A Life Less Ordinary (50 page)

* * * * *

“Hey,”
TJ said as Leah walked into the hospital room.

She
grinned as she dropped a light kiss on his lips.  “Hey,” she said, “I haven’t
missed the doctor, have I?”

TJ
shook his head just as the door opened again and Dr. Valesquez bustled in. 
Leah settled beside TJ and laced her fingers through his.

Dr.
Valesquez smiled and said, “I believe we’ve finally got the infections under
control.”

“Believe?”
TJ asked sharply, raising an eyebrow.

“You
don’t know for sure?” Leah added with a frown.

“Your
lungs are much clearer, but the infections are lingering longer than we
expected.  When we send you home, you’ll have to make sure you continue taking
your medication properly otherwise you could get sick again, and perhaps even
worse than before.”

“Great,”
TJ groaned.

“
That’s the infection,”
Leah said firmly.  “
Infections
, actually.  What about the cancer?”

“
Good news on that
front.  Based on the tests we did yesterday, we appear to have caught the tumor
early enough.  At this point, it appears you won’t even need chemo.  We’ll do
another round of tests in six weeks, and if that’s still clear, we’ll go to
every six months.”

TJ
groaned.

Leah
patted his hand.  “That’s better than having the tests every month.”

“No,
no,” TJ protested, “I think I’m beginning to like them.”

Leah
and Dr. Valesquez laughed.

Dr.
Valesquez said, “I’d like to keep you here for another day and then send you
home.”

“With
that cute, blonde nurse?” TJ asked hopefully.

Leah
rolled her eyes and smacked him lightly on the shoulder.

“Hey
– I’m a sick man, here!” TJ protested.  “Besides, you’ll like him.”

Leah
burst out laughing.  “I’m so glad you’re back,” she said, and dropped another
light kiss onto his lips.

Dr.
Valesquez watched with a beneficent smile, and said, “You’re very lucky, TJ. 
Both with the cancer and the lung infection.  Another day, and you wouldn’t
have made it, you know.”

“I
know,” TJ said solemnly, his fingers squeezing Leah’s.  “I won’t take that risk
again.”

“Good.” 
The doctor stood.  “No offense, TJ, but I sincerely hope I don’t see you very
often after you leave the hospital tomorrow.”

TJ
grinned.  “None taken, and trust me – the feeling is entirely mutual.”

Dr.
Valesquez grinned, shook TJ’s hand then Leah’s and left them alone.

Leah
and TJ shifted until she was lying down on the bed beside him.  He was no
longer on intravenous although the needle to allow the nurses to take blood
samples was still embedded in the back of his hand.  Leah and TJ carefully
adjusted until they were snuggled comfortably on the bed.

“I’m
so glad you’re getting better,” Leah said softly, burying her face into his
neck.

“Me,
too,” TJ sighed.  He rubbed her back, and Leah finally allowed herself to cry.

* * * * *

Daisy
opened the door for Hub and gave him a slight smile.  “The kids are running a
little late,” she said.  “They were out with Tris and lost track of the time. 
They’ll be here in about half an hour.”

“That’s
okay, I wanted to talk to you, anyway,” he said as they walked into the living
room and sat down.

“Okay,”
Daisy said, “what about?”

“Have
you made up your mind about what we talked about a couple weeks ago?”

Daisy
frowned.  “Anything in particular?  We’ve talked about a lot of stuff since
your ex-girlfriend took off with all our hard-earned cash,” she said drily.

Hub
scowled.  “You know what I’m talking about.  Stopping this divorce.  Getting
back together.  Trying again.  Come on, Daisy.  What do you say?”

Daisy
considered him thoughtfully.  “I don’t get it,” she finally said.  “Why are you
pushing so hard to get back together?”

“You’re
my wife!”

“You
should have thought of that before you got yourself a mistress!  Come on, Hub. 
What’s the
real
reason?”

Hub
deflated.  “You’re...familiar,” he muttered.  “Comfortable.  I know the
battles, I know the foibles.  I know how you think, what buttons to push, what
turns you on.”  He looked soulfully at her.  “I miss you.”

Daisy
tried to push aside the red tide of rage that rose up at his words.

“We’ve
been together for twenty-four years,” Hub continued persuasively, “you
can’t
just want to throw all that away.”

“Why
not?  You did.”

“Daisy
-”

“Do
you know you’ve never once apologized to me?  You’ve never once said you were
sorry you betrayed me, or sorry you hurt your kids, or sorry you threw our
marriage away.  I may be ‘comfortable’ and ‘familiar’ but I’m not an old pair
of shoes!  I’m not a favourite pair of jeans you haul out every now and then to
remember the days you were skinny!  Twenty-four years -” Daisy’s voice broke,
“twenty-four years, and starting over scares me. 
Terrifies
me!  But
taking you back after everything that’s happened?  Not a chance in hell.”

~~~~~

“And
then what happened?”  Manny asked.

“Nothing. 
He sat there in silence until the kids arrived, then they all left.”

“Are
you okay with this?”

Daisy
paused, thinking.  “Yeah,” she said softly.  Firmly.  “Yeah, I’m really okay
with this.”

* * * * *

Rebecca
tightly gripped the steering wheel and stared at the house. The lights burned
cheerfully in the windows, making the place look warm and inviting.  Rebecca
wondered if she’d find the warm welcome those lights promised.  She felt the
sweat break out on her palms.

For
a moment she thought of driving away, pretending she’d never been here,
pretending the Jackson-shaped place in her life wasn’t there, and wasn’t aching
from his absence.  She straightened her spine and took a deep breath.

She
wasn’t a coward, she told herself stoutly, and she could survive without him. 
If he told her to go, she’d go.

But
she had to try.

She
took another deep breath, then abruptly left the car and walked briskly to the
door.  She rang the doorbell, and rubbed her palms nervously on her jacket as
she waited for the door to open, which it was by a girl a couple of years older
than Tris.

Rebecca
blinked.  “Uh, hi.  You must be Dayle.”

Dayle
frowned slightly.  “Yeah.  Who are you?”

“I’m...a
friend of your father’s.”

To
Rebecca’s shock, Dayle’s face lit up in recognition and a huge grin spread
across her face before she turned her head and yelled at the top of her lungs,
“
Dad!
  Rebecca’s here!”  She turned back to a stunned Rebecca.  “Come
in!” she said and stood aside to give Rebecca room to step into the foyer.

Rebecca
hesitated, wondering how Dayle had known who she was.  She opened her mouth to
ask just as Jackson ran into the foyer, skidding to a halt at the sight of
her.  His dark brown eyes were huge as he simply stared while a boy about Tris’
age and a lovely, dark-haired woman came rushing into the foyer behind him.

Rebecca
flushed painfully as she stared at the dark-haired woman.  “Oh!  You have
guests – I should have called first – I’m sorry – I’ll just -”

The
woman stepped forward and cut Rebecca off in mid-babble.  “I’m Jasmine. 
Jackson’s sister?”

Rebecca
actually staggered a little with relief.  “Oh!  Oh.  Oh...well...nice to meet you.”

Jasmine
grinned with delight.  “Come in, Rebecca.  No need to stand on the doorstep.”

Rebecca
hesitantly stepped into the house, once more rubbing her hands nervously
against her jacket.  She glanced at Jackson, then quickly away, the hunger and
burning hope in his eyes causing her to shift uncomfortably. 

Jasmine
spoke into the tense silence, “You’ve met Dayle. This is Ryder.”

Ryder
was a miniature Jackson, with the same vulnerable brown eyes and thick, unruly
black hair.  He smiled almost shyly at her, and Rebecca’s heart clenched
because it was Jackson’s smile, in miniature. 

“
Hi,” he said.

“Hello,”
Rebecca said faintly.

“And
now, kids, let’s leave them alone for a while,” Jasmine said firmly, and
quelled Dayle’s protest with a single look.  Dayle’s shoulders slumped as she
nodded and followed her aunt and brother out of the foyer, although both kids
watched over their shoulders until they were in the next room.

Rebecca
stared around the foyer, fiddled with the edges of her coat, and looked
anywhere but directly at Jackson, who was staring fixedly and silently at her.

She
fidgeted uncomfortably once more, then glanced at him from the corner of her
eyes and said, “Aren’t you wondering why I’m here?”

“Yeah,”
he said softly.

“So
why aren’t you saying anything?”

Jackson
moved towards her.  “Because I’m still trying to get my breath back,” he said
as he wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her.

* * * * *

“Awww...”
Manny said as Rebecca described Jackson kissing her in the foyer.

“And
then,” Rebecca continued happily, “I had supper with him and the kids and
Jasmine – her ex had her kids – and we watched a movie, and then I went home. 
I’m going to introduce him to Tris tonight.”

“That’s
awesome, Rebecca!  I’m so happy for you!”

“I’ve
never introduced a man to my grandchild before.  Hell, I never even introduced
one to my child!  How did this happen to me?” Rebecca groaned.

Manny
laughed.  “Just lucky, I guess.  And I’ve met Jackson, remember?  Did you
really think you had a chance of resisting him?”

“Better
than even!”

“Oh,
he had no chance of resisting you, of course!  Seriously, Rebecca – I’m...I’m
so happy for you.”

“Almost
forty-eight years old, and I’m in love – who’da thunk it?”

“According
to Angeline, you can fall in love at any age.  And Leila says the same thing. 
And Simon-Simone says there’s someone out there for each of us, if we’re
willing to take the chance and if we remain true to ourselves in the process.”

“
When did Simon-Simone
say that?”

“
She sent me an e-mail
the other day.  She’s in love and wants everyone else to be, too.”

“
Ah.  Anyway, Jackson
and I are going to take it slow.  Dayle and Ryder have known about me for a
long time – but knowing about me and potentially living with me are two
different things.”

“
Or you guys may choose
to not live together until they’re out of school.  High school, I mean.”

“
That would be a long
time...” Rebecca sighed.

“
Okay.  Stupid idea.”

“
Not stupid.  It is
something to consider.  But no matter what else happens, I think we’ll figure
something out.”

Manny
laughed, “Somehow, I think so too.”

Manny
lay flat on her back, eyes wide, staring at the ceiling while she waited for
her clock to hit 7:00 a.m.  It was her last day on the road.  They’d be home
tonight and she’d be sleeping in her new apartment that Rebecca had leased for
her.  Tomorrow morning, there’d be no place to go next, no tourist site to
visit, no Zeke beside her.  She would finally stop moving and it would be time,
she thought, to make a reckoning.

The
jarring noise of the alarm had barely begun when she clicked it off.  She
sighed, threw back the covers and got out of bed.  She padded into the bathroom
and looked with interest in the full-length mirror that doubled as the hotel
room’s shower doors.  For the first time in six months she stood and took her
morning inventory. 

Plain
face?  Check.

Looking
tired? Check.  But they’d been driving almost non-stop for the last four days.

Thirty
pounds overweight?  Well, she looked like she’d lost a couple pounds – but,
yes, check. 

Dark
circles under deer-caught-in-headlights eyes?  Check and check.  Then again,
tomorrow she would start looking for work, and that was something she hadn’t
had to do for almost sixteen years.

She
shuddered, then refocused on her reflection in the mirror.

Her
hair was shorter, but it was still limp, still
not-quite-brown-not-quite-blonde...and she was still old.