The Denver Cereal (23 page)

Every head shook from side
to side.

“
Trevor almost raped her
and Jill was like same shit different day,” Mike said.
“
Our
baby sister
sat in Walgreens praying for her child’s life because that fucker
wouldn’t let her go to the hospital. Why? Because
she
couldn’t afford it.
It makes me furious.”

“
Me too,” Megan said.
“I . . . I had no idea.”

“
We are all we have. Our
parents are gone. We don’t have grandparents. No more secrets,”
Steve said. “It’s time to put it all out there on the
table.”

“
We’ll start,” Leslie
said. “We can’t get pregnant. I have endometriosis
and . . . we’ll . . .”

Everyone’s head turned to
look at Leslie.

“
We’re good candidates for
IVF. We’re healthy, don’t drink or smoke. The doctor thinks we’ll
be successful but . . .” Steve stopped talking. He
looked at Leslie, and then nodded. “We can’t afford it. We wanted
to ask if maybe . . .”

“
We’ll help,” Valerie
said. “If you prefer to borrow the money, we can do that as
well.”

“
I make good commissions
on my painting and Val’s contract was extended for another year,”
Mike said.

“
You’re not driving
anymore?” Candy asked.

“
I only drove so I could
drive Val when she was in town,” Mike said. “See, there’s a
secret.”

“
We could be together and
no one would know,” Valerie said.

“
We’d love to help you
guys have a baby,” Mike said. “Just if that’s all right with
you.”

“
Thanks,” Leslie
said.

“
We’re not married,” Tim
said.

Megan’s eyes went wide and
she shook her head.

“
We got pregnant before we
got married, then didn’t want to . . .” Tim caught
Megan’s look and stopped talking. Megan’s face was bright
red.

“
Ah, shit. Who cares?”
Mike asked.

Megan’s red, ashamed face
turned to her little brother. Mike’s warm smile brought tears to
her eyes.

“
You guys were so young,
and I got pregnant and . . .”

“
You and Tim raised us,”
Steve said. “I don’t give a crap. I can’t imagine Jill
cares.”

“
Jill knows,” Tim said. “I
told her when Trevor divorced her.”

“
I’m gay,” Candy spit out
in the middle of the conversation.

When everyone turned to
look at her, she seemed to dissolve into the chair. Steve kicked
her under the table.

“
Tell them or I will,” he
said.

“
I’ve been dating a girl
for . . . a long time.”

“
She lives with her
girlfriend, Jazmyne,” Steve said. “Has for the last four years.
Jazmyne is a firefighter and a terrific person.”

“
I’m going to hell.”
Candy’s face dropped with sorrow.

“
Well, we’ll be there to
keep you company,” Tim said. “Are you happy? Do you love
her?”

Candy nodded.

“
Then we’re very happy for
you,” Megan said. “We just wanted you to be happy.”

“
Mike broke my nose,”
Steve said. “Remember I went to Hollywood the summer after college?
I was on this tour of the stars’ houses when I saw Mike and some
girl walking down a hill. I mean, I hadn’t seen or heard from Mike
in two years. Then there he was! So, I followed them. They cut into
the backyard of this house. I . . .”

“
He caught us in a
delicate position,” Valerie said. “In our own backyard, but
delicate none the less. Mike hit him on a reflex.”

“
You DID get a new nose,”
Candy said. “I KNEW it!”

“
Yeah,” Steve said.
“Valerie arranged for the surgery.”

“
I could have killed him.
I . . .” Mike said. “I went to treatment about a
week later. I have a secret.”

“
Your secret studio is in
the carriage house of this house,” Candy said. “We all knew that.
We thought it was because you were friends with Jake.”

Mike looked from face to
face and everyone nodded.

“
We also know you’re the
artist who painted the ‘unknown Denver artist painting’ at the
Denver Art Museum,” Tim said. “Well, we guessed. Now that I’ve met
Val . . . It’s her, isn’t it?”

Valerie nodded.

“
I gave it to a friend who
said it was too good to be owned by a single person,” Mike nodded
toward the ceiling. Everyone looked up to the clouds, blue sky, and
sun that adorned the dining room ceiling. “I’ve done a bunch of the
work here, too. I’ll show you around when we finish dinner. I
actually have another secret.”

Valerie’s head turned to
look at him. Her eyes puzzled. Mike slipped his hand into his
pocket.

“
Jake paid a guy to find
this for you,” Mike said. “He ‘just figured’ you’d like it back
some day.”

He opened his hand, and
there lay Valerie’s original diamond engagement ring. Valerie
screamed. Covering her mouth with her hands, her eyes welled with
tears. His eyes held the question again. She nodded. He slipped the
diamond solitaire onto her finger.

“
Thao at the Art of Gold
cleaned it up and fixed it. She said we could update it, but I
thought you’d want to . . .”

Valerie kissed him
quiet.

Details! We need details!

Friday morning, 8:07
a.m.

“
Sorry I’m late,” Jill
said. She scooted into the booth next to Sandy at Snooze. Every
Friday for the last two years, she’d met Sandy, Heather, and
Tanesha for breakfast at Snooze. “I had to take Katy to school.
She’s still a little sick so she’s slooooowwww.”

“
Jill?” the waitress
asked. “Are you all right? Oh my God! I saw the
news . . .”

“
Hi, Chantel,” Jill
nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks.”

“
I . . .,”
the waitress started speaking, then realized the women were staring
at her.

“
Sorry, I can’t really
talk about it,” Jill smiled.

The waitress made a
sympathetic face and touched Jill’s arm. “I’ll just bring some
coffee.”

“
Thanks,
Chantel.”

“
Hey, we’re buying your
breakfast,” Tanesha said. “So you can actually eat this
time.”

“
It’s a bribe,” Heather
said.

“
Bribe?” Jill asked. The
waitress set a cup of coffee and a glass of water in front of Jill.
“Thanks.”

“
You can’t talk about
Monday, right?” Heather asked.

“
Criminal proceeding and
all,” Jill said.

“
We want every single
detail about Sunday night with His Hotness,” Tanesha
said.

“
And your date last
night,” Sandy added.

“
Oohh a date with His
Hotness!” Tanesha said.

“
We want to know what
really happened on Monday, but . . .”

“
Sorry,” Jill
said.

“
You can talk about the
edges. The paper said Jacob came . . .”

Sandy trailed off as the
owner of Snooze, Jon Schlegel, came up to the table. A tall, thin
man, he had to bend over to set a pineapple upside down pancake in
front of Jill.

“
Hey, Jill, this is our
way of saying that we hope you’re okay.”

“
Thanks, Jon. With a
little luck, everything will work out.” Jill pushed the plate-sized
pancake to the middle of the table. “We’ll share it.”

“
Well, good luck,” Jon
said. “I wanted you to know that you’re always welcome to work
here.”

“
Thanks Jon,” Jill said.
“My feet are pretty messed up. I can’t work anywhere for a while.
Even Pete sent me home.”

“
Just so you know,” he
said.

The moment Jon turned his
back, the women dug into the pancake with gusto.

“
How did you have a date
with Jake Marlowe last night?” Heather asked. “Isn’t he like, in
the hospital?”

“
Mm-hmm” Jill swallowed a
bite of delicious pancake. “He stopped taking pain meds mid-day so
he could talk to me. He had someone from Sasa Sushi bring dinner
for me. He had . . .”

“
Cereal,” the women said
in unison.

“
Exactly. Cap’n Crunch. He
wanted me to try sushi since I haven’t had it before. He had a
bottle of sparkling rice wine for me . . . um, sake?
I think it’s called. It was really good . . .
nice.”

“
I told you,” Sandy said.
“Sasa is fabulous. Did you have the chocolate lava
cake?”

“
Yep, we shared one.” Jill
blushed.

“
And?” Heather
prodded.

“
He’s in a hospital. We
just talked,” Jill said. “The nurse put Jake to sleep around ten
and I went to the Castle to get Katy.”

“
Uh-huh,” Tanesha said.
“And blushing girl, what did you and His Hotness talk
about?”

“
Sex.”

Heather and Tanesha
screamed with laughter.

“
Details! We need
details!” Sandy said.

~~~~~~~~

“
I’m sorry, Jake. I wish I
had better news.”

Dr. Lionel Smuyth had been
Jacob’s orthopedic surgeon since he fixed Jacob’s knee in high
school. Jacob asked him to come to review his situation and help
him determine options.

“
Your entire shoulder
girdle is held together with more metal than bone. Your shoulder
blade is . . . Well, time will tell.”

“
What does that mean,
Lionel?” Jacob asked.

“
Long term?” Dr. Smuyth
went back to the X-rays. He held up X-ray after X-ray then reviewed
the MRIs. “I’d replace the head of your humerus. When your bone
fills in, you’ll need surgery to reattach all of these tendons. The
surgery notes say they found all the tendons and tucked them away.
They may be available when you’re ready.”

“
How long before I can
work?”

Dr. Smuyth’s eyebrows shot
up at Jacob’s question. His eyes were kind, but Jacob’s stomach
dropped when Dr. Smuyth’s usual bright smile fell. The doctor
picked up Jacob’s right hand.

“
Tell me what you feel,”
Dr. Smuyth said.

He ran a capped ballpoint
pen over Jacob’s hand.

“
I can feel that,” Jacob
said.

Dr. Smuyth shook his
head.

“
You have sensation,
Jacob. And that’s really a miracle.”

“
You’ve never sugar-coated
anything for me, Lionel,” Jacob said. “What is going
on?”

“
You’re having a neck
fusion tomorrow.”

“
Lionel.”

“
I don’t feel confident in
the innervation in your arm,” Dr. Smuyth said. “I won’t say
‘never,’ but you have a long way to go before you’ll swing a hammer
with that arm.”

“
Long way?”

“
I’m not going to give you
a doctor hex, Jake. Don’t ask me for dates, times, and exactly what
will happen. We have to take this one step at a time. You have two
broken transverse processes in your neck. Two!” Dr. Smuyth shook
his head like he couldn’t believe the question or conversation.
“Tomorrow your neck will be fused. If everything goes well and by
some miracle you take it easy, you should be able to go home on
Monday or Tuesday. Then it will be six weeks, at least, before your
neck heals. Your bone may have filled in enough that we can replace
the head of your humerus and reattach your ligaments. Then, maybe,
you’ll be able to start rebuilding strength in that arm.
But . . .”

“
That’s six months from
now?”

“
At least. Every step
depends on the success of the last step. Any infection, slow
healing, bad guesses, not to mention surgeon
foul-up . . .” Dr. Smuyth returned to look at the
X-rays. “This is a vicious injury, Jake. You’re lucky to be
alive.”

“
I’m not ungrateful,
Lionel. I know how lucky I am.”

Jacob closed his eyes for
a moment, trying to formulate the thought or question in his
mind.

“
You’re saying that these
injuries . . . just like that . . .
I’m not going to be normal again.”

“
Yes, I’m sorry,” Dr.
Smuyth said. “I’d tell you that you still have use of your left
arm. You’re still very young. I can also tell you to never say
never. I’ve seen amazing things happen with hard work and a
positive attitude. But you know all of that.”

The rest of Dr. Smuyth’s
visit was lost on Jacob. From the moment the doctor said, “you know
all of that,” Jacob worked to get through it.

When the doctor patted his
left shoulder and walked from the room, Jacob took a full
breath.

And broke down.

The thoughts flew through
his head: He’d wasted the last four years babysitting his father;
he threw away his last chance to do the work he loved; he would
never be a carpenter again; he’d have to sit back now; he’d sit on
the sidelines like a sad fuck while other guys played hockey, ran,
or lifted weights; he was almost free of his Lipson Construction
albatross NOW he’s incapacitated; how could this happen? While he
cried, his mind spewed catastrophe after drama after “my life is
over” scenario.