Part 29 (1/2)
”And you just had a very simple, very quiet holiday. Much different from what you've experienced the past decade, I suppose.”
”I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Adam, who is more wonderful than you can imagine. He had dinner with his family at his mother's house then came back to my little bungalow, bringing the best leftovers. I had to work the next morning but he's off-Christmas break. He gave me a beautiful trench coat and I gave him a sweater and slippers. Lucinda, it was perfection. So peaceful. All the stress of the world was somewhere else for a change. No flashy baubles, no fancy parties.”
”None of that filthy lucre,” Lucinda joked. ”After some of the Christmases you've experienced in past years, how did it compare?”
”I've never felt richer,” Emma said.
Jock was released from the hospital after a few days but would not be cleared for work until after his next visit with the doctor ten days post-surgery. His mother wanted him to come home with her but he flatly refused. His mother said she would stay with him at his house and he said, ”Oh, just shoot me.” Riley witnessed all of this as she and Maddie were at the hospital visiting at the time.
”Don't worry, Mrs. Curry,” Riley said. ”We're close. We'll check on him frequently. And we're just a phone call away if Jock needs anything.”
After his mother left to pull her car to the front of the hospital, Jock said, ”Thanks, Riley. But there's nothing to worry about. I'm finally going to have time to watch all those golf tournaments I recorded. I'm not going to need help with anything. I'm not going to be moving furniture.”
”You're just going to camp on the couch, right?”
”That's my plan.”
”Maddie's back in school so we'll swing by after school tomorrow and we won't stay long.”
”Stay as long as you like. Or you can just drop Maddie off if you feel like it.”
But she didn't feel like it. She wanted to take stock of his refrigerator, make sure his house was tidy because he couldn't do it; she even put fresh sheets on his bed because there was no telling how long it had been.
She left Maddie with Jock and went to her mother's house. She asked for some of her plentiful stock of frozen meals she had prepared for her volunteer meal service. For Jock, she explained.
”This is interesting-you going to such trouble for Jock,” June said.
”Did you see how frightened and upset Maddie was when he got hurt? Had surgery? I knew Maddie was close to Jock but for some reason I thought it was no closer than she is to Adam. But I was wrong-she's very close to Jock. I'm going to have to try harder to get along with him.”
June gave her a dubious look and said, ”Of course.”
She didn't take the meals to Jock's house. She took them home and put them in her freezer before going to collect Maddie. Then the next day at around noon she retrieved them and dropped in on him.
He answered her knock looking a little rumpled, scruffy and slightly stooped because his incision was still sore.
”Riley?” He looked over her shoulder, looking for Maddie.
”It's just me. I brought some of Mother's meals for your freezer. And I also have some milk, orange juice, eggs, bread, lunch meat and veggie salad from the deli.”
”You didn't have to do all that,” he said, but he let her in. ”Aren't you working today?”
”Uh-huh,” she said, loading things into the refrigerator and freezer. ”I took a long lunch. These meals are all frozen, thaw in just a few hours and they're labeled. You have meat loaf and mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, lasagna, that meatball concoction she makes...” She raised her head and listened. There wasn't even a TV on. ”Were you napping?” she asked.
He indicated the kitchen table where his laptop was set up next to a cup of coffee. ”Paying bills,” he said.
”Oh, Jock, are you going to have financial issues because of the accident?”
”Not serious ones,” he said, shaking his head. ”I won't get what I need on that car, but I guess the lady-a girl, really-was charged with running the light so maybe her insurance company will step up.” He chuckled. ”At least she has insurance. The last guy who rear-ended me didn't.”
Riley frowned. ”Did someone rear-end you?”
”Ten years ago. Maddie wasn't in the car. She was still in a car seat back then, wasn't she? She wasn't in my car very often.”
Because Riley had avoided that as much as possible. Not because Jock wasn't a safe driver. Because she liked having control. Especially over him. She shook her head a bit mournfully. Maddie obviously adored him. And Riley had tried to give Jock as little time with her as possible.
”Have you had lunch?”
”Not yet. I'll graze around in there when you're done. And thank you. That was nice of you.”
”I'll make you a sandwich and some salad. Go ahead and finish with your bills. Do you have more coffee?”
”Right there,” he said, nodding toward the counter.
She was a little uncomfortable and she could tell Jock was both confused and suspicious. But she had to start somewhere. So he went back to his computer and she got out what she needed-knife, fork, plate, bread, mayo. She was impressed to see he was very tidy. His refrigerator was clean as a whistle-that was a good sign. ”Nice,” she said. The refrigerator was always one of the last things to get scrubbed. He had lettuce and tomatoes, so she added that to the sandwich.
She bravely dished up a little salad for herself as well as him then delivered the plate to him. She made herself a cup of coffee and joined him at the table.
He looked at her for a long moment. ”You're joining me for lunch?”
”Just a bite of this salad,” she said. ”If that's okay.”
”It's okay. So you meant it. You want to be my friend?”
”Listen, if you'd rather I leave...”
”You want to just tell me what this is about?”
She put her hands in her lap, her salad and coffee untouched. ”Right,” she said. ”First of all, I felt bad about Christmas night, about the argument we had, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. You nailed it, Jock-I've been angry. It's true, and I thought I had every right to be angry. But then when you got hurt and I saw how terrified Maddie was, it hit me hard that you'd always tried with me, even if it didn't go very well most of the time, and I didn't really try with you. And our daughter loves us both.”
”Yes, she does.”
”And you've had a very close relations.h.i.+p with her, one that I was barely aware of. It seemed you didn't see her that often.”
He shrugged. ”You weren't easy about that and there was no reason to make life tough for Maddie by pus.h.i.+ng you too hard. So I got her a phone and-”
”She was much too young for that phone!”
Jock waited patiently for her to get over that little outburst and she did. There she was again, jumping to conclusions, controlling things. She twisted her lips a little. ”Ach,” she said, chagrined.
”I got her a phone and a laptop so we could communicate and we stayed in close touch. I went to all her school things, when I could. My hours weren't always good-I had the store a lot of nights. But we were able to talk. She's so smart, Riley. Like you.”
Riley felt her cheeks grow a little hot, flus.h.i.+ng. ”You're smart,” she said. ”She definitely got your legs.”
He laughed. ”Yeah, you've been looking up at her since she was thirteen. She's a beauty.”
”I didn't know you'd told her about Emma. I didn't know a lot of the things you talked about.”