Worth the Weight

by Eileen Palma

  Lauren pulled the window shade up and their eyes were assaulted with bright, unfiltered light bouncing off the tarmac below. Jack rolled his shoulder back and rubbed it with his hand. His ankle was throbbing despite the bucket of ice the flight attendant had been nice enough to give him and he was still wearing the suit from the day before. Jack swung his laptop bag over his shoulder and grabbed Lauren’s bag from the overhead compartment. Then they made their way into the slow-moving line of people getting off the plane.

  “Your mom’s waiting for us. Don’t give her a hard time.”

  “She should’ve told me about Dad. I would’ve been here weeks ago.”

  “That’s not the point. You guys need to be there for each other right now.

  “I would’ve been there for her and my dad if only someone had thought to tell me what was…

  “Mom!!!” Lauren dropped her bag and took off at a sprint into the terminal. Lauren threw herself into Harper so hard, Jack thought his sister was going to fall backward, but she held strong. Lauren held on tight to her mom’s waist and Harper leaned down and rested her chin on top of Lauren’s head.

  “I missed you so much!” Harper broke away from the hug first and leaned down to look at Lauren.

  “I missed you, too. Can we go see Dad?”

  “Let’s get some breakfast for you and Uncle Jack first. You guys must be starving.”

  “I’m not that hungry.”

  “Speak for yourself, Small Fry. That airplane food didn’t cut it.” Jack walked over to his sister. She had a smile on her face, but it wasn’t fooling Jack. Her masses of curls looked like they hadn’t been brushed in days and were pulled into a matted ponytail. Harper, who usually didn’t bother with makeup when she wasn’t working, had coated her face with some kind of cover-up that was a shade too dark and ended at her chin so that her neck was a ghostly hue underneath it. Jack pulled Harper into a hug and he could feel her rigid back muscles relax for a minute till she pulled away and straightened herself up.

  “Come on. Let’s get something to eat. Dad’s still sleeping and he really needs his rest to get better.”

  Harper drove them to a diner that was a few blocks from the hospital. It was filled with doctors and nurses who looked like they had either just gotten off the night shift or were just about to start the morning one. A thin woman wearing Winnie the Pooh scrubs sat in front of an untouched muffin, staring into space with her eyes glazed over like a zombie. A group of baby-faced guys wearing wrinkled scrubs and shiny stethoscopes around their necks devoured plates of pancakes in between loud tales about saving the victims of a massive car pile up on the highway.

  “You think that was enough to get you through till lunch?” Jack pointed to the massacred short stack, curls of dried-up egg yolk and fatty bacon discards on Lauren’s plate.

  Lauren took a gulp of orange juice before answering. “I have a granola bar in my bag just in case.”

  “A few weeks away and I almost forgot how much you eat!” Harper had ordered black coffee and two slices of rye toast that she had barely touched. Jack thought back to how hard it had been to get her to eat when their mom was sick.

  “That was the best omelet I’ve ever had.” Jack pushed his plate away so he wouldn’t be tempted to eat even a few more bites and anger his already protesting stomach.

  Lauren reached her fork over to pirate a few bites from his plate. “California food rocks.”

  Jack slapped a stack of wrinkled bills on top of the check and stood up. “Ready to go back to the hospital?”

  “I hope Dad’s awake.”

  “I’m sure he’s sitting up waiting for his two favorite girls.”

  Harper slid out of the booth. “Thanks for breakfast, Jack.”

  “Thanks, Uncle Jack.” Lauren followed her mom out of the booth.

  The diner was only a few blocks from the hospital, so they decided to get a little fresh air and walk over there before they were trapped in the world of disinfectant and recycled air for the day. Jack’s ankle was feeling much better from the Aleve Harper always carried in her bag. Lauren walked a few paces ahead of them, texting Madison on the way.

  “Thanks for bringing Lauren. I’m such an idiot for listening to David.”

  Jack shrugged his shoulders, “Hey, you did exactly what your laid up husband asked you to. Most people wouldn’t call you an idiot for that.”

  “I should’ve known seeing Lauren would help and I also should’ve realized she could handle this.”

  “Stop worrying about things you can’t change and just be happy that we’re here with you now.” Jack put his arm around Harper’s shoulder and pulled her into a side hug.

  “Sometimes I don’t know what I would do without you.” Harper took a deep breath.

  “Stop getting all sentimental on me. I can’t take it on a full stomach.”

  Harper punched Jack in the arm and pulled away to look directly in his face. “So how come I had to hear from the nurses about Kate and that juicehead?”

  “You had way more important things to worry about than my drama.”

  “When I said you needed a girlfriend this wasn’t what I had in mind.”

  “Trust me, things didn’t go how I planned either.”

  “How are you going to fix this?”

  “I’m not.” Jack kicked a small stone gently in front of him.

  Harper grabbed Jack’s arm. “Hey, look at me for a second.”

  “Quit getting all dramatic on me,” said Jack. “This is where Lauren gets it from.”

  “I heard that,” said Lauren, without bothering to look up from her phone.

  “I saw those pictures of the two of you together. I’ve never seen you look so happy.” Harper fixed her steely blue eyes on Jack’s like a game of chicken. He looked away first.

  “Kate really likes Uncle Jack too,” Lauren piped up.

  “Reality check—she’s engaged,” Jack was quick to point out.

  “There’s no way Kate’s gonna marry The Instigator! That would be so gross!”

  They reached the hospital entrance and Lauren’s giggles stopped. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

  “How bad is it, Mom? Tell me now so I don’t freak out in front of Dad.” Lauren stood tall with her shoulders back and her hands clasped in front of her like she did when she was standing before the judges at a gymnastics meet. This was her go-to position when she was nervous.

  “Dad’s improving every day and he’s going to be in even better shape when he sees you.”

  “I think Lauren needs to be prepared for what he looks like.” Jack thought back to his mom lying in the hospital bed, with tubes connected everywhere and the oxygen tubes going into her nose. He still had nightmares about it.

  “Dad has a cast on his arm, which he’s been waiting for you to sign and decorate. And he’s going to be wearing sunglasses because his eyes are still very sensitive to the light. He also has some bruises and scrapes, a really bad one of his face. But nothing too scary, I promise.”

  “Okay. Let’s go.” Lauren led the way through the doors of the hospital.

  The lobby looked like any other hospital except there were a lot of people in army fatigues, including the doctors who wore camouflage scrubs under their white coats.

  “This is Dad’s room. Uncle Jack and I will wait out here.”

  Lauren’s chest rose as she took a deep breath and she steeled herself before turning the doorknob. Jack squeezed her shoulder and she went in while Jack and Harper looked through the window so they could go right in the room if Lauren needed them. Harper didn’t say that was the plan, but she and Jack didn’t always need to put things like this into words.

  David was wearing thick, dark sunglasses that obscured most of his face, but Jack could see abrasions and cuts in various stages of healing poking out from around the sides of the lenses. He also had one particularly angry looking gash on his forehead that extended under the glass
es and down his cheek. He was wearing a hospital gown and a cast that went from the tips of his fingers up to the top of his elbow. His black Semper Fi tattoo dipped into the cast, so that only the Sem was visible. He had tubes running from different parts of his body to machines and bags under and around the bed.

  “I’m here now.” Lauren approached the side of the bed with David’s good arm. She gingerly took his hand, careful not to touch the tubes coming out of it.

  “Lauren?” David’s voice came out thick and groggy from a painkiller-induced sleep.

  “It’s me.” Lauren spoke softly.

  David inched himself gingerly up to a sitting position. “There’s my pretty girl.”

  “Can you see me?”

  “Not all the way. But enough to see how beautiful you’ve gotten since I left.”

  “I missed you so much, Daddy.” Lauren stood on her tiptoes and gingerly leaned over the bed to hug David.

  “Is that all you got? Don’t worry, I’m not gonna break.” David gestured with his good arm for Lauren to climb up on the bed.

  Lauren slipped her sneakers off and climbed into the space next to David. She seemed fine for a minute, but as soon as he slipped his good arm over her, she broke down.

  Harper was through the door in seconds. She leaned over Lauren and wrapped her arms around David.

  Jack took a step back from the window when he realized his breath was fogging up the glass.

  “Ali-Kat blew up the Bloomingdale’s wedding registry today. Their wedding date is listed as June 26th. Do you think it’s a real date or are they just trying to throw us off the trail?”

  theinsidescoop.com

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  “Give me the gun!” Kate tried to wrestle the scanner from Alex’s hands.

  “Hell no!” Alex clicked the scanner gun over the bar code on the black diamond encrusted cufflinks.

  “You do understand that we’re not actually getting any of these items since there isn’t going to be a wedding?”

  “Alex has the right attitude. We have to make this look as authentic as possible.” Dana trailed her fingers on a white ceramic watch.

  “Authentically speaking—I would never marry the kind of guy who would register for six hundred dollar cufflinks. Not to mention, I don’t think you even own a shirt that requires cufflinks, Alex!”

  “Where’s the men’s section?” Alex craned his head to get a better view of the fluorescent-lit aisles.

  “People don’t register for clothes and I’m pretty certain they don’t register for jewelry either.”

  “Relax, and let’s just move on to the bed and bath collection.” Dana guided Alex forward with her hand lightly touching his back. As soon as he was ahead of them Dana ran the scanner back over the cufflinks and made them disappear off the registry.

  “Let’s start with the bathroom. Since your apartment already appeared in Gossip Matters, people know that you have black and white decor. So let’s stick with that.” Dana walked over to the display with a crisp white shower curtain embroidered with oversized black peonies.

  Kate’s phone vibrated. “I have to take this call. Can you guys handle this?”

  Kate headed over to the bedding section and hid behind a display of feather duvets.

  “Did you make it to California okay?”

  “Yeah. We’re at the hospital now.”

  “You don’t sound so good. Is everything okay?”

  “Actually, life’s pretty fucking good. Nothing puts things into perspective like seeing someone you love get a second chance at life.”

  “How is he?”

  “David’s putting on a tough front for Harper and Lauren. But you can tell he took a pretty hard hit. Anyone else might not have made it back alive.”

  “Thank God for Lauren and your sister he did.”

  “I know. It makes me realize none of this other petty bullshit matters.”

  “I know exactly what you mean.” Kate looked over at Alex and Dana who were comparing identical looking black towels.

  “Are the paparazzi still camped out in front of your building?”

  “Yeah. It’s only gotten worse. But at least when you come home they shouldn’t be waiting for you.”

  “I hope not. I’m getting too old to be hopping the fence.”

  “How’s your ankle?”

  “One of the nurses saw me limp in here and she keeps trying to talk me into getting X-rays.”

  “You might as well. You’re stuck there anyway.”

  “I don’t have time for tests. I have to go find somewhere quiet to work on the new line.”

  “Did you see the SNL sketch?”

  “Oh, yeah. It was real hilarious.”

  “You have to be able to laugh at yourself sometimes.”

  “Easy for you to say. Kate Hudson pushing Bobby Moynihan in a baby carriage? A hot actress pretends to be you, while the guy best known for his Drunk Uncle impersonation plays me?”

  “Well, he definitely has the right hair.”

  “You are such a wise ass.”

  “Irina told me about the scholarship fund.”

  “Too bad she didn’t think to tell you that before you ripped me a new one in New York Today.”

  “Seriously, I wish I could take it all back.”

  “Ever heard of a retraction?”

  “I already tried.”

  “Seriously?”

  “I called the New York Today editor this morning and asked if I could write one.”

  “No dice?”

  “Apparently it’s far more interesting for a TV personality to tear someone down than to admit they were wrong.”

  “But were you wrong, really?”

  “Don’t you think I am?”

  An overstuffed human-length pillow pelted Kate in the head. She stood up and there was Alex pointing the scanner gun at her.

  “You better not give me shit about what I registered for while you’re kicking back over here.”

  “Is that Alex?” asked Jack.

  “Yes.” Kate glared at Alex and pelted him right back with a slew of throw pillows followed by a desperate shooing away motion with her hands.

  “Did he just say something about registering?”

  “Yeah, we’re at Bloomingdale’s.”

  “I better let you get back to that.”

  “It’s okay. What were you about to say?” Kate ducked from the onslaught of feather bolster pillows coming at her.

  “Nothing more important than wedding plans. Bye, Kate.”

  “You asshole!” Kate whisper screamed as soon as she hung up the phone.

  “I’m just saving you from yourself.”

  Kate ducked when Alex picked up the pillows from the floor, but he just popped them back on the display racks.

  Dana materialized with the registry woman who looked like she had been working at Bloomingdale’s since they penciled in wish lists in marble notebooks.

  “I can’t take you two anywhere. These two are such pranksters. I’m not going anywhere near these two on April Fool’s Day.”

  “Ah, young love.” The woman clutched a clipboard to her chest and beamed at Kate and Alex.

  “Kate’s funniness was the first thing I fell in love with.” Alex stacked the last pillow back. Then, he leaned over the aisle and literally plucked Kate up in his arms and pulled her over the rows of pillows and planted her at his side.

  “You two are the most fun couple I’ve worked with in awhile. You should see some of the couples that come in here. I always think to myself, if you can’t agree on Farberware or Creuset how are you going to work out the bigger issues in life?”

  “Matt Reynolds, the other CEO of that famous stroller company, made it rain money last night at New York’s famed SCORES strip club. Guess he’s celebrating the hundreds of thousands of dollars in pre-sales from the CC-XL Deluxe.”

  dirtylaundry.com
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  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  “You look like a new man,” said the nurse behind the counter. She wore camouflage scrubs and a kind smile.

  “I had to get out of that suit. Thank God for the gift shop. Have you seen my sister and niece?”

  “I talked them into going to the cafeteria for a little food. I thought Lauren needed a break. It can be overwhelming for kids to see their parents like that.”

  “I totally get that.”

  “Have you had a chance to visit David yet?”

  “No. I wanted to give the girls a chance to see him on their own.”

  “He’s awake now. I bet he would be happy to see you. We got to know David really well and the one thing that helped him keep it together was knowing that you were back home taking care of his daughter.”

  “Thanks. I needed to hear that.” Jack smiled at the nurse and headed to David’s room.

  He opened the door and David popped awake from a light sleep.

  “Harper?”

  “No, man. It’s me.”

  David gingerly edged up the back of the bed to a semi-sitting position.

  “Hey buddy. Sorry. It takes me a few minutes for my eyes to adjust.”

  “I’ve been growing out my hair. But I didn’t think it was long enough for you to mix me up with my sister.”

  Jack walked over to the bed. Up close the scratches and cuts on David’s face looked angry and raw. His brother-in-law who was on the shorter side, but had always been a wall of solid muscle, looked small and vulnerable in his hospital gown. His wheat blond hair that Jack had only ever seen in a buzz cut was long enough to comb to the side, so Jack could see how fine it was—almost like a toddler’s hair before their first hair cut. David turned his head toward Jack, but Jack couldn’t see his eyes through the dark lenses of his wrap around shades.

  “Thanks for taking care of the girls while I’ve been gone, especially Lauren these past few weeks.”

  “Lauren’s the easy one. Harper’s the handful.”