Hearts In Rhythm (3 page)

Gail worked as a nurse in a doctor’s office. She got off work at five and was there to keep Samuel while Allie went to work at the local grocery store ringing up groceries and asking for price checks. Graduating from high school was a huge hurdle she accomplished, and she continued to work the evening and weekend shifts. College would have to wait. As much as she longed to get an education, she knew she must live with the consequences of her decisions in life. She was managing 6 hours in her first semester of college, mostly online classes. Finding the time to do her schoolwork presented a challenge.

At only 18 months old, she was certain Samuel was in the terrible two’s. No sooner had Allie sat down to write a paper, when she would hear a terrible crash and go rushing in the other room to discover he had pulled down a lamp off the end table that was just his height. Fortunately he wasn’t hurt but the lamp was broken and glass was everywhere. There were many near misses, but he was always kept safe.

He was a busy boy, all boy, as Gail would describe him. But he was the love of both of their lives. There was nothing either of them wouldn’t do for him.

* * * *

The Thanksgiving meal at the Chesher’s house was superb. Getting a good meal was hard to come by for Brandon, as most of his meals consisted of overcooked fast food burgers or stale tacos.

The meal ended around one o’clock. Brandon stretched out on the sofa in the formal living room, hoping to catch a nap before he got on the road for the hour and a half drive to Westport to visit his family. Laughter came from the kitchen where the ladies cleaned up from the meal, and hoorahs drifted from the den where the rest of the men were watching the game.

Brandon was just about to doze off when Simone shook him on the shoulder.

“I’m all set,” she said standing with her purse slung over her shoulder.

“What do you mean, you’re all set?”

“I mean, I’m ready when you are, fiancée,” she said giving him a smile. “I can’t wait to meet your parents, and Destiny of course. We can make wedding plans while we drive.”

Brandon set upright on the couch, swinging his legs to the floor.

“Not today, Simone.” He stood and picked up his jacket from the back of the couch where he had slung it and brushed past her.

She placed her hand on her hips. “You’re sadly mistaken if you think I’m not going.”

She wheeled around and followed after him directly on his heels. Brandon knew how determined she was. Determined was the nice way to put it. Spoiled was a better description. She wasn’t used to being told no, so Brandon was going to have to put his foot down. He wasn’t ready for her to meet his dysfunctional parents, but he didn’t want to make a scene among hers either. When it came to Simone, passivity was best.

He walked to the kitchen and politely told Mrs. Chesher how delicious everything was and made his departure, avoiding the men who would harass him about missing the game.

He excused himself from Simone for a last minute restroom break before hitting the road. In the bathroom, he never pulled down his pants; instead he pulled up the window and climbed out into the backyard. He fell to the ground in a flowerbed of blooming chrysanthemums and crouched along the wall, ducking under the windows.

Their pet Schnauzer, Benedict, began barking at him. Brandon stopped a minute to hush him up by waving frantically. Realizing that wasn’t going to work, he dug in his jacket pocket and found a peppermint. He threw that at him and he was distracted long enough for Brandon to make a mad dash to his car and speed off.

He knew he would deal with Simone later. She would be hot as a pistol. What they said about red heads and their temper was true, he knew from experience. But he would think of something clever and charm his way right back into her arms, he always did.

The weather was mild for late November. The sun was high and there wasn’t a cloud to be seen on his drive to Westport. Almost immediately, sounds from his phone began notifying him of text messages and missed calls. It didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out who was calling. He turned it off and threw it on the seat beside him. No need in dealing with that until he had to. He was expected back on Saturday, but Simone might need an extra day to cool down. He’d stay until Sunday, good things always happened on Sunday.

* * * *

As busy as the grocery store is before Thanksgiving, it’s just as slow afterwards. People typically have a refrigerator full of leftovers, creating original turkey recipes, or they would rather set their toenails on fire than eat another turkey sandwich so the fast food joints are hopping by Thursday evening. With the lack of customers, Gerald was easily bored. He stood at Allie’s register cleaning his fingernails with a toothpick.

“I got a new hot wheels,” he said to Allie studying his thumbnail. He had a fascination with hot wheels cars. Even though he was 30 years past the appropriate age for being entertained by them.

“What color is it?” Allie asked, watching the front doors, hoping someone she knew would come through and strike up a conversation with her.

“Allie,” Gerald said dragging out her name. But it didn’t sound like Allie when he said it. Gerald’s l’s always gave him trouble and came out as w’s instead making it sound like owie, as if he’d just scraped his knee. “You know my favorite color is orange. Of course it’s an orange one. I put it on my bookshelf and I dust it every night before I go to bed.”

“That’s great Gerald.”

“What’s your favorite color, Owie?”

“I don’t have one.”

“What? Not have a favorite color? Owie, that’s not good. That’s not right.” He was shaking his head adamantly. “You need a favorite color. I will find you one.”

Gerald walked off, still shaking his head and mumbling something under his breath. The intercom beeped overhead and Thomas the shift manager’s voice came out in a near whisper.
Allie you have a phone call on line 3, Allie line 3.

The bill collectors were getting bold calling her at work, she thought. She had been rude with them once before and she thought that would stop the calls, but obviously not. It was time to pull out the lawyer card, tell them that her attorney would be in touch with them soon. She laughed to herself. As if she could afford a lawyer when she couldn’t even pay her credit card bill.

Allie picked up the phone, ready to give the guy on the opposite end a piece of her mind, but instead she almost didn’t recognize the voice belonging to her mother. Her mom almost never panicked. Allie couldn’t remember ever seeing her mother upset. She’d always thought of her mother as strong as a rock, but now that she was getting older, Allie was learning that her mother was more hardened than strong. Life has a way of doing that. But this time, her mom was clearly upset.

“Allie” her voice came out with a hard breath. “Samuel. He’s hurt. He’s hurt bad. We’re in the ambulance. They’re taking him to the hospital. Oh God, Allie. Get there, Get there quick!”

Chapter Three

The Children’s Wing in the hospital was quiet. The only noises were an occasional cough coming from a room across the hall and the rhythmic beeps from the various machines that were foreign to Allie. She walked the long hallway, her tennis shoes squeaking on the recently waxed floor. Someone was being paged overhead, a dry cough sounded painful as she passed an occupied room.

She pushed open the door numbered 303. Her mother was there. She was leaning over Samuel’s bed, caressing his forehead.

Allie set her purse on the rolling table and quickly walked to him.

“Oh my baby, my baby,” she said kissing his forehead and lingering there a moment to breathe him in. His eyes were closed, his mouth open just a bit. He looked just like he always did when she came in late and went to his room to check on him sleeping.

 “I don’t think he’s in any pain now.” Gail said.

The hospital staff had acted quickly. The ambulance had called ahead and informed them they were bringing in a toddler who had been hit by a car. After triaging the situation, they took Samuel back for surgery before Allie even arrived at the hospital. He had a broken leg, a broken arm, and two cracked ribs. They were keeping him overnight for observation as a concussion was suspected and they wanted to make sure there weren’t any internal injuries.

Sitting in the waiting room with her mother was the longest hour and a half Allie had ever experienced. When the doctor walked into the room, removing the blue mask from his face, Allie had practically run to him.

“He’s very lucky.” Dr. Windsor said. “I’m confident he will recover.”

“Oh thank God,” Allie said. She sank to her knees, letting out a big exhale. She realized she had been holding her breath since the doctor walked in.

Dr. Windsor looked at her gravely. “Yes, God is to be thanked.” He kneeled before her and placed both arms on her shoulders. “Listen to me. God was there with your son. I’ve been in this business a very long time, and I can tell you, most children would not have survived what Samuel went through.”

After Samuel awoke from surgery, he was wheeled to Room 303. This would be his home for the next couple of days. Allie stood beside the bed, took Samuel’s hand in both of hers, brought it to her lips and held it there.

“I don’t know what I’ve done wrong, Mom.”

She reached up with one hand and wiped her tears away. “Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing, you know, by keeping him. Maybe he’d have a better life if I’d given him up, he shouldn’t have to go through this. He’s just a baby.”

Gail walked to Allie and put her arms around her in an embrace.

“Oh honey, you can’t talk like that. There’s no room for guilt. If anyone should shoulder the guilt, it’s me. What’s done is done. We’ll get through. We’ll get through.”

* * * *

After a few hours, Allie was feeling restless. Gail was with Samuel while he rested so she took the opportunity to get some fresh air.

A coffee shop was down the street. She’d never been there before; her coffee drinking consisted of putting a teaspoon of instant coffee in a cup at home and adding hot water. Allie was a grown up now. Drinking black coffee was an official sign. There was probably a rulebook somewhere confirming it. She hated to admit it. At nineteen, she was still officially a teenager, but she had grown up way too fast. Especially the past twenty-four hours. She felt like she had aged a hundred years.

The barista handed Allie her coffee. She took a sip and turned to the door. That’s when she noticed the bulletin board. It hung near the door on the way out of the coffee house. A picture of a lost dog caught her eye. It looked to be a shepherd/husky mix with one blue eye. A reward for $100 for the return of Sable. One hundred dollars didn’t seem like much, but it would surely help Allie out especially now that she would have mounting hospital bills to pay. She didn’t even want to think about how she was going to accomplish paying those. She knew the most important thing was to get Samuel well, but she couldn’t help the math that kept going through her head. If only she’d started some college courses right after high school she would be in a better situation financially, but it was just too hard. She had promised herself that someday she would enroll and finish with a nursing degree.

She took another sip of her coffee, much better than her instant generic brand at home. Her eyes scanned the rest of the board. Next to the lost dog picture was an advertisement for housecleaning, she could always do that on the side for a few extra dollars. A sign advertising firewood for sale hung next to a lime colored paper. She wondered how she’d missed it. Written in black marker it read:

Drummer Wanted

4 person rock band needing

Talented drummer to play local events

ASAP!

Paying gig

Call Brandon

665-4192

A drummer. Allie played the drums in the band. That was something she could actually give credit to her dad for. Before he died, he’d taught her the basics. She practiced on his drum set every day. Practicing really paid off and she had a real talent. After her dad died, her mom sold the drums to pay the mortgage. Allie was sad thinking about it. Playing drums was always something she loved.

She took out her phone and snapped a picture of the lime green paper. That sounded a lot more fun than cleaning houses. Maybe it would pay more too.

* * * *

Brandon left his phone turned off all weekend. He spent a few hours at his mom’s house when he first got there. She had been in the bottle already and it was hard to know what she was talking about most of the time.

He saw his dad for a few minutes on Saturday, just long enough to meet his bleached blonde girlfriend of about 24 years of age and have a Coke.

He and Destiny spent the rest of the time together. He took her to all her favorite shops, spent time in a bookstore perusing the shelves for the next great vampire story, and then they had ice cream and later caught a movie.

On Sunday morning, he said good-bye to Destiny, not knowing when he’d see her again, but hoping it would be before Christmas.

When he turned on his cell phone, he had nineteen messages from a very irate Simone and one message from a girl named Allie who wanted to audition for drummer in the band
Father Millennium,
where he was the lead singer
.
He had called her back and told her to stop by Matt’s house at seven o’clock that evening. He then called the other band members, Matt and Cody and arranged it with them. As much as he wanted to have an awesome drummer, he wasn’t getting his hopes up. Especially not with a girl.