She’s going to be okay,” he said.

She stared into his confident eyes. It was easy to believe words said with such conviction. Mya fed off of it.

“Yes, she will,” she answered.

Corey gave her shoulders a light squeeze. “Then let’s get out of here. Your grandmother needs you.”

She nodded, for once grateful for his presence. “Let’s go.”

* * *

In the twenty minutes it had taken them to reach the small hospital in Maplesville, right outside of Gauthier, Mya had managed to work herself into another fit of nerves. They weighed heavy in her stomach, twisting and tangling like snakes in a hot skillet.

What if something happened to her grandmother?

“No,” Mya said out loud.

“What?” Corey asked from the driver’s seat. He’d driven fifteen miles over the posted speed limit from the moment they’d pulled away from the house, maneuvering his bulky Cadillac Escalade as if it were a sleek sports car. “Mya.” He waited for her to look at him. “She’s going to be okay.”

“You don’t know that,” Mya said with a catch in her voice.

“Your grandmother is even more stubborn than Big Harold was. She’s not going anywhere for a long time.”

They pulled up to the hospital’s emergency room entrance, and Mya was out of the SUV before it came to a complete stop.

“Sir, you have to move your vehicle. This is a restricted area,” she heard someone tell Corey.

She ran to the nurses’ station. “Eloise Dubois?” she asked. “She was brought in after fainting.”

“Mya!” Maureen called.

Mya raced toward her aunt. “How is she?”

“I don’t know yet, but she was awake by the time we got here.”

“Thank God,” Mya cried.

“Come on.” Her aunt took her elbow. “The nurse said she’d come find us in the waiting room.”

Mya followed, anxiety still shooting through her veins. She crumpled into the closest chair, not trusting her legs to hold her up a second longer. She cradled her face in her hands and took a couple of slow, deep breaths. Aunt Mo sat in the chair next to her and rubbed her hand up and down Mya’s arm.

“How’d this happen, Aunt Mo?”

“Because she’s hardheaded and doesn’t like to take care of herself.” Maureen shook her head. “I know part of it is my fault. With everything going on this week with Daddy’s funeral, I haven’t been paying as much attention as I should. I usually make sure she checks her blood sugar.”

“Don’t start blaming yourself.”

“Oh, I’m not blaming myself entirely. She’s a grown woman, and she knows what she should and shouldn’t do. But like I said, she’s hardheaded. People have been bringing food over to the house around the clock, and she’s been nibbling on everything. I know they mean well, but it just makes it harder to keep the wrong foods out of Mama’s mouth.”

Familiar guilt assailed Mya once again. It wasn’t solely up to Aunt Maureen to take care of Grandma. Mya should have been here helping. Her grandparents had raised her since the age of three, after her mother had decided to leave Gauthier and make a life for herself with the first in a string of men.

It was the best thing that could have happened to Mya. Her grandparents had always been there for her, but she had not done the same in return.

Corey stalked into the waiting room. “How is she?” he asked.

“We’re still waiting on the nurse,” Aunt Mo answered.

He sat in the seat across from Mya, his knees braced apart. Snippets of grass clung to the short hairs on his legs.

“You don’t have to stay,” Mya told him.

“I’m not leaving until I know Mrs. Eloise is okay,” he answered.

“I can call—”

“Don’t try to explain anything to him,” Aunt Mo said. “He’s as stubborn as your grandmother, which is why they get along so well.”

“You and my grandmother get along?” Mya blurted. “She hated you when we were growing up.”

“She got over it,” Corey said in a clipped voice that clearly told Mya to do the same. He rested his elbows on his thighs and clasped his hands together.

The aroma of sweat, grass and dirt hit Mya square in the face, reminding her of how he’d smelled when he would come to her after baseball practice, not bothering to take a shower. In her horny, sex-crazed teenage mind, it hadn’t mattered one bit. They would go at it like rabbits in the cab of his daddy’s dusty pickup, parked under that big pecan tree in old Mr. Herbert’s field.

Mya tore her eyes away from his toned brown legs. She didn’t need any reminders of those long-ago mistakes.

Corey rose. “I need coffee,” he said. “Anybody else want some?”

“I’d love some,” Maureen answered. “There isn’t any here, though. The nurse said the coffeemaker is broken.”

“There’s a little place right next door called Drusilla’s. They sell good egg-and-cheese sandwiches. You want something to eat?”

“Just the coffee,” Aunt Mo answered.

“Mya?” Corey asked.

She shook her head. “I’m fine.” Truth was Mya didn’t trust her stomach to keep anything down. She was a ball of nerves. She doubted the condition would improve until she saw her grandmother alert and well.

Minutes passed with only the low hum of a late-model television mounted in the corner making any noise. It was the quiet peacefulness that alerted Mya that something was missing. “Where’s Elizabeth?” she asked Aunt Mo.

“I don’t know,” her aunt said with an agitated wave of her hand. “The gift shop, I think.”

“She would find somewhere to shop,” Mya snorted.

“That’s how she calms herself down. Don’t complain. I’d rather her out there bothering those people than in here bothering me.”

“I know you had the chance to drown her at birth,” Mya said.

Aunt Mo nodded. “I should have taken it. Though you wouldn’t be here.”

“It’s a sacrifice I’d have made to save the planet from Elizabeth Dubois.”

As if she’d heard her name, her mother burst through the waiting room door, followed by a doctor in green scrubs and white tennis shoes.

“She’s going to be okay,” Elizabeth cried.

Mya jumped from her seat and rushed over to the doctor, trying not to hold her high blond ponytail and Hello Kitty earrings against her. Mya wasn’t too keen on her grandmother’s life resting in the hands of someone who looked barely out of medical school.

“How is she?” Mya asked. “Can we see her?”

“She’s going to be fine,” the doctor answered patiently. “You’ll be able to see her soon.”

“What happened?” Mya asked.

“Well, her blood glucose levels were extremely high—”

“But she’s okay now?” Maureen cut the doctor off.

The doctor nodded.

“Thank you, God.” Mya collapsed into the chair nearest the door. Elizabeth was the one who usually favored dramatics, but relief that she would not bury both grandparents within a week was so overwhelming, it knocked Mya’s legs right from under her.

“Can we bring her home today?” Aunt Mo asked.

The doctor’s eyes darted around the room. “Can you all follow me?” she asked.

Anxiety thrummed through Mya’s veins at the seriousness she sensed in the doctor’s voice. “What’s wrong? Is she really okay?”

“Yes. Yes. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm you. There are a couple of things we need to discuss regarding Mrs. Dubois’s care, and patient confidentiality prevents us from discussing it here in the waiting room.”

Mya accepted the explanation with a nod, but still walked on shaky legs as they followed the doctor to a room two doors down. The square plaque next to the door had Privacy Room embossed on it in raised letters.

“Is my mother going to die?” Elizabeth asked as soon as the door closed.

“Not anytime soon,” the doctor answered. “If she continues to take her insulin and monitor her blood sugar levels. However, we did see an abnormality on her initial blood scan. We want to keep her to run a few more tests.”

“What type of abnormality?” Maureen asked.

“I don’t know enough yet. Any time flags are raised on the blood tests of a diabetic, we take it seriously. I’d rather be overly cautious than miss something and see her back here in a few weeks.”

“Do whatever you need to do,” Mya said. “As long as she’s okay.”

“Absolutely,” the doctor answered with a smile. “I’ll send a nurse to the waiting room to let you all know when you can see her.”

The morning had been an emotional roller coaster, but at least they now had the doctor’s word that her grandmother would be okay. Mya welcomed the muscle-relaxing flood of relief that rushed through her body.

“Well, I guess I should call myself a cab. It’s time for me to get out of here,” Elizabeth announced.

The muscles in Mya’s neck and shoulders instantly tensed. “What do you mean it’s time for you to get out of here?”

“My plane leaves in three hours. I’m running late as it is. It’ll take me at least an hour to get to the airport, and I wanted to stop in New Orleans for a few things before I fly out.”

“Mother, are you seriously leaving while your mother is in the hospital? Before even going in to see her?”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Mya. I swear you should be on the theater stage instead of designing costumes for other actors.”

Mya turned to her aunt, who stood at the door to the privacy room, her hands crossed over her chest. “Did she just call me dramatic?” Mya asked.

“Just let it go, Mya. Let her go.”

“Yes, please, let me go,” Elizabeth said. “It’s time for me to get back to civilization. I swear I don’t know how you people in Gauthier can stand it. There’s not even a Starbucks.”

Anger simmered beneath Mya’s skin. She had been just as anxious to get back to New York, but there was no way she could leave with her grandmother in the hospital. Apparently, Elizabeth didn’t share the same sense of responsibility.

“You will never change,” Mya huffed with a disgusted snort. “I don’t know why I expected anything different from you.”

“Well, I certainly won’t stand here while you look down your nose at me.” Elizabeth stalked over to the door in her high-heeled sandals. “Tell Mama I’ll see her next time I’m in town. And take better care of her, Maureen.”

“You have the nerve—” Mya started, but her aunt raised her hand, cutting her off.

“I will take better care of her. Now go on. You’ve got a plane to catch.”

Elizabeth nodded and, without another word, turned and walked out of the privacy room.

As soon as she was gone, Mya stomped up to her aunt. “Why would you let her talk to you that way? As if it’s your fault that Grandma is in the hospital.”

“Haven’t you learned that the best way to deal with your mother is to say whatever is necessary to get her gone?”

“But Grandma is just as much her responsibility as she is yours,” Mya pointed out. “I hate how she treats you, Aunt Mo. And the way she walks around as if she’s better than everybody? It just sickens me.”

“Mya, your mother has been that way since she was a little girl. She has always been too good for this little town and the people in it. I learned a long time ago that the best thing to do as far as Elizabeth is concerned is to just ignore her. Just let her go,” her aunt stressed.

Mya clutched her hands at her sides, trying to release some of the pent-up anger coursing through her blood. Aunt Mo was right. Letting Elizabeth get on that plane was the best thing for all of them. Now they could focus on her grandmother.

“You have your own plane to catch, don’t you?” Aunt Mo asked.

“I’m not going anywhere until I know Grandma is okay. I can spare some time off,” Mya continued when she saw her aunt about to protest. “I’m between shows right now, and anything else I need to do can be accomplished via email.”

Maureen shrugged her shoulders as they exited the privacy room. “I won’t waste my time arguing. Lord knows you’re just as stubborn as Elizabeth.”

Mya gasped. “You would compare me to that woman?” She put her hand to her chest as if covering a wound. “Now that’s just mean, Aunt Mo.”

As soon as they reentered the waiting room, Corey shot up from his seat. “Is everything okay? I came back from Drusilla’s and you were both gone.”

“The doctor took us to another room to update us on Mama’s status,” Aunt Mo answered. “She’s fine, but they want to keep her to run additional tests.”

Mya saw the way his shoulders wilted with relief and she was struck again by this complete one-eighty. Fifteen years ago, Corey Anderson was enemy number one in her grandmother’s eyes. She’d claimed he was only after one thing and had forbidden Mya to see him. It hadn’t stopped her, of course. Mya had been intrigued; she had craved the taste of trouble.

As a cocky seventeen-year-old, Corey had done everything he could to live up to her grandmother’s low expectations of him. He’d encouraged Mya to sneak out of the house at all hours of the night. He’d snuck liquor from his daddy’s liquor cabinet and gotten her drunk on more than one occasion.

And let’s not forget the biggest trouble of all—her brush with the stork.

Corey had never learned of the pregnancy and, as far as Mya knew, her grandmother still thought the two nights Mya had spent in the hospital was from a vicious stomach bug that had been going around. Aunt Mo was the only one who knew about the baby she’d miscarried at seven weeks. She doubted her grandmother and Corey would be so chummy now if either of them knew about that little incident.

Mya pushed back against the wave of shame that threatened to crash through her whenever she thought of the child she’d never told Corey about, and the heartache it still summoned. It was too long ago to even matter anymore.

Corey’s cell phone trilled. He held up a finger and answered. “Yeah?...Tell me you’re lying.... Damn.” He pocketed the phone. “I need to go.”

“That’s fine, honey,” Aunt Mo said, giving him a hug. “Thanks for bringing Mya.”

Her aunt turned to her. “They’ll probably put Mama in her own room soon, so I’m going to run back to the house to get some clothes, and then come back here for the night. They’ll only let one family member stay, though.”

“I know,” Mya answered. “I’ll go home once visiting hours are over.”

“What time do you want me to come back and pick you up?” Corey asked.

“I’ll call Phil,” Mya answered, knowing her best friend, Phylicia, would drop whatever she was doing to be at her side. “I don’t plan to leave the hospital anytime soon anyway,” Mya said. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

A smile, subtle though it was, inched up the corner of his mouth. “No one ever doubted you’d be fine, Peaches.” He kissed Aunt Mo on the cheek. “I’ll see you later. You tell Mrs. Eloise not to scare us like that anymore.”

Mya watched as Corey left the waiting room. She waited until she was sure he was out of earshot before turning to her aunt. “What’s going on here?”

“What?” Aunt Mo asked.

If Mya didn’t spend her life around the theater, she would have bought the innocent act. “Don’t even try it,” she said. “When did you, Corey and Grandma all become best friends? The two of you both hated him.”

“We did not hate him,” her aunt protested. “At least I didn’t. I was just concerned that he was a bit too fast for you. With good reason,” her aunt added with a pointed look. “But all of that is beside the point. Corey’s not the boy he was when you two were in high school.”

“How do you know that? He’s been gone from Gauthier nearly as long as I have.”

“That’s not entirely true,” her aunt said. “Corey visited several times a year when his daddy was still living. He moved back last year to coach the high school baseball team.”

“You still haven’t explained why he’s all of a sudden your new BFF,” Mya said.

“My what?”

“Forget it.” Mya sighed. “I just think it’s strange. Grandma thought those Anderson boys were nothing but trouble back when I was in high school, and now she’s got one cutting her grass? Why didn’t she ever mention him when I called home?”

Her aunt hunched her shoulders. “Maybe she didn’t think it was a big deal to you. As far as Mama is concerned, everything between you and Corey ended after you graduated from high school.”

“It did end after graduation,” Mya stated. “Still...”

Was there a “still”? Corey was nothing more than a guy she’d dated a long time ago. It had been years since she’d seen him, since she’d had anything to do with him. Why should it matter after all these years that he’d moved back to town and ingratiated himself to her family?

A nurse entered the waiting room. “Dubois family?”

“Right here,” Mya called. She and Aunt Mo sprung from their seats like coils in a new mattress. “How is she?” Mya asked the nurse.

“She’s doing well. She’s in room seventeen. Follow me—I’ll take you to her.”