Catch a Falling Star (18 page)

“Hey!”

That was Joe, and she turned toward him as he came in with — Jasmine?

“Joe!” she cried out, reaching for the dog. “How did you get her past the nurse?”

“I didn’t sneak her in,” Joe said, sounding slightly affronted. “I registered her as a therapy dog. Brianna gave me permission and I went to the examiners with her a couple days ago. She got her papers today. I figured I’d bring her down to the children’s ward after you say hello to her.”

“Come here, Jasmine,” Natalie said, burying her face in her dog’s neck. “Oh my god it’s so good to see you, my sweet puppy.”

Jasmine’s tail thumped on the bed. After a minute, Natalie raised her face, wiping a stupid tear from her cheek. Matthias patted her hand.

Joe glanced at the flowers on the bedside table and his face fell. “Oh, man, I keep forgetting the flowers! Ma is going to kill me.”

“You brought me Jasmine,” Natalie said and stopped herself just in time from saying,
That’s so much better than flowers.
“So tell your ma I said you did good.”

Joe beamed at her and said, “You tell her, it’ll sound more convincing coming from you.”

Then the oncologist came in and she braced herself.

• • •

Matthias gave Jasmine a pat and said goodbye to Natalie. Joe was a good kid, and he’d managed to figure out the one thing that would make Natalie feel better — something Matthias hadn’t been able to do. At least he’d been able to hold her hand and ask the appropriate questions when the oncologist spoke to her — Natalie didn’t seem to know what to say or do. He supposed Brianna was usually here for that.

He wished he’d thought of the dog, especially seeing the way Natalie had hung on to Jasmine when the oncologist came into the room. He hated to see Natalie’s suffering and to be helpless in its face. He had made a decision when he’d found out the diagnosis, and that was to stick with her through it. He didn’t see what else he could do and still be able to look at himself in the mirror. She needed him. But —

Brianna came hurrying down the hall and nearly barreled into him. He grabbed her arms and helped her stay on her feet.

“Sorry, I need to look where I’m going,” she said, pushing her crazy red hair out of her face. “How’s she doing today?”

“Okay,” he said. “Joe brought Jasmine by. That was a great idea of his.”

A smile relaxed her tense features. “I’d forgotten he was doing that. Wish I’d thought of it.”

“We think inside the box too much,” he said. “We’re not the kind of people who imagine ways to get a dog into a hospital.”

“So true. Mostly I’m trying to figure out how we can get Natalie
out
of the hospital.”

“The oncologist told her a day or two if she seems strong enough to do the treatment on an outpatient basis.”

“I missed the oncologist?” Brianna looked stressed again. “Dammit, I thought he was coming by at four.”

“It’s four-thirty,” Matthias pointed out. “Joe and I were with her, so she wasn’t alone.”

“Geez, where’d I lose that hour?” Brianna said. “Did he say anything about the blood tests? Are they looking better?”

“He said blood tests showed things going in the right direction. I can get the nurse if you want. She probably has the actual results available.”

“I’ll stop by the desk later. Thanks, Matthias.”

“For?”

“For being here. For everything. For being you.”

That was strangely flattering. “Can’t help being me.”

“Okay, then I withdraw my gratitude for that.”

She turned to go into the hospital room.

“Brianna,” he said.

“Yes?”

“Do you ever think what would have happened to her without you?”

“I know what would have happened. And so I didn’t let it,” she said, and went into the room.

• • •

“This is Mr. and Mrs. Lombardi,” Natalie said. “Joe’s parents. And Carl, his brother.”

“Nice to meet you,” Brianna said. She looked around for Joe but didn’t see him.

Natalie seemed to guess who she was looking for. “Joe took Jasmine down to the children’s ward,” she explained.

“We just stopped by to give Natalie a hug,” Mrs. Lombardi said. “And to ask you what you need. I’ve got some lasagnas in the freezer. Carl’s going to bring those by your house later. You need to keep your strength up, too.”

“You bet,” Carl said.

“I’m fine,” Brianna said. “Really. But — thank you. I’m not much of a cook.”

“So, I go to the grocery on Wednesdays, that’s tomorrow, so we were just working on a list with Natalie.”

“That’s very kind of you,” said Brianna, who thought she was following Mrs. Lombardi; she was going to go to the grocery store for Brianna. “But I’m not — ”

“Much of a cook,” Mrs. Lombardi said. “That’s okay, I was telling Natalie you probably need some easy things, salads and soups and some nice bread. No one feels like cooking anything complicated after a day at the hospital. So that’s that. And Joe says Mr. Gustafson is helping out with appointments and dogs and such. And Joe says to tell you he’ll shovel if it snows, so don’t worry about that.”

Brianna realized her mouth was gaping open so she shut it. “Joe’s a good kid,” she said.

“We think so,” said Mr. Lombardi patiently. She turned to look at him. “Now, you just call us if you need any help at the house, the heater goes out, or the sink start leaking or anything. Carl and me, we’re real handy.”

“It’s fine,” Brianna said. “I mean, everything is in working order.”

“If I know houses, it won’t be for long. So you just call me, and we’ll take care of it, right?”

“Right,” Brianna said, because that seemed easier than trying to argue.

“Good.” Mr. Lombardi heaved himself out of the guest chair, and kissed Natalie on the cheek. “You take care of yourself, kid.”

Carl ambled over. “Natalie says you got an event-planning business. You have some cards? We’ll spread ’em around.”

Brianna opened her purse and dug out her card case, handed Carl several and watched as he carefully tucked them in his wallet. “Me and the missus’ll be celebrating fifteen years in May,” he said. “I’ll call you. It’ll be a nice surprise for her. Always a good idea to rack up some points when you can.”

“Yes, indeed,” Brianna said.

“Now, I’ll stop by your house tomorrow with the groceries, what time?” Mrs. Lombardi said.

“Um, I have some meetings in the morning but I’ll be there around noon.”

“All right, you can expect me then.”

“That’s … okay, I will.”

They left. Brianna looked at Natalie and raised an eyebrow.

“Aren’t they wonderful?” Natalie said.

“So,” said Joe, “I got the costs calculated on these three proposals, and they should be good to go. They’re in your inbox … ” He hit send. “Now.”

Brianna was on hold with the liquor distributor, and nodded at what Joe was saying. “Thanks,” she mouthed at him, clicking the email icon on the laptop she had open in front of her. Since Natalie had come home from the hospital and was now undergoing chemotherapy as an outpatient, Joe had started coming over in the afternoons after school and often staying for dinner, which he usually cooked unless Natalie felt well enough. Brianna knew — having seen it — that sometimes he just sat in the living room and did homework while Natalie rested or read.

Lately he had started helping Brianna with the paperwork for Once in a Lifetime, which was a big help because just creating the events she had booked was taking up most of the time that she had left after coping with Natalie’s needs.

Joe and Matthias took turns handling the dogs when necessary, and they had worked out a very polite system of determining whose turn it was to do what. Matthias usually came over in the evenings, and that was Joe’s signal to scoot back home. Now and then Matthias came over for dinner, and when he did, he usually brought in something special, which everyone appreciated because Joe’s cooking ran to basic pasta and spaghetti sauce.

Matthias also brought Natalie to her appointments when Brianna had a conflict, and had leaned on Mrs. Curtin to provide a nice severance package. Brianna had the money in savings but she worried at how quickly it would be gone if she didn’t start getting more clients. But it was really hard to focus on sales when there was so much else to do.

The liquor distributor finally came back on the line with a quote, which she passed along to Joe. It was just about five o’clock, and time for her to shift gears from making phone calls to finalizing the proposals that she would send out first thing in the morning.

“Do you want to take the dogs for a walk with me?” Natalie came into the kitchen.

Joe jumped to his feet. “You bet!” he said, even though he had to know that Natalie would make him take Dakota while she took Jasmine.

“Be back in a bit, Bree,” she said and Joe helped her into her coat and found the leashes, and finally got Dakota to sit long enough to put a leash on.

“Joe, you’re going to need your coat,” Brianna reminded him when it looked like he was going to wander out of the house without it on.

Then they were gone, and it was quiet, and Brianna pushed her laptop aside and leaned back in her chair. Matthias had said he’d be over for dinner but hadn’t volunteered to bring it, so that meant when Joe came back she could beg him to stay for dinner, which he would cook — Natalie would be too tired to do much after their walk, she always was — or Brianna could summon up the interest in cooking dinner herself.

Nah, she could stand Joe’s pasta and sauce one more night if it meant not having to do it herself.

She heard the sound of a car pulling into the drive and she wondered if that was Matthias already. She heard a brisk step on the porch, then a sharp knock at the door. She looked through the peephole.

Richard.

It had started to snow and flakes dotted the shoulders of his coat. She thought anxiously of Natalie. Maybe she should have discouraged her and Joe from going out. But a little cold weather wasn’t going to hurt Natalie, was it? She was probably obsessing about Natalie so she wouldn’t have to think of Richard.

“I know you’re there, Bree,” he said. “I can hear you breathing.”

“Maybe it’s someone else,” she said. “Someone I’ve told not to open the door to you.”

“Maybe.”

Reluctantly she unlocked the door and let him in. He stamped his shoes on the hall rug and turned to shut and lock the door behind him, hanging his coat in the closet like he hadn’t left this house thirteen years ago.

She stiffened and turned away from him.

“Natalie called me.”

That made her stop.

“You know, someday her do-gooder heart is going to get her into trouble,” Brianna said. “She’s going to help an ax murderer with his groceries or something, and then won’t she be sorry.”

“I’m sure she will,” Richard said, coming cautiously into the living room. “No dogs?”

“They took the dogs out for a walk.”

“They?”

“We have friends, you know.”

“That’s good,” he said. “Everyone needs friends.”

“Why are you here?”

“It’s the welcome that keeps me coming back,” he said.

She was standing in the middle of the living room, looking at him, wishing it was easier to send him away. Wishing she didn’t care if he were here or not. Wishing wishing wishing.

“Natalie told me what’s up,” he said, and sat on the sofa. “And she told me about that old bitch you used to work for, how she fired you. And what you’re trying to do, with that event-planning stuff. And I figured you could use a hand.”

Her immediate answer was
hell, no
, but that was just reactionary. So she thought about it for a minute, and then she said, “Hell, no. You know what? I don’t need a hand. I’ve got Matthias, he takes turns with medical appointments and helps with the dogs, and he sends work my way. I’ve got Joe, he helps with the proposals and the dogs. I’ve got the Lombardis, they help with the chores.” She glared at him, daring him to contradict her.

“That’s good, Bree,” he said gravely. “That’s real good, you got friends who are helping you. That’s what you need.”

“So I don’t need you,” she said, in case that hadn’t been clear. She was breathing heavily but she didn’t care.

“I can see that,” he said. He was looking down at his hands. If one of the dogs had been around, he could have been petting a dog, which was always a good thing to do with your hands if you didn’t know what else to do with them. She wished Dakota were here right now.

“Tell you what,” he said. “I don’t need you either.”

That was sharp, like a slap.

“That … that’s good,” she said when she could speak.

“It’d be real nice if we could be … friendly,” he said. “You ain’t going to ever be able to trust me again. I’m not saying you have to. We’ll just have no expectations of each other.”

“That’s not possible,” she said. “Not even for strangers walking by each other on the street.”

He seemed to think about that for a minute. “I guess that’s true. I guess I expect the stranger on the street to just pass me by. So where does that leave us?”

“I guess it means we’ll have very low expectations of each other.”

He nodded. “There you go. I knew you’d know.”

“Go to hell,” she said.

He patted the sofa cushion next to him. “Sit down,” he said roughly.

She didn’t know why she did it. She never knew why she did it. But she sat down next to him.

“I’m still your daddy,” he said, and took her hand.

• • •

Natalie came in the front door, laughing at something, her cheeks red from the cold, brushing snow from her clothes. A young man, probably either Joe or Matthias, was a step behind her with both dogs, and he was smiling, watching her with unguarded affection. Richard thought the kid was probably going to get his heart destroyed, but what the hell. A man couldn’t stop it even if he wanted to.

“Hey, Mr. Daniels,” Natalie said. She slanted a glance at Brianna, who got to her feet and took the dogs, unhooking their leashes and putting them away, then going into the kitchen to refill their water bowls. The dogs followed her, apparently knowing the routine. “This is my friend Joe. Joe, this is Brianna’s dad.”