A Life Less Ordinary (34 page)

“I’m
just going to wake TJ for a moment, and check his incision,” the nurse
explained kindly.  “We’ll be getting him out of bed later today, too, but right
now we just need to check on him, and then we’ll let him go back to sleep.”

Leah
nodded as the nurse gently roused TJ, who groggily responded to her questions
in a dry, raspy voice.  She smiled encouragingly and promised him some ice
chips, then proceeded to check the machines surrounding him, pull a small blood
sample, and make notations on his chart.

“You’re
looking good, TJ,” she said cheerfully.  “You came through with flying
colours.  I’m going to get you those ice chips, and let you talk to your
visitors, then you should probably get some more rest.  We’ll get you out of
bed around mid-morning, and the doctor will be by to see you sometime this
afternoon.”

“Visitors?”
TJ rasped and the nurse nodded in Leah and Zeke’s direction.  He turned his
head, frowning, although his face softened when he saw Leah.  His eyes widened
when he saw Zeke.  “Aw, man -” he groaned hoarsely as the nurse bustled out the
door.

Zeke
smirked.  “I couldn’t miss this,” he said lightly.

“I
told Leah not to tell you anything,” TJ croaked as the nurse returned.  She
placed an ice chip in his mouth and put the cup on the table beside his bed
then wished them all a good morning and left to continue her rounds.

Zeke
smirked, “Yeah, but you’re not the brightest bulb in the light socket, so she
decided to ignore you.”  He sobered.  “I’m glad she did.  The two of you didn’t
need to go through this alone, you know.”

TJ
wearily closed his eyes.  “Just until we knew for sure,” he sighed.

Zeke
shook his head.

“We
both appreciate you being here, Zeke.” Leah said.  “Thank you.”

“Anytime. 
And I’m sticking around until we know the prognosis.”

“...refuse
to have cancer,” TJ mumbled sleepily.

Leah
snorted.  “Yeah, because you have that much power.”  She turned to Zeke. 
“We’re glad you’re here, Zeke.  Really.”  She flashed a smile at TJ.  “Maybe
you’re right – maybe he wouldn’t be such a bad dad for our kid after all.”

Zeke’s
eyes snapped to Leah’s.

“Say
what
?”

* * * * *

Rebecca
glanced up as Tris walked into the house.

“Hi,
Tris,” she called cheerfully.  “How was your day?”

“Fine,”
Tris grunted, walked down the hall into her bedroom and closed the door with a
sharp snap.

Rebecca’s
lips tightened as she rose from the couch.  She shook her head as she walked
down the hall and knocked on Tris’ bedroom door.

“Go
away, Gramma,” Tris yelled.

Rebecca
opened the door, and leaned against the door jamb, her arms tightly crossed.

“Tris,
this can’t go on,” Rebecca said firmly.

Tris
sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes.

“
What
,
Gramma?” she asked impatiently.

“Your
attitude, for one,” Rebecca snapped.  “You may not like me much, but I am
still
your grandmother!”

A
look of guilt flitted across Tris’ face.  It gave Rebecca a tiny spark of
satisfaction.  She didn’t think she’d ever seen guilt on Jaime’s face.

Then
Tris’ mouth set in an all-too-familiar stubborn line as she said, “Well, so
what?  You don’t want me here any more than I want to be here!  You should send
me to be with my mom!”

Rebecca
felt her heart squeeze tight.

“Tris
-”

“You
don’t like me!  You don’t want me!  So why should I have to stay where I’m not
wanted?”

Rebecca
stared at Tris in horror and sorrow.

“Okay,”
Rebecca said, moving further into the room.  She struggled to keep calm, and to
not retreat from the confrontation.  “Okay,” she said more firmly and moved to
sit on the bed.

“Get
out, Gramma – I don’t want you in here.”

Rebecca
hesitated.  “Tris, this can’t go on!  We need to work this out,” she said and
sat down on the bed.

“
See
? 
You won’t even let me have my own room! 
Get out!”
Tris screamed, and
Rebecca flinched at the shrill words, even as she felt a rising tide of anger
begin to drown out her guilt.

“This
is the first time in your life that I’ve come into this room without being
invited,” Rebecca snapped, “and I’ll leave once I’ve had my say.  Regardless of
what you may think, I
do
want you here.  You’re my granddaughter and I
love you.  But I will no longer tolerate your attitude.  Right now, Jakob and
Janika have free rein to take you anywhere you’d like to go when they’re
looking after you.  I can just as easily take those privileges away.  I’m not
asking for much, Tris.  A civil tone, and coming out of this damn room for more
than meals!  Perhaps even a ‘hi, Gramma, how are you?’ once in a while – asked
without that sarcastic, contemptuous tone.  I don’t know how long your parents
will be away, and your other grandparents are on the ocean somewhere, so you
need to make the best of an unfortunate situation.”

Rebecca
stared hard at Tris, noticing how her mouth turned down and her bottom lip
pouted out.

“And
pouting about it isn’t going to change anything,” Rebecca added firmly.  She
stood.  “Now I’m going to leave your room, just as you...asked.  Supper will be
ready in an hour.”

She
very carefully closed the door behind her.

Rebecca
returned to the living room, poured herself a small shot of tequila and swiftly
tossed it back.  She hated confrontations with the people she loved.  That
wasn’t quite true, she admitted as she set the shot glass down and grimaced at
the taste and burn of the tequila.  The only confrontations she couldn’t seem
to handle were those with Jaime and now Tris.  She could handle the occasional
arguments with Manny and Daisy just fine.  Then again, she knew Manny and Daisy
would never leave her.

She
shook her head as she put the tequila away and carried the shot glass into the
kitchen to put in the dishwasher.  It was time to decide what to make for
supper.

* * * * *

Zeke
winced at the sleepy way Manny answered the phone.

“I’m
sorry – I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“S’okay,”
she assured him sleepily.  “What did the doctors say today?”

“That
there’s a really good chance they caught the thing early enough that he’ll be
fine.  Maybe won’t even need chemo – if he’s lucky.”

“That’s
wonderful!”

“
Not for sure, yet,
though.  We’ll find out more when he goes back for his six week check-up.”

“
I’m glad, Zeke. 
Really, really glad.  Cancer is...a horrible way to die.”

“
Yeah...”  He sat in
brooding silence for a moment then shook his head.  “So, where are you off to
next?”

“
Memphis, then Nashville.”

“
Have you made any more
new friends since I’ve been gone?” Zeke teased.

“
Only about a hundred
and fifty.  I’m slowing down,” Manny replied and chuckled.  Zeke felt the husky
sound slide across his nerve endings, and his body tightened.  Had her laugh
always sounded like that, he wondered, as his stomach filled with slow
fireworks, warming him.  He shook his head, and ignored the feeling with an
effort.

“Seriously,”
he said, “you’ve been okay alone?  You haven’t really been talking to
strangers, have you?”

“No
more than usual,” she assured him.  “Besides, talking to strangers is the whole
point, remember?”

“Are
you at least leaving them behind, or am I going to meet you and find you’re now
leading a convoy?”

Manny
chuckled again.  “You’ll have to wait and find out for yourself,” she teased. 
“You know how much I like to surprise you.”

Zeke
chuckled too.  He felt the tension lifting from his chest, his shoulders
relaxing.  When he’d started this trip a little more than three months earlier,
he never would have predicted he’d miss Manny’s voice and sense of humor and –
yes – her new-found penchant for talking to everybody and their dog.  He
wondered what he’d missed the last few days, what characters she’d met and
befriended because – because that was simply what she did.

“Zeke?”

“Yeah
– I’m here.  Sorry.”

“Didn’t
mean to bore you.”

“You
didn’t – I’m not -”  Zeke sighed.  “Sorry, Manny.  I was thinking of something
else.”

“
Dixie?”

“
Wha-
Dixie
?
Where did
that
come from?”

“
Well, something was
bothering you for days before you left, and I’ve been wondering what it was.  I
thought...you know, maybe you were thinking of Dixie, and how things ended with
her.  This could be a chance for you to – to...mend fences.  Or something.”

“
I thought I told you
that when I leave, I leave.  I don’t look back.”

“
Oh.  Well.  It was just
a thought.”

Zeke
frowned, his dark brows lowering over his stormy eyes.  He wondered what Manny
would say or do if he told her he’d been moody because he’d been knocked
off-balance by a sudden sexual awareness of
her
.  A sexual awareness
that still seemed to sneak up on him when he least expected it, as evidenced by
his reaction to her laugh.

“Interesting
thought,” he murmured, then frowned as he realized he
should
tell Dixie
about TJ.  TJ and Leah hadn’t been especially close to her, but they’d liked
her, and they’d struck up a casual friendship.  Just because Zeke’s romantic
relationship with her hadn’t worked out was no reason to pretend her connection
to TJ and Leah had never existed.

As
Zeke continued his gentle, undemanding conversation with Manny, he decided he’d
go see Dixie in the morning.

* * * * *

Zeke
rang the doorbell then nervously rubbed his hands on his pants as he waited for
the door to open.  He was almost amused by the level of surprise on Dixie’s
face when she recognized him.

“Zeke!” 
she finally managed.  “What – what are you doing here?”  She automatically
stood aside to let him into the house, and Zeke suspected she didn’t even
realize what she was doing.

“I’m
in town for a few days – thought I’d drop by to -”

“You’ve
been out of town?” she asked sharply.

Zeke
chuckled.  “I forgot you don’t follow my blog.  Yeah.  I’ve been on a road
trip...”

Zeke
trailed off as his attention was caught by a picture on the mantle.  It showed
Dixie snuggled up to a handsome older man; they both smiled happily at the
camera as balloons and streamers drifted around them.  Zeke frowned, his eyes
beneath his lowered brows drifting slowly across the other pictures on
display.  They all showed Dixie and the stranger in similar poses at a variety
of locations. 

He
turned and looked thoughtfully at her.  “I see you’ve already replaced me,” he
said mildly.

Dixie
frowned, her eyes narrowing.  “Did I ever really
have
you?” she
challenged.

Zeke
looked at her, feeling suddenly lonely and tired.  “Yeah,” he replied softly,
“yeah, you really did.  Anyway, I – I – I didn’t come here to hash over what
happened between us.  I came to tell you TJ’s in the hospital.  He had surgery
four days ago.”

Dixie
frowned.  “Surgery?  For what?”

“Colon
cancer.  They think they caught it in time, but should have a more definitive
prognosis when he has his six week checkup.”

“Well,”
Dixie said faintly, “that’s a good sign, then, if they can wait that long.”

“Yeah,”
Zeke replied absently.  His attention was once again focused on the picture
with the balloons and streamers.  He peered more closely at it.  Behind the
happy couple was a banner; a banner that welcomed in the new year.  The new
year that was still the
current
year.

He
stepped back, and heard Dixie’s sharp intake of breath.

“I
see,” he muttered slowly.

“What
do you see?” Dixie demanded, and under other circumstances her defiant contempt
would have amused him as the last ditch effort to shift the blame onto his
shoulders that it was.

He
turned and smiled a slightly bitter smile.  “That I never actually had
you
,
did I?”

Dixie
rolled her eyes, her arms crossed tightly in front of her as her eyes darted
everywhere but at him.

Zeke
forced an insincere smile.  “Anyway.  I just wanted to tell you about TJ.  He’s
at the Cross if you want to visit.”

Zeke
brushed past her and headed for the door.